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| Keith Hamilton stops Brad Ross in a 4-3 Royals win Wednesday. |
LAST GAME: The Royals defeated the Winterhawks 4-3 on Wednesday for their first win of the four game season series (1-2). Steven Hodges and Zane Jones had a goal and assist each while Keith Hamilton made 32 saves against his former club for the win. Victoria fell in Portland in their previous two meetings 7-6 Dec 30th, and 6-3 Dec 28th.
Marc Habscheid after Thursday practice:
STANDINGS: The Royals are in 7th spot in the West with 53 points and have yet to clinch a playoff birth as 9th place Seattle is still within stricking distance - just 3 points back and have 3 games left. Everett is in 8th with 52 points and 2 games remaining.
Any combination of points gained by Victoria or points dropped by Seattle totaling 4 will guarantee the Royals a playoff spot. (Example, Victoria wins 1, Seattle loses 1). An eighth place tie would result in a tie breaker game. Seattle begins 3 games in 3 nights Friday.
10th place Prince George can no longer catch Victoria, but the Cougars can still reach 8th.
Portland in 3rd with 100 points and ranked 4th in the CHL, are fighting for the title in the West and the League just 2 points back of top seed Tri City – both with 2 games left. Kamloops with 97 points has clinched the BC Division and therefore they will finish no lower than 2nd in the conference.
Mike Forsyth of the Royals after practice Thursday practice:
STATS: Victoria’s penalty kill has stopped 37 of 39 over their last 11 outings.
Portland has scored the most goals for (4.56) and taken the most shots for (41.23) on average per game. Goal differential by period (+31, +23, +38). When the Winterhawks score the first goal, they are (35-5-2-1).
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| Ty Rattie #8 scored his 55th of the season Wednesday. |
LEADING SCORERS:
Rattie (55-62-117)
Bartschi (33-61-94)
Ross (42-40-82)
Morrow (17-47-64)
Leipsic (28-30-58)
Crooks (36-30-66)
Nelson (23-38-61)
Soudek (27-30-57)
Rintoul (17-34-51)
Magee (23-24-47)
DRAFTED/NHL SIGNED PLAYERS: For Victoria: D Tyler Stahl (Carolina, 6th rd 2010), D Jordan Fransoo (Ottawa, 7th rd 2011).
For Portland: F Ty Rattie (St. Louis 2nd rd ‘11), F Brad Ross (Tor 2nd rd ‘10), F Cam Reid (Nash ’09), F Marcel Noebels (PHI ’11), G Mac Carruth (Chi ’10), D Troy Rutkowski (Col ’10), D Joseph Morrow (Sign Pitt 1st rd 23rd overall ‘11), F Tyler Wotherspoon (Cgy 2nd rd ’11), F Sven Bartschi (1st rd 13th CGY ’11) and D William Wren (SJ ’09).
TOP PROSPECTS: Central Scoutings mid-term rankings of North American players positions Victoria’s Steven Hodges (55), and Logan Nelson (108). For Portland: D Josh Hanson (149), F Taylor Leir (117), D Derrick Pouliot (10).
INJURIES:
For Portland: None to report
For Victoria:
#3, Zach Habscheid, Lower body, 1 month
#25 Robin Soudek, Upper body, day to day
SELL OUT!: Their game versus the Portland Winterhawks on March 16th is the Royals 7TH sell-out of the season.
With 1 home game left and a capacity of 7006, the Royals will eclipse the 200,000 mark in total attendance this season. So far 196,752 spectactors have taken in the Royals games at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
Only tickets to the first two home games of the playoffs will be made available at this time. The Royals’ single-game tickets for the 2012 WHL Playoffs are on sale at the Select Your Tickets box office, online at selectyourtickets.com or over the phone at (250)220-7777.
Group rates for playoff tickets are also available, starting as low as $10 per ticket.
7th - VICTORIA 53 Points REMAINING: (1)
Mar 16 vs Portland
8th - EVERETT 52 Points REMAINING: (2)
Mar. 16 at Tri-City
Mar. 17 at Seattle
9th - SEATTLE 50 Points REMAINING: (3)
Mar. 16 at Spokane
Mar. 17 vs Everett
Mar. 18 at Portland
10th - PRINCE GEORGE 48 Points REMAINING: (2)
Mar. 16 at Kamloops
Mar. 17 vs Kamloops
TIE BREAKER SCENARIOS:
* League explanations in depth below…
1) If Victoria and Seattle end up tied for the last playoff spot, the sudden-death game would be played in Seattle.
