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With 10 games left in the season, the Royals are 7 points back of the Chiefs and 8 back of the 4th place Americans. If the current standings hold, the Royals would face the Blazers, the team that knocked them out in 4 straight last season.
It’s the final two meetings of the season, with Victoria 1-1 in Spokane, most recently defeating Spokane 5-3 on February 10th. Jamie Crooks scored twice, and Austin Carroll collected 3 points as the Royals outshot the Chiefs 28-20. Victoria fell by a 5-3 score at Spokane back in October.
The club has only been swept once in back to backs on home ice this season.
Victoria is coming off 5-4 loss to Lethbridge on Wednesday, going 0-3 on their current 5 game home stand. After a pair of losses to the Rockets, the Royals outshot the Hurricanes 48-29, got 2 goals on the power play and 3 points from Logan Nelson & Brett Cote, but fell short.
Spokane in riding a 3 game win streak after a 4-1 win Wednesday in Everett. Chiefs leading scorer, defenseman Brenden Kichton had two goals while forward Todd Fiddler added his 40th of the season. Kichton (72), Fiddler (71) and forward Mitch Holmberg (70) are separted by a single point each as the top 3 in team scoring.
Spokane also shutout Kamloops 2-0 and knocked of Edmonton 6-4 in a mini two game home stand. 17 year old netminder Garret Hughson was been between the pipes for the three wins.
The Royals are 11 over .500 on home ice this season (19-8-1-2), while the Chiefs are 1 over on the road (16-15-1-0).
With one more win, the team can tie the franchise record for most wins in a season, held by the Chilliwack Bruins (33-31-4-4, 74pts) in ’10-11.
With 10 games left Victoria faces Spokane twice this weekend, the on the road in Kamloops and Kelowna, a home and home with Vancouver, a pair of home dates with Portland before wrapping up regular season with a home and home against Everett.
Royals Injuries
#17 Alex Gogolev, F, lower body, 5 - 7 days
#28 Luke Harrison, F, upper body, indefinite
#16 Trent Lofthouse, F, upper body, 1 - 3 weeks
#20 Logan Fisher, F, upper body
Spokane Injuries:
#2 Jason Fram, D, lower body, day to day
#7 Tyler King, D, upper body, day to day
#5 Tanner Mort, D, upper body, indefinite
| Previous Meetings This Season | Victoria 5 @ Spokane 3 (Feb 10 2013) Final Victoria 3 @ Spokane 5 (Oct 5 2012) Final |
How the 2 teams match up
Spokane
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Victoria
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| Team Record | 37-24-2-0 -- 76 points | 32-25-1-4 -- 69 points |
| Division Ranking | 3rd U.S. | 3rd B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 5th Western | 6th Western |
| League Ranking | 8th | 11th |
| Past 10 Games | 6-4-0-0 | 3-6-0-1 |
| Streak | 3-0-0-0 | 0-6-0-1 |
| Last Game | 4-1 W @ Everett (Feb 27 2013) Final | 5-4 L vs Lethbridge (Feb 27 2013) Final |
| Home Record | 21-9-1-0 | 19-8-1-2 |
| Away Record | 16-15-1-0 | 13-17-0-2 |
| GF | 232 | 198 |
| GA | 203 | 216 |
| PP (Overall) | (47/241) 19.5 | (66/301) 21.9 |
| PP (Home) | (26/131) 19.8 | (32/142) 22.5 |
| PP (Away) | (21/110) 19.1 | (34/159) 21.4 |
| PK (Overall) | (48/248) 80.6 | (61/283) 78.4 |
| PK (Home) | (24/112) 78.6 | (26/124) 79.0 |
| PK (Away) | (24/136) 82.4 | (35/159) 78.0 |
| Leading Rookie | Helewka (9-16-25) | Hicketts (2-18-20) |
| Most PIM | Proft - 173 | Kanzig - 144 |
| Team PIM/GM | 14.1/Game | 19.3/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Kichton (20-52-72) | Gogolev (20-45-65) |
| Fiddler (40-31-71) | Magee (28-27-55) | |
| Holmberg (35-35-70) | Crooks (31-17-48) | |
| Aviani (28-33-61) | Walker (17-26-43) | |
| Walchuk (18-34-52) | Hodges (25-16-41) | |
| Last 5 Games | 4-1 W @ Everett (Feb 27 2013) Final | 5-4 L vs Lethbridge (Feb 27 2013) Final |
| 2-0 W vs Kamloops (Feb 23 2013) Final | 7-2 L vs Kelowna (Feb 23 2013) Final | |
| 6-4 W vs Edmonton (Feb 22 2013) Final | 8-3 L vs Kelowna (Feb 22 2013) Final | |
| 8-3 L @ Portland (Feb 18 2013) Final | 5-2 L @ Edmonton (Feb 17 2013) Final | |
| 6-0 L @ Tri-City (Feb 16 2013) Final | 3-1 L @ Calgary (Feb 16 2013) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 20-3-0-0 | 16-5-0-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 29-2-2-0 | 20-0-0-2 |
| Tied After 1st | 13-6-2-0 | 11-5-1-2 |
| Tied After 2nd | 6-3-0-0 | 2-1-1-1 |
| Trailing After 1st | 4-15-0-0 | 5-15-0-1 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-19-0-0 | 10-24-0-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 24-11-1-0 | 12-7-0-2 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 11-10-1-0 | 18-18-1-2 |
| 1-Goal Games | 9-7-2-0 | 14-3-1-4 |
| 2-Goal Games | 9-6-0-0 | 8-4-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 13-5-0-0 | 5-9-0-0 |
