Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 FM at 6:40pm Saturday night or online at www.thezone.fm .
The 6th in the West Royals are now only 2 points ahead of the 8th place Cougars after falling to Prince George 5-4 last night in Victoria.
The Royals opened the scoring, but found themselves down 3-1 after 20 minutes, and were trailing 4-1 in the second before clawing back to within 1. The Cougars led 5-3 heading into the third before Victoria added a single in the final frame and pushed hard but fell short.
Ryan Hanes and Brett Roulston scored a pair each for the Cougars and got a single from Colin Jacobs as their power play went 2 for 6. Alex Forsberg had 3 assists while Zach Pochiro and Joseph Carvalho had a pair of helpers each. Mac Engel earned his 4th win with a 20 save performance for Prince George.
The Royals got goals from Steven Hodges, Jamie Crooks, Ben Walker (1g 1a) and Brandon Magee. Jordan Fransoo had 2 assists.
Patrik Polivka was replaced in the second period by Coleman Vollrath after allowing 4 goals on 15 shots. Victoria struck once with the man advantage on 4 chances and now have scored a power play goal in each of their last 6 contests.
Prince George now leads the 8 game season series 1-0 and will return home to await their BC Division rivals for a pair next weekend.
Victoria’s Alex Gogolev is now on an 8 game point scoring streak with an assist Friday night (3g 6a) 9pts. Logan Nelson extends his streak to 5 games (3g 4a), Ben Walker now has points in his last 4 (2g 4a). Jamie Crooks now 3 goals in his last 2 games, and 9 in his last 11.
Crooks is one goal away from tying Kevin Sundher (90) for 2nd in Royals/Bruins history for goals scored. Steven Hodges next game will be his 150th career game.
Royals first overall bantam pick in 2012, 8th overall forward, Tyler Soy will play his first WHL game Saturday night. He’s currently playing for the Okanagan Hockey Academy with 31 points in 21 games (17g 14a).
Defenseman and Captain Tyler Stahl will serve the final of a two game suspension for a check from behind in the game against Saskatoon.
The Royals fall to 2-2 on their 6 game homestand and back to .500 overall. Up next Victoria entertains the Moose Jaw Warriors Tuesday before heading to Prince George for a pair next weekend.
How the 2 teams match up
Prince George
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Victoria
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| Team Record | 9-11-1-3 -- 22 points | 12-12-0-0 -- 24 points |
| Division Ranking | 4th B.C. | 3rd B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 8th Western | 6th Western |
| League Ranking | 18th | 12th |
| Past 10 Games | 3-4-0-3 | 3-7-0-0 |
| Streak | 2-0-0-1 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-4 W @ Victoria (Nov 23 2012) Final | 5-4 L vs Prince George (Nov 23 2012) Final |
| Home Record | 5-6-1-0 | 8-4-0-0 |
| Away Record | 4-5-0-3 | 4-8-0-0 |
| GF | 69 | 71 |
| GA | 91 | 82 |
| PP (Overall) | (17/114) 14.9 | (23/117) 19.7 |
| PP (Home) | (6/43) 14.0 | (11/59) 18.6 |
| PP (Away) | (11/71) 15.5 | (12/58) 20.7 |
| PK (Overall) | (23/81) 71.6 | (23/109) 78.9 |
| PK (Home) | (8/26) 69.2 | (8/47) 83.0 |
| PK (Away) | (15/55) 72.7 | (15/62) 75.8 |
| Leading Rookie | Pochiro (3-8-11) | Hicketts (1-7-8) |
| Most PIM | Erricson - 30 | Carroll - 58 |
| Team PIM/GM | 12.2/Game | 20.2/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Jacobs (10-13-23) | Gogolev (10-18-28) |
| Forsberg (5-9-14) | Nelson (6-17-23) | |
| Erricson (6-7-13) | Walker (8-11-19) | |
| Bourke (3-9-12) | Magee (11-7-18) | |
| Pochiro (3-8-11) | Crooks (12-5-17) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-4 W @ Victoria (Nov 23 2012) Final | 5-4 L vs Prince George (Nov 23 2012) Final |
| 4-3 W vs Regina (Nov 20 2012) Final SO | 5-2 W vs Saskatoon (Nov 20 2012) Final | |
| 5-4 L @ Kamloops (Nov 17 2012) Final SO | 3-2 L vs Regina (Nov 17 2012) Final | |
| 4-0 L vs Saskatoon (Nov 16 2012) Final | 5-0 W vs Everett (Nov 16 2012) Final | |
| 4-3 L @ Vancouver (Nov 11 2012) Final SO | 5-3 W @ Medicine Hat (Nov 10 2012) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 4-2-0-0 | 6-2-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 7-0-1-1 | 7-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 2-0-1-2 | 3-3-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 1-2-0-1 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 3-9-0-1 | 3-7-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 1-9-0-1 | 5-11-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 5-4-0-2 | 5-2-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 2-7-1-1 | 5-10-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 6-2-1-3 | 7-2-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 1-3-0-0 | 3-2-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 1-1-0-0 | 1-6-0-0 |
