Royals hope to turn out lights on Americans

GAME DAY: VICTORIA AT TRI-CITY 7 p.m. at the Toyota Center TV: None / Radio: The Zone 91.3 FM

It’s OK to turn the Friday night lights back on in rinks in the U.S. Division of the Western Hockey League.

“You try not to schedule home games on Friday nights in the early to mid fall in U.S. Division cities because that’s high school football night,” said Victoria Royals head coach Dan Price.

Price knows of what he speaks. He was assistant coach of the Tri-City Americans in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Price revisits old haunts tonight — on a Friday with high school football winding down — when the Royals (12-8-1) take on the Americans (11-9-3) in Kennewick, Washington.

Price said he has fond memories of his time in Kennewick and enjoyed the cross-border cultural differences, which included reserving Friday nights for road games.

“We also took our players out to Dust Devils [Norwest League Single-A] baseball games in September and I remember NCAA basketball tournament time as being a big thing in the spring, especially in the Spokane area, which was our closest rival city. It’s a great sporting culture down here and hockey is a part of it with the Americans having among the loudest fans in the WHL.”

The Royals will try to spoil some of that eastern Washington spirit tonight in Kennewick and Saturday in Spokane against the Chiefs (12-9-2) and 2018 firstround NHL draft pick Ty Smith.

The Royals seem to have found their footing and have won six of their last seven games.

“I thought it was a solid win [4-2 Wednesday in Kent, Washington, against the Seattle Thunderbirds] and we rolled four lines,” said Price.

“We have depth and balance because of the way [GM] Cam Hope has put this team together. We can spread out the minutes, right down to our goaltending.”

Tri-City, which lost 2-1 at home to the Saskatoon Blades in a penalty-marred game Wednesday, is 3-2 in its last five.

The Americans, meanwhile, made a trade Wednesday that makes them a lot more experienced on the back end. Tri-City acquired 19-year-old defenceman Luke Zazula from the Kamloops Blazers in return for second- and third-round picks in the 2021 WHL bantam draft. It shows the Americans are all-in for this season.

Zazula, who can quarterback the power play from the point, is a player the Royals know well from the B.C. Division.

“The Americans are an opportunistic team and this trade [makes them more so],” said Price.