Ronning focused as WHL milestone looms
Vancouver sniper says preparing for playoffs the goal despite being on cusp of 60-goal plateau
The Vancouver Giants finish the regular season Friday and Saturday with a home-and-home against the Kelowna Rockets and Ty Ronning sees that as a chance to get a running start on the playoffs.
“We want to be going into the playoffs playing our best hockey and these next games are huge for us to get dialed in,” he said. “We have a little miniseries with Kelowna in a way. It’s a good way to finish. They’ll be going. We need to be going.”
Vancouver is in the playoffs for the first time in four years. Their final placing was still up in the air going into a Wednesday road game against the Kamloops Blazers since the Giants (35-25-6-3) were five points back of the Victoria Royals (39-25-42) for second place in the B.C. Division. Vancouver had three games left.
The B.C.-leading Rockets (40-225-2) had a three-point cushion on the Royals going into a Wednesday game versus the Prince George Cougars, so they, too, could have something on the line going into Friday’s matchup (7:30 p.m., TSN 1040) at the Langley Events Centre and Saturday’s return game (7:05 p.m., TSN 1410) at Prospera Place.
The Royals have a home-andhome this weekend against the Everett Silvertips remaining.
The top three teams from both the B.C. and U.S. divisions qualify for the Western Conference playoffs along with two wild-card teams. The second-place team from B.C. has home-ice advantage against the third-place team in the first round.
“I think we focused last week on playing the right way and we broke
it down into four categories that we felt were going to be important going into the last two weeks and then the playoffs,” said Giants coach Jason McKee, whose team split four road games last week, winning in Kelowna and Spokane and losing twice in Tri-City.
“We’re just focusing on those little things. I think at this time of the year, you’re not changing your system. You have to expect that your players know the system. It’s about the details and the decision making in certain areas. That’s going to be the difference. You’re expecting tight games.”
Ronning went into the final week of the regular season with 59 goals. He says the 60-goal milestone won’t affect his focus.
“I got 59. That’s awesome for me,” said Ronning, who recently signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the New York Rangers, the team that took him in the seventh round of the 2016 NHL draft. “I do want to push myself to get more. If it happens, it’s great. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t. For me, it’s focusing on trying to get home-ice advantage.”
Left-winger Tyler Benson added: “He’s gotten 59 with the way we’ve played all year. With the games left,
there’s a good chance he’s going to get one. If he keeps playing the same way and we do as well, there’s a good chance he’s going to get one.”
Going into Wednesday, Ronning was second in the WHL in goals. Forward Jayden Halbgewachs had scored 68 for the Moose Jaw Warriors. Halbgewachs is the first player to break the 60-goal plateau since Portland Winterhawks forward Oliver Bjorkstrand counted 63 in 2014-15.
The Giants’ single-season team record heading into this season belonged to Evander Kane, who counted 48 in 2008-09. Ronning led the Giants last year with 25.
Going into the week, Ronning had 125 goals in 283 regular-season games with the Giants. That was one goal behind Adam Courchaine (2001-05) for second on the team’s all-time, regular-season list. Brendan Gallagher (2008-12) had 136 goals.
People forget Ronning’s struggles in his second season with Vancouver in 2014-15. He hurt his shoulder in the pre-season and had trouble winning the trust of former coach Claude Noel when he returned to action. He played sparingly and wound up with one goal in 24 games.