It may be just a practice but veteran Victoria Royals’ Brandon Magee is in action all over the arena at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, taking part in drills, chatting with teammates, flipping the puck on his stick and even turning a loss of balance into a pratfall on ice for the amusement of his fellow skaters.
The 20-year-old is enjoying his late return to the ice (from a 12 game suspension for an incident against Portland at the end of last season) and not just in practice. Magee has had a hot hand since returning including tieing a franchise record for most assists in a single game last weekend against the Vancouver Giants.
Magee was happy to tie the record, calling it a “fun tidbit for the stats”
When asked if he gained any insights from his enforced observation of the game from the press box during the suspension Magee said that he did gain a different perspective of the overall flow of a game and hoped he brought some of that understanding back to the ice with him.
This will be Magee’s final season in the WHL and as a veteran one of his roles is making sure the rookie players fit in. He finds most rookies too shy to ask questions so he says it is up to the vets to make sure the newcomers understand the speed of the game, the need to pay attention to detail, move the puck and to remember to have fun in the new environment.
Off the ice the Edmonton native is an avid golfer, enjoying the fact he can golf year round in the local climate, likes drives along the waterfront to the breakwater and sitting at the top of Mt. Doug with a coffee, all activities he couldn’t do in his hometown.
On whether he now considers himself a Westcoaster as opposed to an Alberta boy Magee says he’ll always be an Alberta guy at heart, for instance he still loves country music, but he has, he says “gotten soft” and can’t take the prairie cold anymore.
Magee and fellow Royals won’t have a chance to cool off over the weekend. A two night stand against the red hot Kelowna Rockets Tuesday and Wednesday started a busy week and tonight they face-off againt the Everett Silvertips and on Saturday the team enjoys a rare visit from the Regina Pats.
On Saturday night the Royals will be wearing a limited edition jersey in honour of the Royal Canadian Navy Submarine Fleet. This will mark the last time Victoria will be wearing special jerseys this season. Jersey auctions will be available at all four games at Gate 1 with a live auction taking place after Saturday’s game. Proceeds from the jerseys will benefit the Military Family Resource Centre.
