Previously Calgary-based, the Lowrys are an Island family now.
Swift Current Broncos captain Adam Lowry, son of Victoria Royals coach Dave Lowry, was the latest to earn ties to Victoria.
Adam played his first WHL game in Victoria with Team WHL of the Super Series on Nov. 16 and will be back again on Dec. 8 when the Broncos play the Royals.
Adam is following in the footsteps of Dave and mother Elaine, who’s already a regular in the Victoria running and triathlon scene, and older brother Joel, a former Victoria Grizzlies player.
“I was looking forward to coming. And it’s always nice to be familiar with a coach going into a situation like (the Super Series),” Adam said after the game.
It was the first time Adam and Dave shared the bench since Dave coached Adam’s peewee team during the 2004-05 season. (That was Dave’s first year of retirement from playing, which coincidentally, was an NHL lockout year.)
“We always joke (that season) kick-started his coaching career and got him going. I don’t remember a time after that when he was able to be on (my team’s) bench.”
Victoria’s one of the few cities where Adam’s playing success is secondary behind that of Joel’s.
In two seasons with the junior A Grizzlies, Joel blossomed from a midget player into a power forward, won an NCAA scholarship with the Cornell Big Red and was selected by the L.A. Kings in the 2011 NHL Entry draft.
Adam was picked in the third round of that draft by the Winnipeg Jets.
“I guess I’m calling (Victoria) home now. My brother was able to have a lot of success with the Grizzlies and I know he loved playing here. And my (mom and dad) have settled in nicely. I look forward to seeing what Victoria’s all about.”
The Team WHL partnership, Dave as an assistant coach and Adam as the captain, didn’t go as well as it could have for them, and resulted in a 5-2 loss to Team Russia. The game was also the Super Series winner for Russia, which outscored Team WHL 10 goals to eight in aggregate.
The feeling in Team WHL’s dressing room was pretty down, said Lowry.
“We knew we had to win both games for the CHL to clinch the series,” he said. “With (the 1-0 win in Vancouver) we had the momentum. They got ahead on a couple of lucky goals.”
Adam scored Team WHL’s second goal with three-and-a-half-minutes remaining to make it 4-2. But Yaroslav Kosov scored an empty netter, an insurance goal which he’d nearly scored a few minutes earlier when he was stopped by goalie Eric Comrie on a slick breakaway move.
Team WHL wasn’t as hard-hitting in Adam’s mind as they were in Vancouver and let Russia control the puck too much.
“Our chemistry was a little off, it hurts you offensively but you can’t use it as an excuse; we’re all elite players.”
Adam was injured when the Royals visited Swift Current and lost 3-1 last year.
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