The Victoria Royals made a mid-season leadership shake-up on Monday (Nov. 6) as the club parted ways with its head coach.

The team announced it was replacing Dan Price after his seven years as head coach, with James Patrick taking over as the new bench boss. Price also served as Victoria鈥檚 general manager in the last three seasons.

鈥淲e would like to thank Dan for his contributions to the hockey club and the city of Victoria over the last seven years,鈥� vice president of hockey operations Joey Poljanowski said in a statement. 鈥淒an is above all else, an outstanding individual and hockey mind who has shown a true dedication to this team and community, we wish him all the best.鈥�

Patrick joins the Royals after six seasons with the Western Hockey League鈥檚 Winnipeg ICE, where he earned the league鈥檚 coach of the year honours during the 2021-22 campaign.

鈥淗e brings a winning pedigree and has had tremendous success in developing both strong organizational cultures and future NHL players,鈥� Poljanowski said.

Before his time with the ICE, James was an assistant coach in the NHL from 2006 and 2017, splitting time between the Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars. As a player, he had 639 points in 1,300 NHL games with the New York Rangers, Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames and Sabres.

The Royals are second in the B.C. Division as the capital city team sits three points back of Prince George. Victoria鈥檚 8-7-0-1 record through 16 games also puts them in sixth overall in the WHL鈥檚 Western Conference.

Patrick will make his Royals debut behind the bench on Friday (Nov. 10) against the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

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