Thursday 14 March 2013

Preview: Everett at Victoria (March 15)

The Victoria Royals (33-30-2-5, 73pts) begin a home and home against the visiting Everett Silvertips (24-39-2-4, 54 pts) on Friday.

Pregame show at 6:40, with puck drop at 7 pm on The Zone @ 91.3 fm, or online at www.thezone.fm/listen

The clubs split their earlier two meetings with the home team winning on each occasion.  The Royals won 5-0 November 16th, while the Silvertips won 7-4, in their first game with GM Garry Davidson assuming Head Coaching duties January 11th.

Victoria, in 6th spot will take on Kamloops in the opening round of the playoffs, while Everett is in 8th, 3 points back of Seattle with one in hand of the Thunderbirds.

A single point gained by 8th place Everett or dropped by 9th place Prince George, would clinch a playoff birth for the Silvertips and eliminate the Cougars.  Everett with 3 games remaining can still catch Seattle who has a 3 point lead and only 2 games left, and avoid the Winterhawks in the first round.  The Thunderbirds have a home and home with Portland remaining, while Prince George is 4 points back with just 2 games left and face Kamloops in a home and home this weekend.
RankWestern ConferenceGPWLOTLSLPTS





1y * - Portland Winterhawks69541212111





2x * - Kelowna Rockets70501631104





3x Kamloops Blazers7045202395





4x Spokane Chiefs6942252086





5x Tri-City Americans6940251384





6x Victoria Royals7033302573





7x Seattle Thunderbirds7024377257





8Everett Silvertips6924392454





9Prince George Cougars7021412650





10Vancouver Giants7021472044






Conference standings reflect the order in which teams would qualify for the playoffs (1st thru 8th ). Division leaders (marked with a *) are automatically seeded first and second.
x = Teams who have clinched a playoff spot.
y = Teams who have clinched the conference title


The Silvertips snapped a 3 game road winless slide with a 4-3 victory at Seattle last Saturday. Tyler Sandhu scored twice, and Dawson Leedahl got the game winner.  The game saw a goalie fight as Austin Lotz tangled with Seattle’s Brandon Glover.  Everett has 3 wins in their last 8, after going winless in 11.

The Royals have dropped their last 3 after a pair of losses to the visiting Portland Winterhawks.  Most recently a  4-1 defeat Tuesday as Taylor Crunk scored the lone goal and Coleman Vollrath made 40 saves. 

Victoria was playing their 6th game in 8 nights against the #2 ranked team in the CHL.  The Royals have just 1 win in their last 15 (1-11-1-2) and without Gogolev are (4-11-1-2).

With one more win, Victoria can set the franchise mark for victories in a season with 34.  With one more point, the Royals can tie the franchise mark for points in a season with 74.

Victoria was without their leading scorer Alex Gogolev (day to day) who’s missed 18 games with a skate cut, their captain Tyler Stahl (Lower, day to day), Trent Lofthouse (Upper, day to day), and Luke Harrison (Upper, indefinite), G Patrik Polivka (Lower, 1-2 wks).  Tim Traber sat out his 5th of a 6 game suspension.

After the Silvertips Friday, the Royals travel and play in Everett Saturday before returning home on Sunday for the afternoon awards ceremony which begins at 3pm at the SOFMC.

The Victoria Royals take on the Kamloops Blazers in Round 1 of the 2013 WHL Playoffs. Tickets for Games 3 and 4, held at Bear Mountain Arena, are on sale now. With limited Round 1 seats available, Royals fans are encouraged to order tickets quickly by calling 250-220-7777, visiting www.selectyourtickets.com, or heading down to the Select Your Tickets box office.

Everett Injuries:
#23 Logan Aasman, F, upper body, day-to-day
#20 Lucas Grayson, F, lower body, day-to-day
#22 Ryan Harrison, F, upper body, day-to-day
#27 Ryan Murray, D, upper body, indefinite
#3 Aryton Nikkel, D, lower body, week-to-week
Previous Meetings This Season Victoria 4 @ Everett 7 (Jan 11 2013) Final
Everett 0 @ Victoria 5 (Nov 16 2012) Final

How the 2 teams match up
Everett
Victoria
Team Record 24-39-2-4 -- 54 points 33-30-2-5 -- 73 points
Division Ranking 5th U.S. 3rd B.C.
Conference Ranking 8th Western 6th Western
League Ranking 19th 13th
Past 10 Games 3-6-1-0 1-7-1-1
Streak 1-0-0-0 0-3-0-0
Last Game 4-3 W @ Seattle (Mar 9 2013) Final 4-1 L vs Portland (Mar 12 2013) Final
Home Record 12-18-0-4 20-11-2-2
Away Record 12-21-2-0 13-19-0-3
GF 161  215 
GA 255  248 
PP (Overall) (46/271) 17.0 (70/327) 21.4
PP (Home) (26/152) 17.1 (35/163) 21.5
PP (Away) (20/119) 16.8 (35/164) 21.3
PK (Overall) (72/314) 77.1 (68/312) 78.2
PK (Home) (31/145) 78.6 (31/141) 78.0
PK (Away) (41/169) 75.7 (37/171) 78.4
Leading Rookie Mueller (6-25-31) Walker (8-13-21)
Most PIM Nikkel - 117 Kanzig - 155
Team PIM/GM 16.0/Game 18.6/Game
Leading Scorers Winquist (23-24-47) Gogolev (20-45-65)
Oslanski (16-30-46) Magee (30-30-60)
Petryk (15-23-38) Crooks (33-20-53)
Hayer (14-23-37) Walker (19-30-49)
Bauml (21-14-35) Hodges (27-20-47)
Last 5 Games 4-3 W @ Seattle (Mar 9 2013) Final 4-1 L vs Portland (Mar 12 2013) Final
6-3 L @ Spokane (Mar 8 2013) Final 5-2 L vs Portland (Mar 10 2013) Final
6-3 L @ Portland (Mar 5 2013) Final 3-1 L @ Vancouver (Mar 9 2013) Final
1-0 L @ Vancouver (Mar 3 2013) Final OT 5-3 W vs Vancouver (Mar 8 2013) Final
4-2 W vs Portland (Mar 2 2013) Final 4-3 L @ Kelowna (Mar 6 2013) Final SO
Leading After 1st 9-7-1-2 16-6-1-1
Leading After 2nd 16-1-0-2 20-0-0-2
Tied After 1st 9-6-1-0 12-7-1-2
Tied After 2nd 5-7-1-1 3-2-2-2
Trailing After 1st 6-26-0-2 5-17-0-2
Trailing After 2nd 3-31-1-1 10-28-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 7-5-0-0 12-8-0-2
Out Shot by Opponents 16-33-2-3 19-22-2-3
1-Goal Games 15-5-2-4 14-4-2-5
2-Goal Games 3-9-0-0 9-5-0-0
3-Goal Games 3-10-0-0 5-11-0-0