Goalie Vollrath key to Royals’ season
Victoria Royals goaltender Coleman Vollrath’s 42-save performance in a 4-1 WHL exhibition victory over the Vancouver Giants on Sunday could be a harbinger. Get used to it. There need to be plenty of those if the Royals are to be successful this season.
“We’re going to be a low-scoring team this year. [Vollrath] is going to have to be our best player on most nights,” said Victoria head coach Dave Lowry, about what is amounting to a rebuild season.
“We’re not a high-scoring team and we are going to be in a lot of tight games. Coleman is going to have to steal games for us. Is it pressure on him? Yes. But he is 20 and he’s been through it all.”
Vollrath, entering his fourth season with Victoria, said he is looking forward to being one of the team leaders.
“Dave and I have talked about it. The 20-year-olds [each WHL team is allowed three] are expected to be top players. It means more responsibility, but I like the challenge it brings,” said Vollrath, following Sunday’s matinée victory over the Giants before a sparse crowd at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“And I like bossing around some of the rookies,” he added, with a smile.
The skate was on the other foot when Vollrath was just that himself — a rookie at the pro level — when called up last spring for the Kelly Cup playoffs by the Ontario Reign of the ECHL following the Royals’ second-round loss to the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL playoffs.
“I took some things out from the ECHL experience about what it takes to get to the next level,” said Vollrath, who was thrown into a Reign crease mix that included Winnipeg Jets-prospect Jussi Olkinuora and Canucks draft-pick Joe Cannata.
With only 13 returnees, and five of them away at NHL rookie camps, the Royals were especially reliant on rookies Sunday. Two of them stepped up, with defenceman Brayden Pachal scoring a goal and assisting on another and forward Matthew Phillips drawing two assists, including on the Pachal goal.
“I consider myself a two-way defenceman … it was a little nerve-wracking at the start, but I’m getting used to the speed in junior,” said Pachal, a 16-year-old from Estevan, Sask.
The 17-year-old Phillips is tied for the Royals’ pre-season scoring lead with veteran forward Alex Forsberg and rookie defenceman Scott Walford on two goals and three assists for five points in five games.
“When you are smaller in size, you have to use your teammates more, so I look for those short passes to make,” said the fivefoot-six, 137-pound play-making centre from Calgary.
“Smaller guys need to work for pucks and need to keep their feet moving.”
Also scoring for Victoria, which was outshot 43-23, were 20-year-old forward Logan Fisher, on the power play, and Russian import and former Giants forward Vladimir Bobylev.
The Royals (2-3) conclude the pre-season with games Friday in Seattle against the Thunderbirds and Saturday in Everett against the Silvertips.
The regular-season opener for Victoria is Sept. 25 at the Memorial Centre against the Portland Winterhawks.