The Victoria Royals were among the hottest teams in the entire Canadian Hockey League last month. One factor in their success was the stellar play of rookie netminder Griffen Outhouse.
The 17-year-old Outhouse posted a near-spotless record of 5-0-0-1 in February and helped the Royals to an overall mark of 12-1-1-0. For his efforts, he was named Western Hockey League goaltender of the month on Tuesday.
"It's obviously an honour to have that, but I wouldn't get that without the way that my team has played in front of me," Outhouse said Friday morning from Vancouver, where the Royals were preparing to take on the Giants on Friday night. "February was packed. I think we had 14 games, and the defence and forwards were all doing their jobs so they made things easy for me and Coleman (Vollrath), the other goalie."
Outhouse has played about half the number of games as Vollrath. Regardless of who has been stationed in the crease, the Royals haven't missed a beat.
In a sense, Outhouse doesn't think of himself as a WHL freshman.
"Our coach Dave Lowry has high expectations for us whether we've been on the team for a couple years or are coming in as rookies," he said. "We just have to make sure we're working hard every day and improving all the time."
Outhouse is a Williams Lake minor hockey product who blocked pucks for the Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars last season. As a member of the major-midget Cougars, he went 15-5-2 with a goals-against average of 2.04. Outside of league play, he backstopped the Cats to gold at the prestigious Mac's tournament in Calgary.
For Outhouse, the move from the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League to the WHL has been a smooth transition. Prior to Friday's game against the Giants, his record stood at 14-3-3-1, he had a goals-against average of 1.83, a save percentage of .939 and had four shutouts to his credit.
"My (Cariboo) coaches Bryan MacLean and Trevor Sprague, they did a good job of getting me prepared for this level of play, as well as my goalie coach Mac Engel," Outhouse said.
Outhouse is eligible for the 2016 National Hockey League draft but wasn't listed in Central Scouting's midterm rankings. It's almost certain, however, that interest in him is growing. Should Outhouse make it to the NHL one day, he'll accomplish the same feat as another Williams Lake minor hockey star, current Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price.
Outhouse has met Price a few times and said his own parents - Marty and Cindy - are friends with Price's parents.
"I've always liked Carey," Outhouse said. "The only thing is, growing up I was a (Boston) Bruins fan. So unfortunately I can't hate Montreal, just because of Carey.
"It's pretty cool to have him there (in the NHL). It gives me hope and motivation to try to do what he's done."
