Friday 6 December 2013

Preview: Vancouver at Victoria, Friday Dec. 6th 2013

The Victoria Royals (19-11-0-1, 39pts) entertain the Vancouver Giants (13-11-5-2, 33pts) for a pair of back to back games beginning Friday night.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 6:45 or online at www.thezone.fm/listen

They haven’t faced each other since the home and home to kick off the season with the road team winning their respective games.  It’s the beginning of 3 straight against the Giants, as the Royals begin a 5 game road trip Tuesday in Vancouver.

The Giants have picked up points in 11 straight (6-0-4-1), are 8th in the West seven points clear of 9th place Cougars.  They beat the Ice at home Wednesday 3-2, after falling the night before on the road to the Rockets 4-3 in overtime.

Vancouver has only 1 regulation loss against the BC Division all season (8-1-1-1), and it came opening night to Victoria 4-2.  The Giants feature 3 former Royals in forwards Tim Traber, Trent Lofthouse and netminder Jared Rathjen.

Victoria has won 9 of 11 sit 4th in the Conference, 6 up on Vancouver.  With 39 points they would be in top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Most recently Victoria shut out the visiting Kootenay Ice 3-0 Tuesday, as Coleman Vollrath earned his first WHL shut out with 25 saves.  Logan Nelson and Brett Cote had two point nights, while the clubs power play went 2 for 3 and Brandon Magee scored a shorthanded goal. 

The Royals now have shut out the opposition in 5 games this year, and remain the stingiest team in the league, allowing the fewest goals against per game on average.  Their penalty kill also remains #1.

Victoria is now a perfect 15-0 when scoring first, and 14-0 when taking a lead to the third period.  They have the most wins in the WHL when being outshot (11-6) four more than any other team. 

Patrik Polivka has won five of his last six starts while Coleman Vollrath boasts both the best goals-against average (1.88) and save percentage (.942) in the WHL.

Logan Nelson is scoring at a point per game clip with 31 points in 31 games, leading the club in scoring.  Austin Carroll is second in scoring with 24 points, but is day to day and did not practice Thursday with the club. 

Victoria is without 20 year old defenseman Jordan Fransoo (upper, 3 weeks), Joe Hicketts (upper, indefinite) and Jack Walker (illness, day to day).

Saturday’s game is the 3rd annual Teddy Bear toss night.

-Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals vs Vancouver Giants: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 1-1-0-0Vancouver 1-1-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 7-3-0-0Vancouver 3-7-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 19-21-1-1Vancouver 23-19-0-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 11-9-0-1Vancouver 10-11-0-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Vancouver Victoria 8-12-1-0Vancouver 13-8-0-0
Previous Meetings This Season Vancouver 2 @ Victoria 1 (Sep 21 2013) Final
Victoria 4 @ Vancouver 2 (Sep 20 2013) Final

How the 2 teams match up
Vancouver
Victoria
Team Record 13-11-5-2 -- 33 points 19-11-0-1 -- 39 points
Division Ranking 3rd B.C. 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 8th Western 4th Western
League Ranking 13th 6th
Past 10 Games 5-0-4-1 8-2-0-0
Streak 6-0-4-1 1-0-0-0
Last Game 3-2 W vs Kootenay (Dec 4 2013) Final 3-0 W vs Kootenay (Dec 3 2013) Final
Home Record 7-6-0-0 10-7-0-1
Away Record 6-5-5-2 9-4-0-0
GF 100  83 
GA 110  71 
PP (Overall) (26/140) 18.6 (30/135) 22.2
PP (Home) (13/57) 22.8 (17/80) 21.3
PP (Away) (13/83) 15.7 (13/55) 23.6
PK (Overall) (25/138) 81.9 (16/130) 87.7
PK (Home) (10/59) 83.1 (11/83) 86.7
PK (Away) (15/79) 81.0 (5/47) 89.4
Leading Rookie Baer (4-4-8) Soy (8-7-15)
Most PIM Traber - 75 Carroll - 65
Team PIM/GM 16.1/Game 15.2/Game
Leading Scorers Popoff (7-24-31) Nelson (12-19-31)
Kulak (11-19-30) Carroll (14-10-24)
Franson (11-16-27) Magee (8-12-20)
Houck (14-10-24) Blomqvist (9-9-18)
Thrower (9-15-24) Cote (2-15-17)
Last 5 Games 3-2 W vs Kootenay (Dec 4 2013) Final 3-0 W vs Kootenay (Dec 3 2013) Final
4-3 L @ Kelowna (Dec 3 2013) Final OT 6-3 L @ Seattle (Nov 30 2013) Final
5-3 W @ Prince George (Nov 30 2013) Final 3-1 W @ Tri-City (Nov 29 2013) Final
6-5 L @ Prince George (Nov 29 2013) Final SO 5-0 W vs Kamloops (Nov 23 2013) Final
6-3 W vs Seattle (Nov 22 2013) Final 6-1 W vs Kamloops (Nov 22 2013) Final
Leading After 1st 5-3-1-2 11-0-0-0
Leading After 2nd 12-0-2-1 14-0-0-0
Tied After 1st 8-1-3-0 6-1-0-0
Tied After 2nd 1-1-1-1 3-0-0-1
Trailing After 1st 0-7-1-0 2-10-0-1
Trailing After 2nd 0-10-2-0 2-11-0-0
Out Shooting Opponents 8-8-2-1 5-5-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 5-3-2-1 11-6-0-0
1-Goal Games 7-3-5-2 8-3-0-1
2-Goal Games 1-3-0-0 4-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 3-3-0-0 4-2-0-0