ADDITIONS TO ROYALS’ BLUE LINE AND CHIEFS ROLLING
Since when has it become a bad thing to be the home team in hockey? You hear it all the time that teams would rather start the season or even a playoff series on the road. Being the home team in the WHL hasn’t exactly worked out too well. Going into the second weekend of the WHL season, the hosts have gone 10-15-0-0. Wednesday night was incredible to see in three games that the road teams out-scored their opponents 18-1. The Royals’ Luke Harrison had that one goal for the home teams in a 6-1 loss to Spokane, while Regina walked into Edmonton and romped over the Oil Kings 6-0 and Seattle pasted Vancouver by that same score.
After a win on opening night against the Giants in Vancouver last Friday, the Royals have dropped three straight at home. But the Royals’ defence will get a pair of new faces into the line-up Saturday when they square off with Kelowna. Keegan Kanzig has been sent back by the Calgary Flames, although he earned very positive reviews, and an assist in a pre-season game, for what he showed in his first pro camp. Although the Royals moved big blue-liner Kolton Dixon to his hometown Red Deer Rebels for a conditional bantam draft pick, Victoria brought in Jake Kohlhauser from the Vancouver Giants and gained one more year on the blue-line since he is a 1996-born defenceman while Dixon was a ’95. A conditional pick went the other way to Vancouver.
The Royals start their four-game BC trip against the 2-and-0 Rockets Saturday, then head to Prince George for a pair and finish in Kamloops on October 4. The Royals’ next home game is October 6 against Tri-City.
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Shaw got its first look at Mathew Barzal of the Seattle Thunderbirds in Vancouver Wednesday, the first pick in the 2012 Bantam Draft. Thunderbirds’ General Manager Russ Farwell explained in a second intermission interview that Barzal might not have been at his best that night because the team got to the rink late and then he was surrounded by family and friends when he arrived at Pacific Coliseum. Although he didn’t hit the scoresheet in a lop-sided Thunderbirds’ win, he still had glimpses as to what all the hype is about. A terrific distributor of the puck, Barzal skates fluidly and very quick in his decisions with the puck. Farwell added that the great thing for Mathew playing in Seattle is that the pressure isn’t on him there compared to most of the Western Canadian cities that host a WHL team. I remember Alex Forsberg had huge expectations going into his rookie season in 2011-12 after the Cougars selected him first in the 2010 Bantam Draft.
By the way, that was by far the lowest attended Giants’ game I have been to, with just 4,073 in the rink and many of those were in Burnaby Winter Club gear, the same team Barzal suited up for when the Thunderbirds selected him first overall. Although it was still 900 more than what showed up at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, which is really surprising to see.
That Seattle team could cause some headaches in the Western Conference this season. The Thunderbirds have two solid scoring lines up front, with Connor Honey, Alex Delnov and Branden Trook combining for 11 points against the Giants. Roberts Lipsbergs is one of the top import forwards in the league and Seth Swenson could hit the 20-goal mark this season. They also added Erik Benoit from the Saskatoon Blades, who gives them Memorial Cup experience with the Kootenay Ice in 2011 and the Blades last year. Add to that Seattle was without Shea Theodore, who is back now after his first pro camp in Anaheim, and veteran defenceman Jesse Forsberg who still nurses an injury. This is not a team to take lightly at all in the West and the Royals will get their first look at the Thunderbirds November 8 in Kent, Washington.
This is Seattle’s first 2-0 start to a season since 1998.
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Are the Spokane Chiefs for real? Likely a yes vote coming out of Victoria after the Chiefs out-scored the Royals 12-3 in back-to-back wins. I, like a few others I know, thought the Chiefs would take a step back this season, when you consider that they lost five of the top 8 point producers from last year. And yet, here they are at 3-0-0-0, all victories on the road and have out-scored their opposition 18-5. Going into this season, Mitch Holmberg and Mike Aviani had to lead the way and my goodness, have they ever. Holmberg leads the WHL with six goals and 12 points and is tied with Chiefs’ defenceman Reid Gow for the league-lead with 6 assists. Aviani has nine points, second in the league, and produced four goals Wednesday against the Royals. Holmberg and Aviani have produced 11 of the Chiefs 18 goals this season, with six other players combining for the seven other goals. The Chiefs have had the goaltending as well, with Eric Williams and Garret Hughson getting in front of 76 of the 81 shots they have faced so far for a .938 save percentage. And keep in mind the man behind the bench, Don Nachbaur, and what influence he has on that team. The Chiefs have their structure and they are a team that truly sticks to it, so while the players change, the remain the same and Spokane looks to be a threat in the Western Conference again.
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Off to Vancouver again for Canada West Football Saturday, which features the U-of-S Huskies at the UBC Thunderbirds at 2:00pm. Next week, the WHL on Shaw heads to Swift Current where the Broncos host the Saskatoon Blades.
