Pregame show a 4:40 on The Zone at 91.3 fm or online at www.thezone.fm/listen
It’s the 3rd meeting of the season, with Victoria falling by identical 6-2 scores in Portland on Novermber 2nd and 3rd. They also face the Winterhawks for a final time on Tuesday.
The Royals are playing their 5th game in 6 nights, and are coming off a 3-1 loss at the Giants Saturday.
Jackson Houck scored twice in third to break a 1-1 tie, including one into an empty net. Coleman Vollrath made 37 saves, and Jamie Crooks scored his 33rd of the season on the power play, while keeping Vancouver to without a man advantage all night. It was the 2nd time in franchise history, as last year the Royals held the Hitmen to zero man advantages February 15th, 2012.
Victoria will now face Kamloops in the opening round of the playoffs, a chance to avenge last years sweep to the Blazers.
The Winterhawks snapped a 3 game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over the Silvertips on Tuesday as Seth Jones scored twice and added an assist. Ty Rattie had a pair of goals, giving him 101 points and joins Brendan Leipsic (113) and Nic Petan (111) in reaching the century mark. It’s the first time since the 1988-89 season the Hawks have had three players with over 100 points each.
Leipsic leads the league in scoring, Petan 2nd, and Rattie tied for 4th. Portland is ranked #2 in the CHL Top 10, have scored the most goals for, while allowing the 2nd fewest in the WHL.
Brandon Fushimi reflects on the past 6-2 losses at Portland earlier this season,
“They have some very skilled, fast guys…they don’t like to hit too much. That’s what we have to take advantage of, we have to hit them and get pucks to the net.”
Saturday, Victoria welcomed back Logan Fisher to the line up from injury, and Keegan Kanzig from a 2 game suspension. The Royals were still without 4 players due to injury (Gogolev, Lofthouse, Stahl, and Harrison) and 1 to suspension (Traber served 3rd of 6).
With one more win, Victoria can set the franchise mark for victories in a season with 34. With one more point, the club can tie the franchise mark for points in a season with 74.
After the Winterhawks again Tuesday to wrap up 6 games in 8 nights, the regular season concludes with a home and home against Everett starting Friday in Victoria.
| Previous Meetings This Season | Victoria 2 @ Portland 6 (Nov 3 2012) Final Victoria 2 @ Portland 6 (Nov 2 2012) Final |
How the 2 teams match up
Portland
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Victoria
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| Team Record | 52-12-1-2 -- 107 points | 33-28-2-5 -- 73 points |
| Division Ranking | 1st U.S. | 3rd B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 1st Western | 6th Western |
| League Ranking | 1st | 12th |
| Past 10 Games | 6-4-0-0 | 1-7-1-1 |
| Streak | 1-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Last Game | 6-3 W vs Everett (Mar 5 2013) Final | 3-1 L @ Vancouver (Mar 9 2013) Final |
| Home Record | 26-7-0-1 | 20-9-2-2 |
| Away Record | 26-5-1-1 | 13-19-0-3 |
| GF | 305 | 212 |
| GA | 156 | 239 |
| PP (Overall) | (73/327) 22.3 | (70/320) 21.9 |
| PP (Home) | (34/175) 19.4 | (35/156) 22.4 |
| PP (Away) | (39/152) 25.7 | (35/164) 21.3 |
| PK (Overall) | (34/277) 87.7 | (67/306) 78.1 |
| PK (Home) | (22/140) 84.3 | (30/135) 77.8 |
| PK (Away) | (12/137) 91.2 | (37/171) 78.4 |
| Leading Rookie | Bjorkstrand (28-30-58) | Walker (8-13-21) |
| Most PIM | De Champlain - 163 | Kanzig - 155 |
| Team PIM/GM | 15.9/Game | 19.0/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Leipsic (44-69-113) | Gogolev (20-45-65) |
| Petan (45-66-111) | Magee (30-30-60) | |
| Rattie (44-57-101) | Crooks (33-20-53) | |
| Rutkowski (20-40-60) | Walker (19-29-48) | |
| Bjorkstrand (28-30-58) | Hodges (27-19-46) | |
| Last 5 Games | 6-3 W vs Everett (Mar 5 2013) Final | 3-1 L @ Vancouver (Mar 9 2013) Final |
| 4-2 L @ Everett (Mar 2 2013) Final | 5-3 W vs Vancouver (Mar 8 2013) Final | |
| 4-3 L vs Edmonton (Feb 27 2013) Final | 4-3 L @ Kelowna (Mar 6 2013) Final SO | |
| 4-2 L @ Tri-City (Feb 26 2013) Final | 6-0 L @ Kamloops (Mar 5 2013) Final | |
| 6-1 W @ Prince George (Feb 23 2013) Final | 3-2 L vs Spokane (Mar 2 2013) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 35-3-0-1 | 16-5-1-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 43-2-0-1 | 20-0-0-2 |
| Tied After 1st | 11-3-1-0 | 12-7-1-2 |
| Tied After 2nd | 6-2-1-0 | 3-2-2-2 |
| Trailing After 1st | 6-6-0-1 | 5-16-0-2 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 3-8-0-1 | 10-26-0-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 45-9-1-2 | 12-8-0-2 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 7-3-0-0 | 19-20-2-3 |
| 1-Goal Games | 7-5-1-2 | 14-4-2-5 |
| 2-Goal Games | 10-4-0-0 | 9-5-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 14-2-0-0 | 5-9-0-0 |
