Returning centre gives Oil Kings depth
Central Division’s top team on a roll as they head into pair of weekend games
The Edmonton Oil Kings were a good hockey team heading into a three-game road trip last weekend and got even better with the return of centre Vince Loschiavo.
The 20-year-old was out for three weeks with an upper-body injury and missed seven games. He scored two goals and had an assist in road victories against the Kootenay Ice, Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes, which lifted the Oil Kings into top spot in the Western Hockey League’s Central Division.
Loschiavo will be in the lineup again when the Oil Kings travel to face Lethbridge again Friday and return home to host the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Rogers Place.
“I felt good. I worked pretty hard to keep my conditioning up so I wouldn’t lose that,” Loschiavo said. “Lucky, it was an upper-body injury so I was able to still skate, so I felt good coming back in the lineup.”
Loschiavo was injured on Oct. 21 in a game, at home, against Kootenay. Prior to his injury, Loschiavo was the Oil Kings second-leading scorer with eight goals and 16 points in 14 games.
“I don’t remember exactly when in the game it (injury) happened, it was a few weeks ago,” Loschiavo said. “It was fine for a while and then it kind of got worse through practice. So I took a couple of weeks off and it got better, so I’m happy to be back.”
Loschiavo has since been passed in Oil Kings scoring by Quinn Benjafield (8 goals, 27 points) and Brett Kemp (15 goals, 25 points), who benefited from extra ice time in his absence.
All three are chasing Trey FixWolansky (13 goals, 45 points) for the Oil Kings scoring lead.
“It helps having Vince back, it adds some depth to our lineup for sure,” said Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer. “It does bump someone down in the lineup, but for the most part, we like to play four lines as much as we can and it gives us much more depth up front and when you’re playing some teams, it’s definitely an advantage.”
Loschiavo returned to face his former team in the Ice last Friday and did not register a point in a 5-2 win. But he did score the following night in a 4-3 overtime win against Medicine Hat and then had a goal and an assist two nights later in a 6-4 win in Lethbridge.
“We put him on the fourth line in his first game back in Kootenay just to let him get the feel again and let him feel good about his game,”
Lauer said. “He had a decent game in Kootenay and then we bumped him up with Trey and Kemp for the next two games and that line played very well.”
The Oil Kings have won eight of their past nine games (8-0-1) and are a point ahead of the Red Deer Rebels in the Central Division standings. Edmonton missed the playoffs the previous two seasons, finishing last in the overall standings last season.
“It was a great road trip,” Loschiavo said. “Every time you play divisional rivals, you want to bring your best game and I thought we did that, getting all three wins against some pretty good teams. We played well and we want to continue that going into this weekend as well.”
A Winnipeg product, Loschiavo spent two-and-a-half seasons with Kootenay before being traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors midway through last year.
Between Kootenay and Moose Jaw, Loschiavo had 19 goals and 36 points last season. He was acquired by the Oil Kings this off-season.
Playing on the top line with Fix-Wolansky, who is leading the league in scoring, Loschiavo is on pace for his most productive WHL season.
“Trey ’s a great player, obviously, he’s leading the league in points for a reason,” Loschiavo said. “It’s a credit to him, it’s great to play with him. He makes it so much easier to play with him on the ice and he deserves everything he’s getting right now.
“Just playing against him in the last couple of years, I knew he was a really good player and he put up a ton of points last year. So I knew he was a special player and to come here and play with him is great.”