It’s not quite a scheduling Everest to climb yet, maybe only Mount Douglas, but the game postponements continue mounting for the Victoria Royals due to COVID-19 protocols.
The latest schedule casualty is the two-game set against the Spokane Chiefs that was to be played Tuesday and Wednesday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, bringing the number of Royals’ postponed games to four. The scheduled games Friday and tonight in Prince George against the Cougars were earlier postponed.
The Royals have paused all team activities until further notice as a result of multiple players and staff being added to the WHL COVID-19 protocol list due to exhibiting symptoms or having tested positive for COVID-19. The Royals are among a total of 15 clubs in the 22-team Western Hockey League to have hockey operations shut down with numerous games postponed because of protocols, including eight more announced Friday.
“We’re keeping in touch with the players daily and working with the league on a timeline for a safe return to team activities. We’re looking forward to getting back together when this pause is concluded,” said Victoria GM and head coach Dan Price.
“It went from things changing monthly to things changing daily to now things changing hourly. It’s a very fluid environment. You have to be flexible.”
The Royals-Chiefs set seems particularly cursed. Originally scheduled for Nov. 12-13, it has now been pushed back for the second time. The Royals and Cougars haven’t had much luck, either, with a total of four games between the clubs having been postponed and needing to be made up.
In a bit of encouraging news, the formerly halted Lethbridge Hurricanes and Swift Current Broncos have been green lit to return to all team activities.
“The WHL and our member clubs remain fully committed to playing through the 68-game regular-season schedule and playoffs,” league commissioner Ron Robison said in a statement. “As we work through the challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic … we work to reschedule games in the coming weeks.”
For Royals forward Keanu Derungs, it has been a case of the frying pan into the fire. A member of the Swiss team at the 2022 world junior championship tournament, which was cancelled mid-stride last week in Edmonton and Red Deer, the import forward returned to Victoria only to have the Royals season halted for now. But not before scoring two goals in a game in one of the two games Victoria managed to play upon his return before operations were suspended.
“It was hugely disappointing, obviously, for the world juniors to get cancelled, and I think they made the right decision, but it was not fun for anybody,” said Derungs.
“I really hope there is going to be a tournament in June because this was my last year to be able to play in the world juniors.”
And now another shutdown to endure at the club level.
“There is nothing you can do about it but hope it makes us stronger as a group,” said Derungs, who is not among the seven Royals players on the COVID-19 protocol list.
“We were rolling in December and we want to keep that up. We did not get off to a strong start this season but we stuck with it because we truly believe in ourselves.”
The Royals were 1-11-2 and the obituaries were already being written on their season, some even comparing them to the five-win 1989-90 WHL Victoria Cougars and three-win OHL London Knights of 1995-96. The Royals are now 12-14-4 in providing one of the storylines of the WHL season.
In paraphrasing from another hockey storyline, do you believe in miracles? Derungs does.
“The St. Louis Blues were last place in January and won the Stanley Cup [in 2019],” he said.
“We believe we can win the Memorial Cup. We really believe we can do something special.”
But that quixotic quest can’t begin again until at least after Wednesday.
