Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm at 5:40, or online at www.thezone.fm/whl
The Royals have a game in hand, however the Chiefs have one more win this season.
It’s the 2nd of 4 meetings, with Victoria falling 5-3 back in October in Spokane.
The Royals are riding a 4 game win streak after kicking off their 6 game road trip with a 5-3 victory against the Americans Friday night.
Brandon Magee scored twice, Ben Walker (1g 2a) had his second consecutive 3 point night and their power play went a staggering 4 for 6. Patrik Polivka earned his 27th win of the season with a sensational 32 save performance and 2nd star honours.
It was Victoria’s 31st victory of the year and are now just 2 wins and 8 points back from the franchise’s most successful season (33-31-4-4, 74pts) in 09-10.
The Chiefs knocked off the visiting Americans Saturday night 5-2 to move past Tri City in the standings by a single point.
Riley Whittingham scored twice, while Liam Stewart and Reid Gow had a pair of assists each. Eric Williams made 30 saves while Spokane’s power play went 1 for 5, shutting down the lone Americans power play. The Chiefs led 2-0 going into the third and outscored the Americans 3-2 in the final frame on a total of 4 shots.
Sunday night Spokane will wrap up 3 in 3 (1-1) and 4 in 5 nights (2-1) as they knocked off Kelowna 5-0 on Wednesday, then fell 4-1 at Kootenay Friday.
Captain Tyler Stahl finished his 8 game suspension and is set to rejoin the club.
Victoria is still without Alex Gogolev (Lower, Undetermined), Logan Nelson (Lower, 2 weeks) and Luke Harrison (Upper, Indefinite). Trent Lofthouse missed his 5th in a row.
After Sunday’s game at Spokane, the 6 game in 10 night road trip continues with stops at Kootenay Wednesday, Red Deer Friday, Calgary Saturday and Edmonton Sunday.
- Marlon Martens
| Previous Meetings This Season | Victoria 3 @ Spokane 5 (Oct 5 2012) Final |
How the 2 teams match up
Spokane
|
Victoria
|
|
| Team Record | 32-21-2-0 -- 66 points | 31-19-1-3 -- 66 points |
| Division Ranking | 2nd U.S. | 3rd B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 5th Western | 4th Western |
| League Ranking | 8th | 7th |
| Past 10 Games | 4-5-1-0 | 7-2-0-1 |
| Streak | 1-0-0-0 | 4-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-2 W vs Tri-City (Feb 9 2013) Final | 5-3 W @ Tri-City (Feb 8 2013) Final |
| Home Record | 18-8-1-0 | 19-5-1-2 |
| Away Record | 14-13-1-0 | 12-14-0-1 |
| GF | 204 | 179 |
| GA | 173 | 178 |
| PP (Overall) | (39/210) 18.6 | (60/260) 23.1 |
| PP (Home) | (22/115) 19.1 | (28/125) 22.4 |
| PP (Away) | (17/95) 17.9 | (32/135) 23.7 |
| PK (Overall) | (40/209) 80.9 | (50/243) 79.4 |
| PK (Home) | (21/94) 77.7 | (19/107) 82.2 |
| PK (Away) | (19/115) 83.5 | (31/136) 77.2 |
| Leading Rookie | Helewka (8-14-22) | Hicketts (2-18-20) |
| Most PIM | Proft - 162 | Kanzig - 119 |
| Team PIM/GM | 14.1/Game | 19.4/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Kichton (17-47-64) | Gogolev (20-45-65) |
| Fiddler (36-27-63) | Magee (28-23-51) | |
| Holmberg (32-29-61) | Crooks (26-14-40) | |
| Aviani (25-31-56) | Walker (15-23-38) | |
| Walchuk (14-31-45) | Hodges (22-13-35) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-2 W vs Tri-City (Feb 9 2013) Final | 5-3 W @ Tri-City (Feb 8 2013) Final |
| 4-1 L @ Kootenay (Feb 8 2013) Final | 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 6 2013) Final | |
| 5-0 W vs Kelowna (Feb 6 2013) Final | 4-1 W vs Seattle (Feb 5 2013) Final | |
| 4-0 L @ Portland (Feb 2 2013) Final | 2-1 W @ Prince George (Feb 2 2013) Final SO | |
| 7-4 L @ Kamloops (Feb 1 2013) Final | 6-2 L @ Prince George (Feb 1 2013) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 16-3-0-0 | 15-4-0-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 24-2-2-0 | 19-0-0-2 |
| Tied After 1st | 13-6-2-0 | 11-4-1-1 |
| Tied After 2nd | 6-3-0-0 | 2-1-1-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 3-12-0-0 | 5-11-0-1 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-16-0-0 | 10-18-0-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 21-11-1-0 | 11-4-0-1 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 9-7-1-0 | 18-15-1-2 |
| 1-Goal Games | 8-7-2-0 | 14-2-1-3 |
| 2-Goal Games | 7-5-0-0 | 7-3-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 11-5-0-0 | 5-8-0-0 |
