The Victoria Royals look for back to back road wins against the Everett Silvertips Saturday night. Pregame show 6:45 on The Zone @ 91.3 FM, or online at www.thezone.fm
STANDINGS: The Royals are back in 7th with 50 points, one ahead of Everett, 4 up on Seattle and 6 on Prince George. Victoria needs a combination of 9 points derived from Royals wins and / or Thunderbird losses to eliminate Seattle. Victoria has 4 games left, Everett 5, Seattle 6, and Prince George 1.
SERIES: It’s the final meeting of the season, with the Silvertips winning all 3 meetings by 3-2 scores. They last meet this past Wednesday in Everett.
Victoria 2 @ Everett 3 (Mar 7 2012)
Everett 3 @ Victoria 2 (Feb 8 2012)
Everett 3 @ Victoria 2 (Feb 7 2012)
LAST GAME: The Royals earned a valuable 2 points in Kelowna Friday night by scoring the only 3 goals in the third in a 3-1 win. The Silvertips fell at home to the Winterhawks 4-3, snapping Everett’s 3 game win streak.
HOME & AWAY: Victoria has won 3 of their last 4 on the road, while Everett wraps up their 7 game home stand with a 4-2 record thus far. The Silvertips play their last 4 games on the road. The Royals are in the middle of 3 in 3, part of 4 games in 5 nights. They conclude the trip Sunday at 5pm in Vancouver.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Royals penalty killers have stopped 28 of 29 over their last 8 games (ranked 13th overall). Victoria went 0 for 6 on the power play at Kelowna (ranked 13th best). Everett’s power play went 1 for 4 against Portland (ranked 18th), their penalty kill went a perfect 5 for 5 vs the Winterhawks (ranked 17th).
STATS: Victoria has only allowed 3 goals against in their last 2 games. The Royals have peppered the oppostion with 37 shots in each of the last 2 games, for a combined 74-40 shot advantage.
MILESTONES: Robin Soudek has played 249 career games, earlier this week earned career points 150 and 151. Equipment Manager Matt Auerbach worked his 500th WHL game Friday night in Kelowna.
LEADING SCORERS:
Crooks (35-30-65)
Nelson (22-37-59)
Soudek (27-30-57)
Rintoul (16-33-49)
Magee (21-24-45)
Birkholz (28-27-55)
Harrison (19-29-48)
Winquist (17-21-38)
Petryk (17-21-38)
Bauml (13-24-37)
DRAFTED/NHL SIGNED PLAYERS: For Victoria: D Tyler Stahl (Carolina, 6th rd 2010), D Jordan Fransoo (Ottawa, 7th rd 2011). For Everett: Josh Birkholz, (Florida 2009), Ryan Harrison, (Vancouver, F/A), Kent Simpson, (Chicago 2nd rd 2010).
TOP PROSPECTS: Central Scoutings mid-term rankings of North American players positions Victoria’s Steven Hodges (55), and Logan Nelson (108). For Everett: D Ryan Murray (3), D Nick Walters (68).
INJURIES:
For Victoria:
#3, Zach Habscheid, Lower body, 1 month
For Everett:
#4, Evan Morden, Lower body, week to week
#9, J.T Barnett, Lower body, week to week
With 2 home games left and a capacity of 7006, the Royals have an opportunity to eclipse the 200,000 mark in total attendance this season. So far 189,746 spectactors have enjoyed the Royals games at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Their game versus the Portland Winterhawks on March 14th has already sold out! This is the team’s sixth sell-out of the season.
There is only one way left to get tickets to the game, and that is to get your hands on some of the limited number of $5 Mad Monday tickets. These hot tickets will be available Monday, March 12th at 9:30 a.m. at the Select Your Tickets Box Office at the SOFMC.
VICTORIA 50 Points REMAINING GAMES (4)
Mar 10 at Everett
Mar 11 at Vancouver
Mar 14 vs Portland
Mar 16 vs Portland
EVERETT 49 Points REMAINING GAMES: (5)
Mar. 10 Victoria
Mar. 11 at Seattle
Mar. 14 at Kelowna
Mar. 16 at Tri-City
Mar. 17 at Seattle
SEATTLE 46 Points REMAINING GAMES: (6)
Mar. 10 vs Portland
Mar. 11 vs Everett
Mar. 13 vs Spokane
Mar. 16 at Spokane
Mar. 17 vs Everett
Mar. 18 at Portland
PRINCE 44 Points GEORGE REMAINING GAMES: (5)
Mar. 10 at Kelowna
Mar. 11 at Tri City
Mar. 13 at Tri City
Mar. 16 at Kamloops
Mar. 17 vs Kamloops
Play By Play Voice of the Victoria Royals on The Zone @ 91.3 FM
