A change of surroundings is probably what Ty Westgard needs and he is going to get it.
The Victoria Royals traded the rights to Westgard to the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday for a conditional pick in the 2019 Western Hockey League bantam draft.
The 18-year-old came to the Royals mid-season last year from his hometown Surrey Eagles of the B.C. Hockey League as a player ranked 176th among North American skaters on Central Scouting’s list for the 2016 NHL draft. The five-foot-11 forward was overlooked, however, in the draft after gaining just three assists in 21 regular season games and no points in seven playoff games with the Royals.
“You always want to see players getting opportunities for success and Ty is getting an opportunity somewhere else,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
Westgard appeared in two games this season for Victoria and scored his first WHL goal before being injured and appearing in no more games. He was cleared to play over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Regina Pats are again ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 rankings. The Everett Silvertips are No. 3, Prince George Cougars No. 5 and Medicine Hat Tigers No. 9 among the other WHL teams on this week’s list, which was released Wednesday.
The high-octane Pats, undefeated in regulation time at 15-0-3, are the Royals’ next opponent on Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
It will be a telling moment for a Victoria team off to a 12-8-2 start after winning the 2015-16 WHL regular-season championship with 50 wins.
“More so for us than them,” said Lowry, when asked if it is a benchmark game.
“With the Pats’ speed, there are a lot of similarities with how we played last year,” said Lowry.
