Victoria Royals GM Cam Hope made 2
announcements today, extending Head Coach Dave Lowry's contract and the club withdrawing
their host bid for the 2016 Memorial Cup.
The Royals also cleared up their back up
netminding situation by sending Michael Herringer to Saskatoon for a conditional
pick, leaving 6'6 Colorado product Evan Smith (17yr) to back up Coleman
Vollrath.
Victoria opens the season on the road starting in Kamloops Friday and Vancouver Saturday.
ROYALS INK DAVE LOWRY TO CONTRACT EXTENSION
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Victoria, BC – The Victoria
Royals are proud to announce that Dave Lowry has agreed to a multi-year
contract extension as the team’s head coach
Since joining the Royals for the 2012-13 season, Lowry
has posted an 83-50-3-8 regular season record as Victoria’s bench boss. In the
eight year history of the Royals/Chilliwack Bruins franchise, Lowry holds the
best record for a coach in his first two seasons with the club. He also holds
the franchise record in playoff victories with seven.
“We’re very happy to have agreed to a contract
extension with Dave Lowry,” General Manager Cameron Hope said. “Dave has
established a winning culture here, and the success we’ve enjoyed in Victoria
over the past two seasons is a direct reflection of his approach, and the hard
work of our coaching staff.”
Lowry recently completed his second season with the
Royals and was named the 2013-14 WHL Coach of the Year after leading Victoria
to a franchise-record 48-20-1-3 regular season. Last year, Lowry guided the
Royals to numerous franchise records including wins (48) and points (100),
breaking the records he established during his first season with the club.
Lowry helped Victoria finish the season as the 10th ranked club in
the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings, while also guiding the franchise to its first
playoff series victory.
Prior to his time on Vancouver Island, Lowry spent
three years in Calgary where he was an Assistant Coach of the National Hockey
League’s (NHL) Calgary Flames. During his three seasons with the Flames, Lowry
worked under Brent Sutter and helped lead the team to a record of 118-90-38.
Before joining the Flames in the 2009-10 season, Lowry
had spent the previous four years working with the Western Hockey League’s
(WHL) Calgary Hitmen. During the 2008-09 WHL season, Lowry took on the role of
Head Coach and guided the team to a WHL-best 122 points with a 59-9-3-1 record
as well as an Eastern Conference Title.
The Ottawa,
ON native joined the Hitmen as an Assistant Coach in 2005-06 and was promoted
to Associate Coach for the 2007-08 WHL season before being named Head Coach at
the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign. During his four years with the Hitmen,
Lowry helped guide the team to a regular season record of 192-77-10-13 while
earning a playoff spot each season. The Hitmen gathered a playoff record of
38-27 and made appearances in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final each season
Lowry was behind the bench
The Royals kick-off their 2014-15 home schedule with a
Friday night clash versus the Kamloops Blazers on September 26th.
Interested in joining our Royal Family? Royals season ticket packages start at
just $414 and offer a host of fantastic benefits including early entrance to
home games, savings at the Royals team store, monthly e-newsletters, and first
right of refusal on the same seats for the play-offs. Get the full details at www.victoriaroyals.com or by
calling 250-220-7889.
