Hannoun eager to lead the way for Royals
GAME DAY: VICTORIA AT VANCOUVER, 7 P.M.
Worst-case scenario for the Victoria Royals, captain and last season’s leading scorer Matthew Phillips (Calgary Flames), along with point-a-game winger Tanner Kaspick (St. Louis Blues) say goodbye to junior hockey and start the season with their NHL team’s respective American Hockey League franchises.
They are, after all, heading into their 20-year-old seasons and have spent four years in major-junior hockey.
But if Dante Hannoun continues his steady trend upward, that worse-case scenario all of a sudden doesn’t seem so bad.
Hannoun, a B.C. boy from Delta, quietly had his best season of his WHL career, perhaps overshadowed by Phillips’ point parade and several trades involving WHL veterans such as Kaspick.
Hannoun’s 79 points were third best on the Royals, behind only Phillips’ 112 and Tyler Soy’s 92. Soy is now at the Anaheim Ducks’ rookie camp.
And when the Royals needed him the most, in the playoffs, Hannoun was at his best, scoring five goals and 14 points in 11 games, totals second only to Phillips.
As Hannoun enters his 20-yearold season, he is coming off seasons of 79, 64 and 58 points. If that pattern continues, it doesn’t take a mathematician to see that Hannoun could approach the elusive 100-point mark this season.
“Obviously I’m going to be counted on to lead this year and I plan on doing that by example,” said Hannoun, who will see his first preseason game action tonight when the Royals head to the Langley Events Centre for the Vancouver Giants’ annual preseason tournament. Victoria will face the Giants tonight, Everett Silvertips on Saturday afternoon and Prince George Cougars on Sunday afternoon.
“I think if I work hard the points will come and I’ll try to show the young guys the way.”
And there will be plenty of young guys on the Royals’ roster this season as Victoria heads into a rebuilding phase. Hannoun, defenceman Ralph Jarratt and goaltender Griffen Outhouse are the three 20-year-olds Victoria will likely start the season with.
And the Royals are more than happy with that.
“Myself, Ralphy and Griff, we’ve been through a lot now in our junior careers so I think the three of us, and some of the other older guys are ready to lead the way,” said Hannoun.
Royals head coach Dan Price knows he’ll need goals from Hannoun’s stick, but the 5-foot-7, 160-pound winger will have to bring his all-around game to another level as well.
“Dante is a great two-way player. I think his defensive abilities get forgotten sometimes because of the offence he produces,” said Price, who expects a much more veteran team to take the ice tonight than dressed in the Royals’ first two preseason games last weekend.
“So we will need him at both ends of the rink on five-on-five and on the power play and penalty killing, so we’re expecting a big year from Dante.”
The Royals open the 2018-19 regular season on Sept. 21 when the Prince George Cougars pay a visit to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for the first of back-toback games.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Royals this week added some experience to their forward group via the trade route. Victoria acquired 18-year-old Brandon Cutler and a second-round draft choice in next spring’s WHL bantam draft for the rights to unsigned prospect Dallon Melin and a fifth-round pick in 2019. Last season, Cutler, who hails from Spruce Grove, Alta., scored six goals and added five assists and 82 penalty minutes in 68 games for the Rebels. Melin played last season with the Sherwood Park Kings of the Alberta Midget Hockey League where he registered six goals and 14 assists in 27 games. Melin, from Camrose, Alta., was drafted by the Royals in the second round, 32nd overall, in the 2017 WHL bantam draft.