New Royals not just along for the ride
Jeff de Wit and Braydon Buziak took very different routes to join their new teammates on Thursday.
Traded to the Victoria Royals the day before, de Wit drove from Cranbrook, where he played with the Kootenay Ice, to Calgary to hop on a direct flight to Victoria. He arrived Thursday morning, and met the coaching and training staff and teammates.
Buziak, on the other hand, didn’t land until 6 p.m., and got a ride in from the airport to make it in time for the warm-up against the Prince George Cougars.
Both played effective roles in a 7-1 Royals’ win and, after a good night’s sleep, joined the team for its road trip to Kelowna and Kamloops, where Victoria plays tonight at 7 and Monday at 2 p.m., respectively.
“It’s always nice going on a road trip with a new group, you get to meet them and bond a bit, that usual stuff that you get to do as a team,” said de Wit, a former teammate of Buziak’s with the Regina Pats.
De Wit has now joined his third Western Hockey League club this season (and fourth overall) after stints in Regina and Kootenay. Buziak spent last season and 32 games this year with the Pats.
Both were optimistic about joining their new team.
“I’m looking forward to it, especially Kelowna,” de Wit said of the trip. “I know Victoria has a great rivalry going with Kelowna, with the playoff experiences they’ve had together.
“It’s always nice knowing a few guys,” he added of entering his new dressing room. “I know and played with [Royals defenceman Jared] Freadrich in Red Deer and Buziak was one of my good friends in Regina. It makes it better for the transition. Either way, though, if there’s no one I know here, I know I have the character to make friends easily.”
And that’s exactly what head coach Dan Price was looking for.
“Those guys both had a tremendous impact,” Price said of their first outings as Royals, with de Wit recording a goal and an assist while Buziak had an assist and was a pest all night. “Jeff, you can tell, he’s got good offensive ability, good vision and he’s a really good person. He’s already gelling with the players. The guys really like him. Braydon, he’s very tenacious, a smart player who’s going to play centre or wing. We played them on a few different lines [Thursday] so both those players are tremendous acquisitions.”
Buziak had plenty of energy for a guy who showed up just in time for warm-up.
“It was great to get out there and get a win,” he said of his first game. “It was a good bounce-back win from Wednesday night [a 5-3 loss to Prince George]. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this group. It’s a close group in there, so to get out on the road and get to know the guys will help a lot.”
As for roles, both will add plenty of grit to a group that required more of a sandpaper look, making life rougher for opponents.
“I get pucks deep, go on the forecheck and get to the corner to try to make things happen from there. I’ll stick with that,” Buziak said. “If I’m on the forecheck, I’m going to throw a bodycheck or two. If I get a chance to throw a hit, I’ll throw the hit — that’s just the way I like to play.”
De Wit is a similar type of player. “The guys around me made it super-easy to come out here and play,” he said. “I’m prepared to fill any role. I know [Thursday] I played with Dante [Hannoun] and Dino [Kambeitz], two pretty good players, and they made the game super-easy offensively.
“We didn’t have to be in the defensive zone too much. Down the line if you want me to play a more defensive role, then I’m up for that, too. Whatever is asked of me I’m ready to do.”
This is an important divisional road trip for the 21-14-3-0 Royals, who are tied with Kelowna (21-11-2-1) in points. Kamloops was 16-17-0-2 heading into Friday play. Kelowna was in Kamloops on Friday night.
“Those are very important games, Kelowna and Kamloops, division rivals,” Price said. “We are neck and neck with Kelowna right now, so I know this game is very important to our players, as it is for Kelowna. Those are two tough buildings to play in as Kamloops is playing very tough right now.”