He’s The Real Deal.

Even if he says so himself.

Patrik Polivka — who has that statement painted on the back portion of his goalie mask — will get a chance to prove it tonight at 7:30 when he draws the start in goal for the Victoria Royals in their Western Hockey League regular season opener against the Vancouver Giants at the PNE Pacific Coliseum.

The Real Deal nickname was given to Polivka, who has played internationally for the Czech Under-16,

U-17,U-18 and U-19 teams, by teammates in the HC Plzen club system.

The Royals are hoping he is just that.

As to be expected by anybody bearing that moniker, Polivka doesn’t lack for confidence. But he’s not cocky.

“I’m not the type of goalie who gets nervous. I’m more excited than anything and just want to do my best and stop some pucks,” he said.

He is a quick-reaction goalie. Of the things he said he wants to work on are stickhandling and rebound control.

When Polivka was drafted 14th overall by the Royals during the summer in the 2012 Canadian Hockey League import draft, involving all 60 North American major-junior hockey teams, he admitted the first thing he rushed to find inside his Czech home was a map. He couldn’t have come further in North America than to an Island off the West Coast. But if he’s as good as the Royals think he can be, this may just be the real deal for both parties.

“His play [through training camp and pre-season] has warranted this and he’s earned the opportunity,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.

The other goalies with the Royals, on a roster that still contains 23 skaters and three goaltenders, are returnee Jared Rathjen and newcomer Coleman Vollrath.

But while his opening-night starting goalie is decided, Lowry still hasn’t settled on a captain for the Royals, even as his son Adam Lowry was being named captain of the Swift Current Broncos.

“It [Royals captaincy] is not a primary focus for us . . . we [team coaching and management staff] only really started talking about it yesterday,” said the elder Lowry, who will play without a captain tonight and who also did not divulge alternate captain roles.

“We’re waiting for someone to step up and assume the leadership role. There doesn’t have to be a sense of urgency about this [naming a captain]. Either you’re a leader or you’re not a leader.”

As for his son, Lowry said: “I’m very excited for him. He’s a good player.”

The Giants, meanwhile, have found their captain in undrafted 20-year-old defenceman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen, who has only three goals and 20 points in 147 career WHL regular-season and playoff games, but who brings so much else to the ice in terms of physicality and grit.

“We’ve got a younger team with a lot of new guys,” said veteran Giants head coach Don Hay, from Vancouver.

“We’re getting to know our guys and establishing our line combinations as we now play for real. The intensity and pace of the games will go up with points on the line and everyone will have to dig in more.”

Like the Royals, the Giants are not considered a top-tier team in the talent-laden 2012-13 WHL.

“There is only one team that we know is going to be in the 2013 Memorial Cup and that’s [host] Saskatoon,” countered Hay.

“We want to establish ourselves as a team that can really compete against anybody. How you progress determines how you finish. I always look at the process.”

Hay’s teams are certainly never easy to play against.

“The Giants always forecheck hard and we have to find a way to push back on them,” said Royals forward Jamie Crooks, last season’s team leading scorer and MVP and one of the primary captain candidates for this season along with defenceman and fellow 20-year-old Tyler Stahl.

The undrafted Crooks, who had 37 goals last regular season and four goals in four playoff games, is on an intriguing Royals’ top line with NHL draft picks Steven Hodges and Logan Nelson.

“I’ve set a few [scoring and points] goals for myself this season but the most important thing to have is team success,” said Crooks.

With the NHL lockout, the Giants are hoping for a trickle down and expect a huge crowd tonight at the Pacific Coliseum.

“We’ll use that crowd as inspiration for ourselves,” said Crooks.

In heralding the end of the pre-season and start of the regular season, he said: “There’s lots of excitement building in our team because now it’s the real deal.”

And, from the crease out, maybe in more ways than one for the Royals.

ICE CHIPS: The Royals open at home Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Centre against the Giants as London Olympics silver-medallist rowing eight coxswain Brian Price will drop the ceremonial opening puck after Canucks anthem singer Mark Donnelly belts out O Canada . . . Stahl will miss the first three regular-season games because of a suspension incurred in the pre-season.


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