I had the pleasure of having a Zoom chat interview with the current Royals Captain, Phillip Schultz.
Just over two years ago, the Royals named Schultz their seventh captain in team history. A product of Rodovre, Denmark, he was chosen 38th overall by the Royals in the 2018 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
He was on pace for career-high point totals before the shutdown. With no sign of the WHL season starting, on September 11th he temporarily transferred over to his hometown Rodovre Mighty Bulls.
RODOVRE ALUMNI
We discussed a range of topics including some Alumni from his hometown team. Most notably for local Canucks fans, Jannik Hansen. “A fun fact is that the road I live on, he grew up living on and his parents still live there. I always remember when he came home in the summer, from the NHL. Knowing him and his family really well, I always went to his house. I got pictures with him and had some jerseys signed. That’s one of the guys that was a big role model for me”
TRAINING
I asked him about how training has been going, and when he flew back to Denmark. “The lockdown happened at the same time as the NHL. I think we stayed in Victoria for about four days, and then we traveled back here. Everyone was kind of on standby to see if the league was still going on or not.” Schultz stated that once the word came out that the league had been canceled, his family bought some weights so he could do some training at home.
He spoke of finding it mentally tough during the peak of the lockdown. “There was a period where you kind of get down, and it’s hard to find motivation or inspiration, and not just being stuck at home” Once things started to open back up again, he was able to go to a real gym and train even harder. That helped him gain some momentum and get back into the swing of a regular off-season.
“I knew some guys that went to Sweden during the shutdown, so we were able to get on the ice once or twice a week there. Then I think around August I went on the ice here again, so that was really nice. I only went maybe three months without being able to get on the ice so I’ve been lucky with that situation.”
COVID
We discussed the COVID situation over in Denmark. “It is just starting to ramp back up again. We are testing way more people now, which results in more positive cases. But if you look at the percentage of people getting tested, I think it’s an ok number. But yeah, the numbers are going up because the testing is going up.”
Schultz said the restrictions are starting to get increased again. “At some point, we actually had around 7000 people allowed at soccer games, and you could be together with many people. Now it’s ramping down again, you are only allowed 500 in total at soccer and hockey games. That includes players, coaches, and referees.” Individual circles have been downgraded to 10 as well.
The Metal Ligaen has introduced a rule as well, where if you have seven or more positive tests on a team the game is getting canceled. The rule is that both teams split the share of the three available points for the game. You read that right… 1.5 points per team. The Mighty Bulls currently sit at 8.5 points.
They are at the bottom of the league currently and have been in a bit of a funk recently. Schultz says that they have been working extremely hard in practice and discussing where they need to adjust. He sees some success coming very soon with their group.
CANADA
Switching gears in the interview because no one wants to talk about COVID anymore. Instead, I asked him what he missed the most about Canada.
“Definitely miss my teammates in Victoria, that’s a big thing. I think we had a close group, spent a lot of time together. My billet family too, that’s who you also spend a lot of time with while in Canada and I miss them right now yeah.”
When we spoke of the Royals, I stated that I noticed a ton of potential and a team starting to gel at the right time just before the shutdown. “We were looking really good; we were an exciting team and I think we could have achieved some big stuff. But we just have to reset and I’m looking forward to a new season. To see what kind of team we are going to get. There are a lot of unknowns right now, who’s coming in, who’s going out. Just like everyone in the whole league, we don’t really know how we are going to look right now.”
HISTORY
Being a part of an athletic family I was curious how he got into hockey. Especially since his dad was a soccer player and his mom played handball.
“I played hockey because my grandma and granddad were really in with the pro team here. My grandma worked on the board for the pro team, and my granddad was the equipment manager for the team. When I was a kid, instead of going to daycare my grandparents took care of me. I ended up sleeping in a shopping cart in the Men’s locker room while they were practicing. My grandfather played hockey too and played in a couple of games for the national team. He is a big role model for me and I always looked up to him. So that’s how I got into hockey”
Hearing about his history of sleeping in a shopping cart at the local rink as a baby, I wanted to do a little bit more of a “deep dive” into who Phillip Schultz really is.
HOBBIES
Obviously friends, family, and my girlfriend…but besides that, I’m a big Chel (NHL Series videogame) guy. I play a lot of Chel on my PlayStation. Sometimes FIFA with my friends as well. I’m a big sports gamer and right now Chel is taking up a lot of my time”
We had a connection as I also play NHL a fair amount so we went on about it for quite a while.
Schultz informed me that “Of course, I started a Be-a-Pro mode and won the Memorial Cup with the Royals. Which is the real-life dream.” We all hope the same thing, Phillip.
LIGHTNING ROUND
I wanted to finish the interview off on a light note so we did a couple of quick, easy questions.
Favorite Movie: Mighty Ducks 1,2 and 3. A true hockey guy through and through.
Favorite Food: “Pizza is definitely my go-to treat”
Favorite Sport other than Hockey: “Soccer 100%”
All in all, it was a great interview with Phillip Schultz, and I can’t thank him enough for taking the time out of his day to have a chat with me.
I wish him luck in Rodovre and hopefully, they can turn things around and string together a few wins here. Once the end of the year rolls around his priorities will lie with the Royals. He says he can’t wait to get back to his home away from home and do his part to lead the Royals into the Memorial Cup next season.