[Victoria has 23 wins thus far, Seattle 24 and 3 points back with 3 left]
[Victoria record vs Seattle (1-1-0-2) ]
2) If Victoria and Everett end up tied for the last playoff spot, the sudden-death game would be played in Victoria.
[Victoria has 23 wins thus far, Everett 21 and 1 point back with 2 left]
[Victoria record vs Everett (0-4) ]
3) If Victoria, Seattle and Everett end up in a 3 way tie for the last playoff spot, Seattle would get 7th, as they’d have more wins - and the sudden death game would be played in Victoria against Everett.
THE FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/
Standings now:
7. Victoria 53 (v. Portland tonight)
8. Everett 52 (at Tri-City tonight, at Seattle on Saturday)
9. Seattle 50 (at Spokane tonight, v. Everett on Saturday, at Portland on Sunday)
10. Prince George 48 (at Kamloops tonight, v. Kamloops on Saturday)
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If Victoria wins tonight, the Royals will clinch at least a tiebreaker game. That will give them 55 points after their final game. Everett and Seattle can both get to 56 points but not at the same time. One of them can only get to 55 since they play each other Saturday — by losing that game in OT.
Victoria can still end up in a tiebreaker game and it could be a three-way affair, as well. If it's a tie with Everett, Victoria would have more victories than Everett and would play host to the tiebreaker. If it's a tie with Seattle, Seattle would have more victories than Victoria and would play host to the tiebreaker. If it's a three-way tie, Seattle would get seventh place with the most victories, and Victoria would play host to Everett in the tiebreaker.
Victoria could also miss the playoffs and a tiebreaker completely. If Victoria loses in regulation tonight, then Seattle needs three points and Everett two points to send Victoria to the sidelines. If Victoria loses in OT, Everett needs three points and Seattle four points. As I said earlier, if Victoria wins tonight, it gets at least a tiebreaker game. A Victoria victory and a Seattle or Everett loss in regulation tonight clinches a playoff spot for Victoria.
PG cannot catch Victoria, which has 53 points, so the best it can do is get into a tie for eighth place. For that tie to occur, here is what must happen:
1. PG wins both games against Kamloops. That would give it 52 points and 25 victories.
2. Everett must lose both of its games (at Tri-City and at Seattle) in regulation. Everett would then have 52 points and 21 victories.
3. Seattle, by virtue of its win over Everett on Saturday, would have 52 points and 25 victories. So it must lose in regulation tonight at Spokane and Sunday at Portland.
This is the only scenario for Prince George to make the playoffs. There is no other way. This would result in a three-way playoff for the eighth spot which, it seems, would result in two sudden-death playoff games.
ACCORDING TO THE LEAGUE RULES:
a) In the event two Clubs finish tied in total points in WHL standings, the edge goes to the Club with the most victories. If that is a tie, it will go to the Club with the most points in games between the two Clubs during the regular schedule. If the two Clubs are still even, the edge goes to the Club with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular season play. If it is still a tie, the edge will go to the Club with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in games played between the two Clubs in regular schedule play.
b) In the event three (3) or more Clubs finish tied in total points in WHL standings, the edge goes to the Club with the most victories. Should the Clubs have won the same number of games, then the higher position shall be awarded to the Club having the greatest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular schedule play. If the Clubs are still tied, the total records of the Clubs against each other will be used with the Club having the highest winning percentage having the edge. If the Clubs are still tied, the Club with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular season play among the Clubs will advance.
NOTE: When only two Clubs remain tied, (a) will be used to break the tie.
c) In the event two Clubs are tied in points for the last playoff position, then these Clubs will play a sudden-death game in the home arena of the Club having won the most games in WHL standings. If the Clubs are tied in wins, (a) will be used to select the home site.
d) In the event three or more Clubs are tied in points for the last playoff position, (b) will be used to advance or eliminate one or more Club(s) and the remaining two Clubs will follow (c) to determine where the sudden-death game will be played.
