Thursday 14 February 2013

Preview: Victoria at Red Deer (Feb. 15)

Jack Walker scored his first in Red Deer Dec. 14th
The Victoria Royals (32-20-1-3, 68pts) begin 3 in 3 on the road against the Red Deer Rebels in their second meeting of the season Friday night.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 at 6:10, with puck drop at 6:30 PST or online at www.thezone.fm/whl

Friday’s match-up between the Rebels and Royals can be seen live throughout western Canada on SHAW and SHAW Direct channel 299 (7:30pm MST).

Back on December 14th, Jack Walker scored his first WHL goal assisted by his brother Ben, in a 3-2 shoot out loss at the Centrium.  It was the first time the brothers had combined to score a goal in team history.

Victoria had their 5 game point streak snapped Wednesday night in a 5-1 loss at Kootenay. The Ice held period leads of 1-0 and 2-0, and went up 4-0 in the third with a pair of goals just 35 seconds apart.  Steven Hodges had the lone goal for the visitors, while Jaedon Descheneau had a goal and 2 assists for the Ice.

The Royals are tied in points with Spokane with 68, but hold the 4th spot in the West with a game in hand on the Chiefs.

With 32 wins, Victoria is just 1 victory and 6 points back from the franchise’s most successful season (33-31-4-4, 74pts) in 09-10.

The Rebels are 5th in the East with 66 points and have won 5 of their last 7, most recently 4-1 over the visiting Cougars Wednesday.

Victoria is 2-1 on their current 6 game in 10 night trek, spanning 12 travel days.  The Royals have won 12 of their last 16, and own the 6th best winning percentage in the league at 0.607.  On their road, the club is just 2 games under .500 (13-15-0-1).

Red Deer has been solid at home, with a 7 over .500 record (16-9-2-1).  They own the 4th best penalty kill in the league, while allowing the 7th fewest goals against overall.  Netminder Patrik Bartosak owns the 3rd best save percenage in the league (0.930), and 4th best goals against (2.40).

The Royals Austin Carroll is riding a 4 game point streak (2g 5a) for 7 points.  Steven Hodges is on a 3 game streak (2g 1a) 3pts.  Patrik Polivka had his 5 game win streak snapped, but is tied for 3rd in wins by a netminder with 28 this season.  Jamie Crooks and Brandon Magee share the team lead in goals with 28.

After missing 22 games with a lower body injury, Logan Nelson is expected to play Friday night against the Rebels.

After Red Deer Friday, Victoria visits Calgary Saturday and Edmonton Sunday to wrap up the 6 game road trip.

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

- Marlon Martens
www.twitter.com/VoiceVicRoyals

Previous Meetings This Season Victoria 2 @ Red Deer 3 (Dec 14 2012) Final SO



How the 2 teams match up
Red Deer
Victoria
Team Record 30-22-4-2 -- 66 points 32-20-1-3 -- 68 points
Division Ranking 3rd Central 3rd B.C.
Conference Ranking 5th Eastern 4th Western
League Ranking 10th 7th
Past 10 Games 5-4-1-0 6-3-0-1
Streak 1-0-0-0 0-1-0-0
Last Game 4-1 W vs Prince George (Feb 13 2013) Final 5-1 L @ Kootenay (Feb 13 2013) Final
Home Record 16-9-2-1 19-5-1-2
Away Record 14-13-2-1 13-15-0-1
GF 167  185 
GA 171  186 
PP (Overall) (35/205) 17.1 (61/268) 22.8
PP (Home) (19/106) 17.9 (28/125) 22.4
PP (Away) (16/99) 16.2 (33/143) 23.1
PK (Overall) (38/247) 84.6 (50/248) 79.8
PK (Home) (18/104) 82.7 (19/107) 82.2
PK (Away) (20/143) 86.0 (31/141) 78.0
Leading Rookie Fleury (3-13-16) Hicketts (2-18-20)
Most PIM Underwood - 87 Carroll - 126
Team PIM/GM 13.5/Game 19.2/Game
Leading Scorers Elson (18-26-44) Gogolev (20-45-65)
Dieno (23-19-42) Magee (28-23-51)
Hamilton (9-26-35) Crooks (28-14-42)
Dumba (12-20-32) Walker (16-24-40)
Bellerive (12-19-31) Hodges (23-14-37)
Last 5 Games 4-1 W vs Prince George (Feb 13 2013) Final 5-1 L @ Kootenay (Feb 13 2013) Final
5-3 L @ Kamloops (Feb 9 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Spokane (Feb 10 2013) Final
6-3 W @ Seattle (Feb 8 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Tri-City (Feb 8 2013) Final
4-3 W @ Prince George (Feb 6 2013) Final SO 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 6 2013) Final
3-2 L @ Lethbridge (Feb 1 2013) Final 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 5 2013) Final
Leading After 1st 16-1-1-1 16-4-0-1
Leading After 2nd 18-0-0-0 20-0-0-2
Tied After 1st 7-13-3-1 11-4-1-1
Tied After 2nd 8-7-3-1 2-1-1-0
Trailing After 1st 7-8-0-0 5-12-0-1
Trailing After 2nd 4-15-1-1 10-19-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 14-5-2-1 12-5-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 15-17-2-1 18-15-1-2
1-Goal Games 16-8-4-2 14-2-1-3
2-Goal Games 5-4-0-0 8-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 4-4-0-0 5-8-0-0