A Royal visit

Jake Poole had all sorts of offensive success against one particular BC Division team last season.

Can you guess which one?

The Victoria Royals.

The now 20-year-old will make his debut with his new team, tonight, as he suits up against the one he played 124 regular season games with when the Kelowna Rockets welcome the Victoria Royals to Prospera Place.

Poole was traded Tuesday to the Royals for an 8th-round bantam pick.

Last season, the pride of McAuley, Manitoba amassed 20 points in 12 games against the Royals, tying Pavel Novak for the team scoring lead in the seasonal series.

It is a rare deal between two teams that don’t often talk trade. The last time they swapped players was in October 2018 when then overage forward Lane Zablocki was dealt to the Rockets for a 4th round bantam pick and a conditional 7th round selection.

Meanwhile, after earning their first road win of the season Saturday night in Prince George, the Rockets will try to duplicate that feat this evening with their first home ice victory at Prospera Place.

The Rockets had significant success at home against the Royals a season ago, winning all seven games, but three were decided in overtime by identical 5-4 scores.

The Royals haven’t won a game at Prospera Place since March 11, 2020, when Ethan Ernst, who is now a member of the Tri-City Americans, and Matthew Wedman, who is in his second year of pro hockey, scored in a 3-2 loss.

Since then, if you included the hub season, the Rockets have won 8 consecutive home games against their BC Division rivals, who won 23 times last season and missed the playoffs by a single point.

The struggling and injury-riddled Royals have also dropped their opening four games of the season.

The Rockets will again play tonight’s game without last year’s leading scorer, Colton Dach, who remains at the training camp of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

The Royals had last years leading scorer, Bailey Peach, graduate as a 20-year-old. Peach had an impressive 37 goals, and 78 points will play university hockey this season with the Acadia Axemen.

Victoria is also without 1st team all-star defenceman and captain Gannon Laroque, who is signed by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. The 19-year-old is injured with the hope of returning in time for training camp with the Canadian world junior team in December.

Laroque is a minute-muncher on the blue line, often topping out at nearly 35 minutes a game. Head Coach Dan Price plays him a lot, not only because he is the team’s best defender, but his 52 points last season was another reason why he was named the Royals’ top defender for a second consecutive season.

Rockets goalie Jari Kykkanen is hoping to build on a solid performance following Saturday’s win in Prince George. The 18-year-old goaltender made 33 saves, receiving the third star, in a 5-1 victory. That’s a significant improvement after allowing 12 goals against in his first two starts.

The strength for the Victoria Royals this season may be in goal. Tyler Palmer appears to have taken over the number one duty from Campbell Arnold, whom the team traded for almost a year ago (October 21, 2021) for a third-round bantam pick. Palmer was the workhorse against the Rockets last season, playing in 9 of the 13 games.

You can catch tonight’s game on 104-7 The Lizard, with the pre-game show at 6:35 and the play-by-play at 7:05, or you can stream the game right here on RocketFAN. Just click the ‘listen live’ button at the top right of the page.