Hurricanes blow in as one of league’s best

GAME DAY: LETHBRIDGE AT VICTORIA 7 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre TV: None / Radio: The Zone 91.3 FM

As an incredulous Butch Cassidy said to Sundance in the movie: “Who are those guys?”

The Victoria Royals will find out tonight in the Western Hockey League version when the Lethbridge Hurricanes visit the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

The Hurricanes, a study in ice misery, missed the playoffs the past six seasons. Things hit rock bottom in 2013-14 in a 12-win season with the worst record in the 60-team Canadian Hockey League.

But the resurgent ’Canes are off to an 8-2 start this year and have won six consecutive games.

The man credited for the sudden turnaround is new head coach Brent Kisio. He was just an aspiring young man when current Royals head coach Dave Lowry hired Kisio as his video assistant coach with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL in 2008-09. The interconnections run deep. Before that, Lowry had served as assistant coach of the Hitmen under Brent’s dad, Kelly Kisio.

“[Brent Kisio] is one of the best young coaches . . . he is a fresh voice [for the Hurricanes] and has them believing they can win every night,” said Lowry, who sensed that spark early.

“When I hired Brent as the Hitmen video coach, I saw a young guy who was passionate about the game and who could think outside the box.”

The Royals, meanwhile, are 8-5 and halted a four-game losing streak Saturday with a 3-0 victory in Spokane on a shutout by rookie goaltender Griffen Outhouse in his first WHL start. That didn’t go unnoticed as Montreal Canadiens and Canadian Olympic team goldmedallist goaltender Carey Price, who also came up through Williams Lake minor hockey, tweeted a thumbs-up to Outhouse. “That was cool,” said Outhouse. “We have those Williams Lake connections and my parents are close friends with [Price’s] parents.”

Veteran Coleman Vollrath had started the previous 12 Royals games and don’t look for that ratio to change. Let’s be clear, there is no goaltending controversy in the Royals crease. Vollrath is 20 years old and top-five in the league with a 1.98 goalsagainst average. This is Vollrath’s team. Outhouse will spend the season mentoring under him.

Still, in light of Saturday’s WHL debut shutout by the 17-year-old Outhouse, Lowry was asked the question about his starting goaltender for tonight. The Victoria bench boss, who rarely announces it to the media beforehand, gave back his usual noncommittal smile.

“It felt weird not playing,” admitted Vollrath, about his rare night off Saturday. “I like playing every game.” Outhouse’s time as the Royals’ starter will come, but it will begin next season. He has plenty of time.

“[Outhouse] picks your brain and he also learns by closely watching you and other goalies,” said Vollrath of his protégé.

Meanwhile, Hurricanes goaltender Jayden Sittler has appeared in seven games and is second in the WHL with a 1.65 goals-against average. The 19-year-old played 10 games with the Royals last season before being traded in January to Lethbridge for a seventh-round bantam draft pick in 2016.

“We know Jayden is a goalie who can stop the puck,” said star Victoria blue-liner Joe Hicketts, of his time shooting on Sittler in practice last season.

“In our crease, Coleman [Vollrath] has been a horse for us.”

Vollrath has seen a number of goaltending partners during his four seasons in Victoria, including briefly Sittler last season.

“Jayden is a good guy,” said Vollrath.

But a “good guy” the Royals want to get a lot of pucks past tonight.

The Royals will embark on the 7 a.m. ferry Wednesday morning out of Swartz Bay to begin a kilometre-chewing six-game trip through Saskatchewan and Manitoba that begins Friday night in Prince Albert against Marc Habscheid’s Raiders.