After a blazing start to the regular season, the Victoria Royals now face controversy. The Royals have dropped 3 of their past 4 games in regulation losses and the team doesn't seem to have as much jump as they did in September/Early October. To be fair, the Kelowna Rockets and the Portland Winterhawks aren't pushovers by any standards, but at the beginning of the year, the Royals were beating teams like Portland and Kelowna. But now, the Royals can't seem to beat the top teams in the league. And it's not a surprise that the Royals aren't leading the B.C. Division or are right behind Kamloops, after all, Kamloops is considered the #1 team in the CHL right now.
In the midst of this, the Royals are still 3rd in the divison and are still 6th in the conference, so it's no time to panic. Guys like Magee, Hodges, Nelson and Stahl are going to have to pick things up and regroup as a team to start winning games against the playoff contending teams again. Patrik Polivka has continued to be great through this rough patch, he's had little to no chance on the majority of the goals against him, and our defense is our biggest concern this season. I belive we can finish in the Top 5 in the conference and finish 2nd in the B.C. Division, but we need to get things rolling.
- Tyler Bennett
Two Victoria Royals fans, one an apsiring scout the other aspiring journalist.
