Monday 9 December 2013

Preview: Victoria at Vancouver Tuesday Dec 10th, 2013

The Victoria Royals (20-12-0-1, 41pts) face the Vancouver Giants (14-12-5-2, 35pts) for a third straight game as the Royals kick off a 5 game road trip Tuesday night.

The Royals take their 9-4 road record into the Pacific Coliseum where they won their only other visit this season 4-2 on opening night.  The Giants are 7-6 at home.

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

Victoria had to settle for a split Saturday at home after a 7-4 loss, after beating Vancouver 4-2 the night before.  The 10 game season series is tied at 2 a piece.

Saturday Austin Carroll scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal and had a 2-1 lead before the Giants scored 5 straight in the second.  The Royals outscored their opposition 2-1 in the third but fell 7-4. 

Steven Hodges a pair of goals and Ben Walker had a goal and an assist for Victoria while Carter Popoff scored a goal in a 4 point night, and former Royal Trent Lofthouse had a 3 point night with a goal and two assists.

Netminders Patrik Polivka and Coleman Vollrath split the dutes, while Payton Lee earned the win after backing up Jared Rathjen in the Friday loss.

Special teams played a part as Vancouver scored 3 power play goals on 6 chances, Victoria was 1 for 4.

Vancouver has only 2 regulation losses against the BC Division all season (9-2-1-1), 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.

Vancouver is in the 8th and final playoff spot 6 points back of Victoria who remains 4th in the West, one up on Seattle who is riding a 6 game win streak.

The Royals are one of the stingiest team in the league, allowing the second fewest goals against per game on average.  Their penalty kill also is ranked 2nd (85.5%).

After the loss, Victoria is now 15-1 when scoring first, but still 14-0 when taking a lead to the third period.  They have the most wins in the WHL when being outshot (11-7) four more than any other team. 

Victoria is without F Logan Nelson, (upper 7-10 days), D Jordan Fransoo (upper, 3 weeks), D Joe Hicketts (upper, indefinite), and F Jack Walker (illness, day to day).

Tyler Soy is 12th in Rookie Scoring (15pts), 3rd among 16 yr olds, and leads all '97 born players in goals with 8.

With another 2 goals in the third Saturday night, Victoria has outscored the opposition by 18 goals in the final frame this season (36-18).

After Vancouver Tuesday, Victoria plays in Swift Current Thursday, then 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 2-2-0-0Vancouver 2-2-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 7-3-0-0Vancouver 3-7-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 20-22-1-1Vancouver 24-20-0-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 12-10-0-1Vancouver 11-12-0-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at Vancouver Victoria 8-12-1-0Vancouver 13-8-0-0
Previous Meetings This Season Vancouver 7 @ Victoria 4 (Dec 7 2013) Final
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 14-12-5-2 -- 35 points 20-12-0-1 -- 41 points
Division Ranking 3rd B.C. 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 8th Western 4th Western
League Ranking 14th 6th
Past 10 Games 5-1-3-1 7-3-0-0
Streak 1-0-0-0 0-1-0-0
Last Game 7-4 W @ Victoria (Dec 7 2013) Final 7-4 L vs Vancouver (Dec 7 2013) Final
Home Record 7-6-0-0 11-8-0-1
Away Record 7-6-5-2 9-4-0-0
GF 109  91 
GA 118  80 
PP (Overall) (30/148) 20.3 (32/144) 22.2
PP (Home) (13/57) 22.8 (19/89) 21.3
PP (Away) (17/91) 18.7 (13/55) 23.6
PK (Overall) (27/147) 81.6 (20/138) 85.5
PK (Home) (10/59) 83.1 (15/91) 83.5
PK (Away) (17/88) 80.7 (5/47) 89.4
Leading Rookie Baer (4-4-8) Soy (8-7-15)
Most PIM Traber - 80 Carroll - 65
Team PIM/GM 15.8/Game 14.9/Game
Leading Scorers Popoff (8-28-36) Nelson (12-20-32)
Kulak (11-23-34) Carroll (15-10-25)
Franson (13-18-31) Magee (10-13-23)
Thrower (10-17-27) Blomqvist (9-11-20)
Houck (14-10-24) Walker (10-9-19)
Last 5 Games 7-4 W @ Victoria (Dec 7 2013) Final 7-4 L vs Vancouver (Dec 7 2013) Final
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
Leading After 1st 5-3-1-2 11-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd 13-1-2-1 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 1-7-1-0 2-10-0-1
Trailing After 2nd 0-10-2-0 3-12-0-0
Out Shooting Opponents 9-8-2-1 6-5-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 5-4-2-1 11-7-0-0
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 4-3-0-0 4-3-0-0