Behind the Bench presented by Double N Hardwood Floors – Headed to the Hub!
Hey Royals Fans!
Wow – a lot can change in a month!
For the full scoop on what it’s taken over the last month to turn Kelowna’s Prospera Place from a rival arena into our temporary BC Division home we reached out to three key members of our hockey operations staff. Their behind-the-scenes recap, complete with pictures and video, didn’t disappoint!
Before you dig in though, we have three important items to share:
- Even though you won’t be able to attend this season’s games in person, we do have 3 great streaming options that allow you to safely cheer on the boys from home, including a 2021 Supporter Pack exclusive to Ticket Pack Members. Click here to check out your options.
- If you are still on the fence about being a ‘streamer’, WHL Live (https://watch.chl.ca/whl) is also making each team’s home opener complimentary this season. That means that Friday night’s season opener between the Royals and Rockets will be available to view at no charge
- This is your 3rd (of 4!) chance to enter Double N Hardwood Floors ‘Local Experiences’ contest. We’ve included your March entry link at the bottom of this article and it’s a $500 prize pack containing a variety of local businesses up for grabs.
Enjoy!
B.C. Division Returns to Play
In other words, we had five days to mobilize 35 people to get ready for a two month long road trip to play 24 games. Challenge accepted!
From the Royals Dressing Room to a Boiler Room
Let’s focus on the hockey equipment side first. In order to be able to compete at the WHL level for two months we need a lot of gear. Like, a lot of gear. When all was said and done, we packed over 20 thousand kilograms of gear and equipment in a big truck. Luckily, one of our staff members, lets call him ‘Heff Jarris’ to keep his identity secret, kept reminding us not to forget to pack the kitchen sink. We forgot it, but we did pack everything else, from sticks to squat racks, we brought it all.
All that gear was headed to Prospera Place in Kelowna, where it would be living for the next two months. Behind the scenes (and to our benefit), Trevor Foster, our Director of Arena Operations at the Save on Foods Memorial Centre, also oversees the arena operations at our new home in Kelowna. He and Ian Murray, along with their staff of engineers, worked tirelessly to turn the arena’s boiler room into our new dressing room and gym. They did an amazing job building a space that we are now proud to call our home away from home; taking care of every little detail from walls, player stalls, paint, hooks, rubber flooring, assembling the gym equipment, mounting TV’s, rink boards, etc. The space looks and feels great. Not quite like home, but pretty darn close!
Preparing the Athletes
During the down time, some guys, like newly appointed team captain Tarun Fizer, also worked on their putting….
From the hockey coaching and team building perspectives, a lot of content was also delivered online during the isolation phases. At almost every team meeting, we covered a wide array of logistics every day with the players in order to prepare them for what to expect when we travelled to Kelowna, when we moved into the hotel, the daily schedules, the game schedule, the laundry protocols, the food services, the room cleaning services, the league mandates, the list goes on. We also layered in some hockey content to start engraining the players into our team tactics, systems, and culture.
Hotel to the Arena
Upon receiving confirmation that our second round of tests were all negative in the evening of March 19th, the excitement ramped up quickly. Every member of our cohort was really happy to be able to leave the hotel rooms and finally head to the arena as a group. Even though we didn’t get to skate that evening, everyone was just glad to be around each other setting up our new dressing room. All hands were on deck preparing for our first practice the next day.
Evaluating inside the Hub
In the normal course of a season, we would have a Draft Camp, followed by a Rookie Camp, and then a Main Camp with the top prospects competing with the returning players for a roster spot. These camps run over the course of three weeks. This is a completely different format. Immediately following the return to play announcement, we had to make decisions and projections based on year old video and scouting reports. After finalizing our group of players, the evaluation and familiarization process started virtually in isolation. Our Director of Player Personnel, Ed Fowler and the rest of the staff, continued to learn about the players that were joining the Royals both as players and as people.
Throughout this unique experience, the hard-work and preparation feels well worth the required effort. Between the two weeks of virtual two-a-day work outs and watching the players battle to stay physically active to keep their fitness levels high, all while remaining mentally focused (despite the lack of face-to-face feedback), it feels great to be back in the rink. The atmosphere in an empty arena, and the new rules such as sitting in a designated area, takes some getting used to as one of the lone evaluators in the building. But it’s nice to be back watching live hockey and it’s hard not to smile as the players start to get their feet underneath them with the pace getting faster and their skills becoming sharper.
The best part is to see the players all smiling too. The joy in their faces is obvious as they are back on the ice, practicing, preparing to finally play some games after being away for more than a year. Everybody’s ready to get the games going again!
Thanks for reading! Please click here for your next entry into the Double N Hardwood Floors ‘Local Experiences’ $500 prize contest!
