Trent Brandvold’s well-travelled hockey career took him from the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in the CIS to a pro career that included stops with the Victoria Salmon Kings and Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL and Corpus Christi Icerays and Austin Ice Bats of the Central League.
As a head coach, he’s going to Calgary over Christmas for the biggest Midget tournament in the world. And, of course, taking his South Island Royals team with him.
It’s the nature of coaching that people move on. When Royals general manager Ron Lindsay was conducting his due diligence over the summer about who should replace Geoff Grimwood and Jackson Penney, both of whom spent time guiding the South Island squad last season, one name kept popping up in the recommendations. It was that of Brandvold, who has built a reputation through local camps and hockey schools as a skills developer. Brandvold was also assistant coach to Brian Passmore two seasons ago with the Peninsula Panthers of the Island Junior League and has coached in the Juan de Fuca, Saanich, Kerry Park and Racquet Club youth systems.
It seems an inspired choice as the 39-year-old former blue-liner has the Royals off to a 10-6-2 start, despite only six returnees from last season’s Royals team, and now capped by an invitation to the 2015 Mac’s Triple-A Midget Tournament. The event has become a tradition and has run annually since 1978 from Boxing Day to New Year’s Day. Even preliminary games draw up to 3,000 fans. The championship game is played under the big top in the Scotiabank Saddledome, home of the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Mac’s tournament alumni include current and former NHLers such as Sidney Crosby, Jordan Eberle, Jarome Iginla, Rod Brind’Amour, Wendel Clark, Cliff Ronning and Trevor Linden.
Last year’s champions were the Cariboo Cougars, backstopped by Mac’s tournament MVP goaltender Griffen Outhouse, now a WHL rookie in the crease with the Victoria Royals.
The tournament is well scouted and entry is by invitation only.
“The boys are really excited after hearing we were selected to play,” said Lindsay.
The South Island GM said his club isn’t a team of stars but gets the most out of many.
“The key for us is that we play a good team game,” said Lindsay.
“When we work at 100 per cent level, we do well.”
The Royals’ offence is spread around nicely and led by Jordan Guiney (six goals and 15 assists for 21 points), Jarrett Malloch (nine goals and nine assists for 18 points), Lach Hadley (11 goals and 14 points) and defenceman Jake Wilhelm (11 assists and 14 points).
Hadley is a home-Island WHL prospect of the Victoria Royals.
“Hadley is a two-way player with good hockey IQ. He needs to grow, like many of these guys do,” said WHL Victoria GM Cam Hope last spring, after selecting Hadley in the ninth round of the bantam draft.
The South Island goaltending is solid with Austin Roden (2.78 goals-against average) and Zakery Myrowich (2.90) both top-eight in the B.C. Major Midget League.
The Royals face their toughest foes in back-to-back weeks in the 11-team B.C. Major Midget League. The South Island team split over the weekend at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the second-place Valley West Hawks (12-5-1), chasing an 8-1 loss with a 5-3 victory on Blanshard. The Royals cross the strait to play the first-place Vancouver Northwest Giants (12-4-2) this weekend.
“We set a number of goals for our team this season,” said Lindsay.
“We reached one of them by being invited to play in the Mac’s tournament. The other goal is to win the league championship.”
Meanwhile, the North Island Silvertips are 10th in the B.C. Major Midget League at 2-13-3. The North Island scoring is led by WHL Victoria Royals prospect Dawson Frank with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points.
