Pro-rated to 66 games (there are 68 in a normal WHL season), the Royals would have been 9-51-6. That’s barely above the 1989-90 Victoria Cougars (5-65-2), whose CHL record for futility was broken by the 1995-96 London Knights (3-60-3) of the OHL. The Cougars continued stumbling until they left town for Prince George.
But if it’s any consolation for the Royals, the Knights rebounded to become one of the greatest franchises in junior hockey.
Regardless, Royals GM and head coach Dan Price would like to put an asterisk beside Parcells’ quote. He might also mention, in keeping with an NFL theme, that the Dallas Cowboys were 1-15 in 1989 before winning three Super Bowls from 1993 to 1996.
Prince George controlled the face-off circle 39-16 and when you do that you control the game. “The Cougars got a lot of puck possession off the draws. We will work on that. We had a couple of young centres out there and we will help them with that,” said Price. Anaheim Ducks first-round draft-pick Brayden Tracey, who had a seven-game points streak of five goals and six assists snapped in Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Vancouver Giants, opened scoring for Victoria on the power play at 11:32 of the first period. The Royals’ reverie was not long lived, however, as the Cougars went ahead in the second period on the first goals of the season for Majid Kaddoura and Keaton Dowhaniuk.
Vancouver has leaned well into the post-Bowen Byram era. Even without the Canadian world junior gold medallist, now a rookie blueliner in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche, the Giants returned a boat load of players and are 6-3 in the 24-game B.C. Division season. Veterans Alex Kannok Leipert, a Washington Capitals NHL draft pick, Tristan Nielsen and third-round Florida Panthers draft pick Justin Sourdif led Vancouver with a goal and assist each to snap a two-game losing skid and send Victoria to its fourth consecutive defeat. “Vancouver was more physical and I want our guys to take pride in being more physical going ahead,” said Victoria head coach Dan Price.
(Rookie Connor Martin faced the barrage in Friday’s game).
The Royals have the youngest team in the WHL. That was further exacerbated by having four veterans out of the line-up. Victoria captain Tarun Fizer, import and Swiss junior national team forward Keanu Derungs, forward Riley Gannon and defenceman Noah Lamb were missing. Fizer, Derungs and Lamb are day-to-day. The Royals revealed Sunday that Gannon is out for the season after an injury in Friday’s game.
The Royals could muster only 10 forwards to dress on Sunday, which was the team’s fourth game in six days.
It didn’t help to be facing a potent Kamloops squad that features Calgary Flames first-round NHL draft pick Connor Zary and New York Rangers-goaltending prospect Dylan Garand of Langford, projected 2021 second- or third-round NHL draft pick Logan Stankoven and dangerous 20-year-old Orrin Centazzo.
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