Monday 11 February 2013

Preview: Victoria at Kootenay (Feb 13)

Riding a 5 game win streak, the Victoria Royals (32-19-1-3, 68pts) are in Cranbrook to take on the Kootenay Ice (26-28-2-0, 54pts) in their only meeting of the season Wednesday.

Pregame show at 5:40 on The Zone 91.3 fm in Victoria, or online at http://cjzn.streamon.fm/

Kootenay won the lone encounter in Victoria last year 8-3 on Nov. 19, 2011.

Both clubs have been trending upwards with the Royals winning 12 of their last 15 (12-2-0-1).  The Ice have won 16 of their last 21 (16-4-1-0) since Dec 29th. 

Victoria is now in sole possession of 4th place after moving 2 points past Spokane and 3 ahead of Tri City over the weekend, winning 5-3 against the Chiefs Sunday and 5-3 against the Americans Friday. 

The Ice missed an opportunity to move into a playoff spot Sunday with a 3-2 loss at the Tigers who have since won again, moving 5 points ahead, into a tie for 7th with Lethbridge in the East.  The loss snapped Kootenay’s 3 game win streak, the Ice however have won 10 straight in their home rink.

The Royals are playing their 3rd straight away from home, part of a 6 game in 10 night road trip.

Victoria’s 32nd victory of the year puts them just 1 win and 6 points back from the franchise’s most successful season (33-31-4-4, 74pts) in 09-10.

The Royals have outscored the opposition 20-9 in their 5 game winning streak.   The power play is 7/21 (33%) in that stretch, and the penalty killing 18/20 (90%).  It’s the 2nd time in team history that the club has won 5 consecutive.  The club now has the 6th best win percentage in the WHL (0.618).

Ben Walker is on a 4 game point streak (3g 6a) with 9 points, Austin Carroll on a 3 game streak (2g 4a) with 6 points.  Netminder Patrik Polivka has 5 straight wins allowing only 9 goals against (1.80 gaa), stopping 144 of 153 shots (0.941 sav %).  Polivka’s 28 wins is 3rd best in the league.  Jamie Crooks now has 4 goals over his last 3 games, and is tied for the team lead with Brandon Magee at 28 goals each.

Captain Tyler Stahl returned to the line up after serving an 8 game suspension. 

After Kootenay Wednesday, the Royals will play 3 in 3 on the weekend beginning in Red Deer Friday, Calgary Saturday and Edmonton Sunday.

- Marlon Martens

Injury Report as of Feb 11, 2013

#23 Kolton Dixon, D, lower body, day-to-day
#17 Alex Gogolev, F, lower body, 2 weeks
#28 Luke Harrison, F, upper body, indefinite
#16 Trent Lofthouse, F, upper body, 3 - 5 weeks
#19 Logan Nelson, F, lower body, day-to-day

How the 2 teams match up

Kootenay
Victoria
Team Record 26-28-2-0 -- 54 points 32-19-1-3 -- 68 points
Division Ranking 6th Central 3rd B.C.
Conference Ranking 9th Eastern 4th Western
League Ranking 15th 7th
Past 10 Games 6-3-1-0 7-2-0-1
Streak 0-1-0-0 5-0-0-0
Last Game 3-2 L @ Medicine Hat (Feb 10 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Spokane (Feb 10 2013) Final
Home Record 17-12-1-0 19-5-1-2
Away Record 9-16-1-0 13-14-0-1
GF 149  184 
GA 173  181 
PP (Overall) (36/212) 17.0 (61/265) 23.0
PP (Home) (24/123) 19.5 (28/125) 22.4
PP (Away) (12/89) 13.5 (33/140) 23.6
PK (Overall) (46/198) 76.8 (50/245) 79.6
PK (Home) (21/109) 80.7 (19/107) 82.2
PK (Away) (25/89) 71.9 (31/138) 77.5
Leading Rookie Philp (16-16-32) Hicketts (2-18-20)
Most PIM Martin - 95 Kanzig - 119
Team PIM/GM 12.7/Game 19.2/Game
Leading Scorers Reinhart (28-33-61) Gogolev (20-45-65)
Descheneau (14-39-53) Magee (28-23-51)
Montgomery (23-12-35) Crooks (28-14-42)
Philp (16-16-32) Walker (16-24-40)
Dirk (3-23-26) Hodges (22-14-36)
Last 5 Games 3-2 L @ Medicine Hat (Feb 10 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Spokane (Feb 10 2013) Final
4-0 W vs Moose Jaw (Feb 9 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Tri-City (Feb 8 2013) Final
4-1 W vs Spokane (Feb 8 2013) Final 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 6 2013) Final
3-0 W vs Lethbridge (Feb 2 2013) Final 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 5 2013) Final
6-2 L @ Red Deer (Jan 31 2013) Final 2-1 W @ Prince George (Feb 2 2013) Final SO
Leading After 1st 11-3-0-0 16-4-0-1
Leading After 2nd 16-2-1-0 20-0-0-2
Tied After 1st 7-4-2-0 11-4-1-1
Tied After 2nd 6-3-0-0 2-1-1-0
Trailing After 1st 8-21-0-0 5-11-0-1
Trailing After 2nd 4-23-1-0 10-18-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 12-10-2-0 12-4-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 12-18-0-0 18-15-1-2
1-Goal Games 14-5-2-0 14-2-1-3
2-Goal Games 3-9-0-0 8-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 5-8-0-0 5-8-0-0