Saturday 9 February 2013

Preview: Victoria at Spokane (Feb 10)

The Victoria Royals (31-19-1-3, 66pts) will battle for sole possession of 4th place in the West against the host Spokane Chiefs (32-21-2-0, 66pts) Sunday night, as both clubs sit tied with 66 points.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm at 5:40, or online at www.thezone.fm/whl

The Royals have a game in hand, however the Chiefs have one more win this season.

It’s the 2nd of 4 meetings, with Victoria falling 5-3 back in October in Spokane.

The Royals are riding a 4 game win streak after kicking off their 6 game road trip with a 5-3 victory against the Americans Friday night.

Brandon Magee scored twice, Ben Walker (1g 2a) had his second consecutive 3 point night and their power play went a staggering 4 for 6.  Patrik Polivka earned his 27th win of the season with a sensational 32 save performance and 2nd star honours.

It was Victoria’s 31st victory of the year and are now just 2 wins and 8 points back from the franchise’s most successful season (33-31-4-4, 74pts) in 09-10.

The Chiefs knocked off the visiting Americans Saturday night 5-2 to move past Tri City in the standings by a single point. 

Riley Whittingham scored twice, while Liam Stewart and Reid Gow had a pair of assists each. Eric Williams made 30 saves while Spokane’s power play went 1 for 5, shutting down the lone Americans power play.  The Chiefs led 2-0 going into the third and outscored the Americans 3-2 in the final frame on a total of 4 shots.

Sunday night Spokane will wrap up 3 in 3 (1-1) and 4 in 5 nights (2-1) as they knocked off Kelowna 5-0 on Wednesday, then fell 4-1 at Kootenay Friday.

Captain Tyler Stahl finished his 8 game suspension and is set to rejoin the club.

Victoria is still without Alex Gogolev (Lower, Undetermined), Logan Nelson (Lower, 2 weeks) and Luke Harrison (Upper, Indefinite).  Trent Lofthouse missed his 5th in a row.

After Sunday’s game at Spokane, the 6 game in 10 night road trip continues with stops at Kootenay Wednesday, Red Deer Friday, Calgary Saturday and Edmonton Sunday.

- Marlon Martens
Previous Meetings This Season Victoria 3 @ Spokane 5 (Oct 5 2012) Final



How the 2 teams match up
Spokane
Victoria
Team Record 32-21-2-0 -- 66 points 31-19-1-3 -- 66 points
Division Ranking 2nd U.S. 3rd B.C.
Conference Ranking 5th Western 4th Western
League Ranking 8th 7th
Past 10 Games 4-5-1-0 7-2-0-1
Streak 1-0-0-0 4-0-0-0
Last Game 5-2 W vs Tri-City (Feb 9 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Tri-City (Feb 8 2013) Final
Home Record 18-8-1-0 19-5-1-2
Away Record 14-13-1-0 12-14-0-1
GF 204  179 
GA 173  178 
PP (Overall) (39/210) 18.6 (60/260) 23.1
PP (Home) (22/115) 19.1 (28/125) 22.4
PP (Away) (17/95) 17.9 (32/135) 23.7
PK (Overall) (40/209) 80.9 (50/243) 79.4
PK (Home) (21/94) 77.7 (19/107) 82.2
PK (Away) (19/115) 83.5 (31/136) 77.2
Leading Rookie Helewka (8-14-22) Hicketts (2-18-20)
Most PIM Proft - 162 Kanzig - 119
Team PIM/GM 14.1/Game 19.4/Game
Leading Scorers Kichton (17-47-64) Gogolev (20-45-65)
Fiddler (36-27-63) Magee (28-23-51)
Holmberg (32-29-61) Crooks (26-14-40)
Aviani (25-31-56) Walker (15-23-38)
Walchuk (14-31-45) Hodges (22-13-35)
Last 5 Games 5-2 W vs Tri-City (Feb 9 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Tri-City (Feb 8 2013) Final
4-1 L @ Kootenay (Feb 8 2013) Final 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 6 2013) Final
5-0 W vs Kelowna (Feb 6 2013) Final 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 5 2013) Final
4-0 L @ Portland (Feb 2 2013) Final 2-1 W @ Prince George (Feb 2 2013) Final SO
7-4 L @ Kamloops (Feb 1 2013) Final 6-2 L @ Prince George (Feb 1 2013) Final
Leading After 1st 16-3-0-0 15-4-0-1
Leading After 2nd 24-2-2-0 19-0-0-2
Tied After 1st 13-6-2-0 11-4-1-1
Tied After 2nd 6-3-0-0 2-1-1-0
Trailing After 1st 3-12-0-0 5-11-0-1
Trailing After 2nd 2-16-0-0 10-18-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 21-11-1-0 11-4-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 9-7-1-0 18-15-1-2
1-Goal Games 8-7-2-0 14-2-1-3
2-Goal Games 7-5-0-0 7-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 11-5-0-0 5-8-0-0