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5 Victoria Royals players have been invited to NHL rookie camps

By Seanna Wainman
(Justin Kipkie / Victoria Royals)

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Just ahead of their official start to the 2024/25 regular season, five players from the Victoria Royals’ roster have been asked to attend NHL rookie camps.

The Royals are currently in the midst of their pre-season, penning a 1-1-0 record across two games played, both versus the Vancouver Giants in Port Coquitlam.

Following the last preseason game, the team announced four 2009-born players have been reassigned, including Jacob Schwartz (Delta Hockey Academy U18), Ludovic Perreault (Winnipeg Wild U18), Koltin Herfst (Fraser Valley Thunderbirds U18), and Drayden Uhrina (RINK Hockey Academy Winnipeg U18).

With that said, the future looks bright for the team, as a handful of players have been invited to attend NHL rookie camps next week before the official home opener on September 20th.

Those players are:
  • Justin Kipkie (Utah)
  • Reggie Newman (Utah)
  • Nate Misskey (San Jose)
  • Deagan McMillan (Vancouver)
  • Markus Loponen (Winnipeg)

Justin Kipkie

Kipkie was selected 160th overall in the 5th round of the 2023 NHL Draft, and will be attending Utah Hockey Club’s 2024-25 Rookie Camp. Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, he led Royals defensemen in points, scoring 16 goals and 36 assists for the team—for a total of 52 points in 67 games played in the 2023-24 season.

Reggie Newman

Newman will also be attending Utah Hockey Club’s 2024-25 Rookie Camp, and hails from Kamloops, BC. He’s entering his fourth season with the Royals, and is comes off of the 2023-24 season where he put up a career-high 19 goals and 21 assists, totalling 40 points in 64 games played.

Nate Misskey

Misskey will be joining the San Jose Sharks Rookie Faceoff roster, following his tenure at the San Jose Sharks Development Camp in July—this came after being selected 143rd overall in the 5th round of the 2024 NHL Draft. The 19-year-old is entering his third season with the Royals after etching 7 goals and 27 assists, totalling 34 points in 44 regular season games during the 2023-24 campaign.

Deagan McMillan

McMillan was recently acquired by the Royals from the Tri-City Americans, is joining the Vancouver Canucks for their Young Stars Classic rookie tournament. McMillan hails from Vernon, BC and is entering his fourth WHL season. He scored 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 60 games in the 2023-24 season.

Markus Loponen

Loponen hails from rom Oulu, Finland, and will be joining the Winnipeg Jets for the Young Stars Classic. He was drafted by the Jets in the 2024 NHL Draft 155th overall, in the 5th round. Before being drafted by the Royals in the first round of the 2024 CHL Import Draft, Loponen scored 25 goals and 29 assists totalling 54 points in 45 games played for Kärpät U20 in the 2023-24 season.

The Royals kick off their regular season at SOFMC on Friday, September 20th—puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. and tickets are still available here!

Seanna Wainman
Seanna Wainman
Seanna has been with Victoria Buzz since 2018 and holds a degree from BCIT in broadcast journalism. Her childhood days of reading the dictionary for fun have finally paid off, and she’s now living out her dreams of being a full-time writer. An avid sports fan since childhood, Seanna also worked as the Colour Commentator for the Victoria Royals, doing one of her favourite things in the world—talking about hockey. Outside of work, she’s a mom of three girls and collects tattoos for fun. You can reach Seanna at seanna@victoriabuzz.com.
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