6 things to know about the Victoria Royals home games this October

The dawn of a new WHL season has arrived, and the Victoria Royals will have the opportunity to make a statement at home early in the season, with six home games scheduled for October, five of which fall on weekends.

The Royals will be away this upcoming weekend for a road trip to the Okanagan, where they will face off against the Kamloops Blazers and the Kelowna Rockets.

Afterward, the team will return to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre for a five-game homestand, which will run through October 21st.

One notable absence will be the team captain Gannon Laroque, who seems to be on the verge of a significant transition to the AHL after being assigned to the farm team by the San Jose Sharks.

Now, let’s dive into the matchups!

Victoria Royals vs Everett Silvertips

• When: Friday, October 13th, 7:05 p.m.
• NHL drafted players: Kaden Hammell, D, 2023 5th round, Seattle. Ben Hemmerling, F, 2022 6th round, Vegas. Austin Roest, F, 2023 6th round, Nashville
• Island born players: #22 Jesse Heslop, F, Nanaimo. #6 Ty Gibson, D, Victoria
• Record: 3-1-0-0, 1st in Western Conference

Everett has gotten off to a good start, pacing the Western Conference early on thanks to their 3-1-0-0 start. They’ve been stingy on the back end, having allowed 2.25 goals against per game so far, which is far below the typical WHL average of roughly 3.3 goals against per game.

Former Royals Tyler Palmer (G) and Teague Patton (F) are also on the team, which would make it a sweet win if the Royals can pull it off. Patton is off to a nice start to his career with Everett, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists through the first four games.

Victoria Royals vs Swift Current

• When: Saturday, October 14th, 6:05 p.m.
• NHL drafted players: Reid Dyck, G, 2022 6th round, Boston. Owen Pickering, D, 2022 1st round, Pittsburgh. Josh Filmon, F, 2022 6th round, New Jersey. Connor Hvidston, F, 2022 5th round, Anaheim
• Island born players: #35 Joey Rocha, G, Nanaimo
• Record: 1-3-0-0, 10th in Eastern Conference

The Swift Current Broncos haven’t made the playoffs since winning it all in 2018, and appear to be a prime target for a Royals win at home. They’ve been having trouble scoring early on this season, with just 2.25 goals per game, but also aren’t letting a ton in.

Captain and Pittsburgh Penguins first round draft pick Owen Pickering will be a player to watch, a 6’4 beast on the backend with admirable offensive abilities.

Given Victoria’s slow start to the season, fans should have this game circled as a chance to see the Royals leave the rink with two points in hand.

Victoria Royals vs Medicine Hat Tigers

• When: Tuesday, October 17th, 7:05 p.m.
• NHL drafted players: None
• Island born players: #31 Evan May, G, Nanaimo. #17 Brayden Boehm, Nanaimo.
• Record: 3-0-1-0, 1st in Eastern Conference

Medicine Hat is, early on at least, living a life the Victoria Royals hope to eventually find. After posting a horrid 11 win season two years ago in the 2021-22 season, the Tigers got back to .500 last year, and are looking to find their way back into the upper half of the Eastern Conference.

They have great reason to think they can, as their 1st overall pick in the 2022 WHL Draft, 15 year old Gavin McKenna, is off to a torrid start to his WHL career. He has a late birthday, December 20th, so he’s one of the youngest players in the league. That hasn’t mattered. He scored 4 goals and 18 points last year in 14 games, and so far has a goal and 7 points in 4 games this season.

The 5’11 playmaking dynamo is from Whitehorse, Y.T., making his story even more compelling.

Victoria Royals vs Spokane Cheifs

• When:
  • Friday, October 20th, 7:05 p.m.
  • Saturday, October 21st, 6:05 p.m.
• NHL drafted players: None
• Island born players: None
• Record: 2-1-0-0, 6th in Western Conference

Spokane is off to a surprisingly positive start, given that their team’s average age is 17.56, the youngest in the league, and that they accumulated just 15 wins last year. Front and center in that start is 2021 1st overall pick Berkly Catton, who is off to a scorching start in his NHL draft eligibility season with 2 goals and 5 assists in three games.

It’s early, but so far he is projected to be a top 10 pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, and will be a fun player to watch live. It appears he has an NHL future.

In the grand scheme of things, however, this should be a matchup the Royals are salivating over. While Spokane’s youth movement might propel them forward this year, they are still young and should be a prime target for the Royals to chalk up some points in the standings against.

Victoria Royals vs Vancouver Giants

• When: Saturday, October 28th, 6:05 p.m.
• NHL drafted players: Samuel Honzek, F, 2023 1st round, Calgary. Jaden Lipinski, F, 2023 4th round, Calgary
• Island born players: #1 Matthew Hutchison, G, Nanaimo. #2 Colton Alain, D, Victoria. #28 Julian Cull, F, Victoria. #7 Ty Halaburda, F, Victoria
• Record: 2-1-0-0, 4th in Western Conference

Vancouver has already taken points off the Royals this season, winning the season opener 4-1 at the Langley Events Center back in September.

Victoria will be highly motivated to even the season series with their biggest rivals, while finishing their home laden October schedule off strongly.

The Giants are the only team early on still boasting a perfect penalty kill, and have been buoyed by a strong start from Tyler McInnis Thorpe, who has 4 goals through the first 3 games after scoring that many in 48 games last year.

Vancouver has yet to play a game with their best player, Samuel Honzek, as he has been with the Calgary Flames at training camp. It’s expected he’ll be sent back to Vancouver and should be in the lineup against the Royals at the end of the month.

A few notes from early on in the season

• Despite a challenging start for the team, 16-year-old goaltender Jaden Kraus has looked good for his age. He will gain valuable experience this year, while continuing to develop as the Royals hope to ascend the standings over the coming years.In addition to that, the Victoria Royals announced today that goaltender Nicholas Cristiano has been reassigned.

• 16-year-old forward Cole Reschny has displayed the high end skill you hope to find in a 3rd overall pick, but it hasn’t all been good.Reschny started Saturday’s game against the Cougars on the fourth line before having a few excellent, hard working shifts with forechecking players. He moved up the lineup later in the game, scored his first goal of the year, and made a nifty move sliding the puck through a defender’s skates before sliding around him. He’s seen penalty kill time and has played a lot with Brayden Schuurman.
• Victoria is rolling out Kalem Parker and Justin Kipkie as dynamic duo on the backend a lot, and if they continue to stack that top pair, they’ll need to play extremely positive minutes. It puts a lot of pressure on the other top four defenseman, Austin Zemlak and Nate Misskey.

Tickets for each of the games can be purchased at the arena or online.