Defenceman Justin Kipkie, named captain of the Victoria Royals on Tuesday, says he brings back “pro habits” from skating in the NHL training camp of Utah HC and playing in a big-league exhibition game.
Kipkie is the final of the five Royals players to return to the Western Hockey League team from NHL training camps and will do so with the letter C stitched to his jersey as the ninth captain of the club since it came to the Island in 2011-12. Two of Kipkie’s assistant captains returned earlier from NHL training camps, blue-liner Nate Misskey from the San Jose Sharks’ camp and forward Reggie Newman from Utah HC’s. The other Victoria assistant captain will be sophomore forward Cole Reschny, the co-leading scorer for gold-medallist Canada over the summer at the U-18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and ranked 16th for the 2025 NHL draft by TSN.
“It’s an honour and something I take pride in and this leadership group is going to push these guys a lot,” said Kipkie, in his media scrum.
“We have some high expectations. It’s kind of our year, and I’m excited to see where this team goes,” added the six-foot-three North Vancouver product, selected 160th overall in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL draft by the Arizona Coyotes (now Utah HC) .
Kipkie will begin his third season with the Royals on Friday night in Portland against the Winterhawks and Saturday in Wenatchee against the Wild. The team has started well without him and is undefeated in regulation time with three wins and an overtime loss. All five Royals NHL campers missed the first two games of the season, an overtime win and overtime loss against Tri-City, but four returned last weekend and made immediate impacts in respective 2-1 and 5-2 victories in Kelowna against the CHL national top-10 ranked Rockets and in Kamloops against the Blazers. Misskey had a winning goal and two assists in those two Interior road games, Newman a goal and assist and forward Markus Loponen, returned from the Winnipeg Jets camp, one goal. The other Royals player in an NHL camp was forward Deagan McMillan with the Vancouver Canucks.
Meanwhile, the adage two is company and three is a crowd is never more apropos than in the crease in hockey. The Royals took care of that situation by shipping six-foot-eight goaltender Ryan Tamelin to the Spokane Chiefs for an eighth-round WHL prospects draft pick. Tamelin was the 29th ranked North American goaltender for the 2024 NHL draft but was not selected. The trade leaves returning Jayden Kraus and newcomer Spencer Michnik as Victoria’s two goalies for the 2024-25 season.
Both have been impressive to start the season. The six-foot-two Kraus stood tall in facing 92 shots over the first two games of the season against Tri-City and turned away 41 of 43 shots he faced last Saturday in Kamloops. The six-foot-one Michnik, acquired off-season from the Seattle Thunderbirds in a trade for a conditional seventh-round WHL draft pick, was named the first star in Victoria’s 2-1 win last Friday in Kelowna over the Rockets. That gives the Royals two WHL veterans in the nets. Kraus, however, was uneven last season as a rookie in backing up graduated veteran Braden Holt but appears to be coming into his own. It’s easy to forget Kraus is still only 17 years old.
“[Kraus] is really under control this season,” said Victoria head coach James Patrick.
“He hasn’t lost his feet. Sometimes he would get really into scramble mode. He really looks calm and poised and has made some really big saves at key times. He made a pretty good statement to start this season. He seems to be in a real good place. He looks to me a lot calmer and that is making him not lose his net. Last year was a tough year but an important year for his development.”
Now set in official leadership roles, and also in the nets, it’s as if the real season is starting for the Royals.
