Saturday 7 December 2013

Preview: Vancouver at Victoria, Sat. Dec. 7th 2013

The Victoria Royals (20-11-0-1, 41pts) entertain the Vancouver Giants (13-12-5-2, 33pts) in the back half of the two game set Saturday.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm in Victoria or online at: www.thezone.fm/listen

The game features Victoria’s 3rd annual Teddy Bear Toss.  Previous goal scores where Zane Jones, and last year Austin Carroll.

The Royals look for a sweep in the two game Island set after 4-2 win Friday.  It’s the second of 3 in a row with Victoria at Vancouver on Tuesday, kicking off a 5 game road trip before the Christmas break.

Last night Brandon Magee scored twice as the Royals earned their 3rd come from behind victory of the season.  Trailing 2-1 heading into the third, Victoria exploded for 3 unanswered to overtake Vancouver and take a 2-1 season series advantage.

Patrik Polivka made 24 saves for his 14th win, Jared Rathjen 22 in the loss.  The Royals also got goals from Ben Walker and Taylor Crunk.

Vancouver defensemen Brett Kulak and Dalton Thrower ended with a pair of assists each.

Both teams struck on the power play.

Victoria has now won back to back games and 10 of their last 12, snapping Vancouvers’ string of points in 11 straight.

Vancouver has only 2 regulation losses against the BC Division all season (8-2-1-1), both to Victoria. 

The Giants feature 3 former Royals in forwards Tim Traber, Trent Lofthouse and netminder Jared Rathjen.  Royals defenseman Jake Kohlhauser also faced his former team.

Victoria remains 4th in the West, 8 points ahead of 8th place Vancouver.  Seattle and Spokane are both 3 points back, sitting tied for 5th.

It’s the quickest to 20 wins in a season for the Royals since moving to the Island, completing the feat in 32 games.  Last season Victoria hit the 20 mark on January 5th, 38 games in.

The Royals remain the stingiest team in the league, allowing the fewest goals against per game on average.  Their penalty kill also remains #1.

Victoria is 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. 

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

Tyler Soy is 12th in Rookie Scoring (15pts), 3rd among 16 yr olds, and leads all 16 yr olds in goals with 8.

With another 3 goals in the third last night, Victoria has outscored the opposition by 17 goals in the final frame this season (34-17).

Victoria has the most wins in the WHL when being outshot with an (11-6) record.

After the 3 game homestand wraps up Saturday, Victoria plays in Vancouver Tuesday, Swift Current Thursday, then off to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Edmonton before the Christmas Break.

-Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Vancouver Giants: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 2-1-0-0Vancouver 1-2-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 7-3-0-0Vancouver 3-7-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 20-21-1-1Vancouver 23-20-0-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 12-9-0-1Vancouver 10-12-0-0
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 4 (Dec 6 2013) Final
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 13-12-5-2 -- 33 points 20-11-0-1 -- 41 points
Division Ranking 3rd B.C. 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 8th Western 4th Western
League Ranking 15th 6th
Past 10 Games 5-1-3-1 8-2-0-0
Streak 0-1-0-0 2-0-0-0
Last Game 4-2 L @ Victoria (Dec 6 2013) Final 4-2 W vs Vancouver (Dec 6 2013) Final
Home Record 7-6-0-0 11-7-0-1
Away Record 6-6-5-2 9-4-0-0
GF 102  87 
GA 114  73 
PP (Overall) (27/142) 19.0 (31/140) 22.1
PP (Home) (13/57) 22.8 (18/85) 21.2
PP (Away) (14/85) 16.5 (13/55) 23.6
PK (Overall) (26/143) 81.8 (17/132) 87.1
PK (Home) (10/59) 83.1 (12/85) 85.9
PK (Away) (16/84) 81.0 (5/47) 89.4
Leading Rookie Baer (4-4-8) Soy (8-7-15)
Most PIM Traber - 80 Carroll - 65
Team PIM/GM 16.0/Game 14.9/Game
Leading Scorers Kulak (11-21-32) Nelson (12-19-31)
Popoff (7-24-31) Carroll (14-10-24)
Franson (12-16-28) Magee (10-12-22)
Thrower (9-17-26) Blomqvist (9-10-19)
Houck (14-10-24) Fushimi (11-6-17)
Last 5 Games 4-2 L @ Victoria (Dec 6 2013) Final 4-2 W vs Vancouver (Dec 6 2013) Final
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
Leading After 1st 5-3-1-2 11-0-0-0
Leading After 2nd 12-1-2-1 14-0-0-0
Tied After 1st 8-2-3-0 7-1-0-0
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 3-11-0-0
Out Shooting Opponents 8-8-2-1 6-5-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 5-4-2-1 11-6-0-0
1-Goal Games 7-3-5-2 8-3-0-1
2-Goal Games 1-4-0-0 5-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 3-3-0-0 4-2-0-0