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Victoria Royals

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The Victoria Royals are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Victoria, British Columbia. The Royals play in the B.C. Division of the Western Conference in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team began play during the 2011–12 season after the league announced the relocation of the Chilliwack Bruins to Victoria. It marked the return of the WHL to Vancouver Island, 17 years after the departure of the Victoria Cougars. The Royals play their home games at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

Victoria Royals
CityVictoria, British Columbia, Canada
LeagueWestern Hockey League
ConferenceWestern
DivisionB.C.
Founded2006
Home arenaSave-On-Foods Memorial Centre
ColoursRoyal blue, silver, white, black
       
Owner(s)Graham Lee (Chairman - GSL Group)
General managerJake Heisinger
Head coachJames Patrick
Websitechl.ca/whl-royals/
Franchise history
2006–2011Chilliwack Bruins
2011–presentVictoria Royals
Championships
Regular season titles1 (2015–16)
Current uniform

History

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Victoria was left without a WHL team when the Cougars franchise relocated to Prince George in 1994.[1] The city acquired a professional ECHL—the Victoria Salmon Kings—in 2004 when the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre was opened, but the city had made inquiries about returning the WHL to Vancouver Island in the past.[1]

While two minority owners of the Chilliwack Bruins hoped to purchase the team and keep it in Chilliwack following the 2010–11 season, they were outvoted by the remaining partners who opted to sell the team to a group planning to relocate the franchise.[2] On April 20, 2011, the WHL announced the approval of the sale and the relocation of the Bruins to Victoria.[3] The relocation was brought about partially by the WHL's desire to protect the Victoria market, as the league feared that a potential summer relocation of the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg could result in the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose moving to Victoria.[4]

The Royals got off to a relatively strong start in Victoria, making the playoffs in each of the team's first eight seasons; the team was on track to make the playoffs for a ninth straight year in 2019–20 when the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] The team's best season came in 2015–16. The Royals reached the 50-win mark for the first time and secured their first Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the league's best team in the regular season.[6] They ultimately lost their second-round playoff series against the defending champion Kelowna Rockets; the Royals were leading in the seventh and deciding game when the Rockets tied the game with less than a second remaining in regulation, going on to win in overtime.[7]

Season-by-season record

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Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season GP W L OTL SOL GF GA Points Finish Playoffs
2011–12 72 24 41 3 4 233 325 55 4th B.C. Lost Western Conference quarter-final (0–4, KAM)
2012–13 72 35 30 2 5 223 252 77 3rd B.C. Lost Western Conference quarter-final (2–4, KAM)
2013–14 72 48 20 1 3 238 181 100 2nd B.C. Won Western Conference quarter-final (4–0, SPO)
Lost Western Conference semi-final (1–4, POR)
2014–15 72 39 29 3 1 244 219 82 2nd B.C. Won Western Conference quarter-final (4–1, PRG)
Lost Western Conference semi-final (1–4, KEL)
2015–16 72 50 16 3 3 281 166 106 1st B.C.
1st WHL		 Won Western Conference quarter-final (4–2, SPO)
Lost Western Conference semi-final (3–4 KEL)
2016–17 72 37 29 5 1 239 219 80 4th B.C. Lost Western Conference quarter-final (2–4, EVT)
2017–18 72 39 27 4 2 287 264 84 2nd B.C. Won Western Conference quarter-final (4–3, VAN)
Lost Western Conference semi-final (0–4, TRI)
2018–19 68 34 30 2 2 199 227 72 2nd B.C. Won Western Conference quarter-final (4–2, KAM)
Lost Western Conference semi-final (0–4, VAN)
2019–20 64 34 24 6 2 176 190 72 2nd B.C. Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 22 3 17 1 1 48 96 8 5th B.C. No playoffs due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22 68 23 39 5 1 193 275 52 5th B.C. Did not qualify
2022–23 68 17 43 6 2 199 323 42 5th B.C. Did not qualify
2023–24 68 29 30 5 4 221 272 67 4th B.C. Lost Western Conference quarter-final (0–4, POR)

Players

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Team captains

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  • Hayden Rintoul, 2011–2012
  • Tyler Stahl, 2012–2013
  • Jordan Fransoo, 2013–2014
  • Joe Hicketts, 2014–2016
  • Ryan Gagnon, 2016–2017
  • Matthew Phillips, 2017–2018
  • Phillip Schultz, 2019–2020
  • Tarun Fizer, 2021–2022
  • Gannon Laroque, 2022–2023

NHL alumni

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The following is a list of players from the Victoria Royals who have played in the National Hockey League.

Head coaches

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Dave Lowry coached the Royals for five seasons from 2012 to 2017.

Marc Habscheid served as the first head coach and general manager of the Royals during the team's inaugural season; in June 2012, he announced that he was leaving both positions. The Royals named Cam Hope as their new general manager.[citation needed] The Royals named Dave Lowry as head coach for the 2012–13 season.[8] He coached the Royals for five seasons, leading the team to franchise highs in wins and points on the way to a Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as WHL regular season champions in 2015-16. He left the club in 2017.[9] In 2017, the Royals promoted assistant coach Dan Price to the head coaching position. Price became the third head coach in franchise history.[10]

On November 6, 2023, following a 6–3 loss to the Wenatchee Wild, the Royals dismissed Price and named former Winnipeg Ice head coach James Patrick the fifth head coach in franchise history.[11][12]

List of coaches

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# Coach Years
1 Marc Habscheid 2011–2012
2 Dave Lowry 2012–2017
3 Dan Price 2017–2023
4 James Patrick 2023–present

Awards and honours

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Team

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Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy
WHL Regular Season Champion

St. Clair Group Trophy
WHL Marketing/Business Award

WHL Scholastic Team of the Year

Individual

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Brad Hornung Trophy
WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player

Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy
WHL Rookie of the Year

Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy
WHL Coach of the Year

Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy
WHL Executive of the Year

WHL Western Conference First All-Star Team

WHL Western Conference Second All-Star Team

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Epp, Sharie (April 1, 2011). "Western Hockey League's Bruins moving to Victoria: report". Victoria Times-Colonist. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  2. ^ Olsen, Tyler (April 1, 2011). "Keith confirms Bruins have been sold, confidentiality agreements now in place". The Province. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  3. ^ Olsen, Tyler (April 20, 2011). "WHL's Chilliwack Bruins are no more, moving to Victoria". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  4. ^ Maki, Allan (April 20, 2011). "Phoenix failure felt as far away as Victoria". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  5. ^ Dheensaw, Cleve (March 18, 2020). "Victoria Royals' regular season abandoned". Times-Colonist. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  6. ^ Dheensaw, Cleve (March 17, 2016). "One goal down, few more to go for Victoria Royals". The Times-Colonist. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  7. ^ Dheensaw, Cleve; Annicchiarico, Mario (April 19, 2016). "Rockets defeat Royals in OT after tying game in last second". The Times-Colonist. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  8. ^ "ROYALS ANNOUNCE DAVE LOWRY AS HEAD COACH – Victoria Royals".
  9. ^ "LA Kings Bolster Staff as Dave Lowry is Named Assistant Coach".
  10. ^ "ROYALS NAME DAN PRICE AS HEAD COACH – Victoria Royals".
  11. ^ Trozzo, Tony (November 6, 2023). "Royals Announce Change To Coaching Staff". chl.ca/whl-royals. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  12. ^ Trozzo, Tony (November 6, 2023). "Royals Name James Patrick Head Coach". chl.ca/whl-royals. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
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