Monday, 20 January 2014

Preview: Medicine Hat at Victoria, Tuesday Jan. 21, 2014

The Victoria Royals  (30-16-0-2, 62pts) look to even the season series against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers (26-15-3-0, 55pts) Tuesday night.

Pregame show at 6:45 on The Zone @ 91.3.fm, or online at www.thezone.fm/whl

This is the second and final meeting this season between the Tigers and Royals.   Back on December 14th, Austin Carroll scored a pair of third period goals to help overcome a 3-1 third period deficit and earn a point in a 4-3 shoot out loss in Medicine Hat.

After earning back to back weekend splits, Victoria looks to wrap up their 5 game homestand with a winning record.  Most recently falling 5-3 to Kelowna Saturday after defeating them 3-1 a night earlier.

The Royals are 3rd in the West having won 7 of their last 10, just 1 point up on the Thunderbirds.

Medicine Hat is 4th in the East, riding a 2 game win streak and winners of 3 of their last 4. 

Most recently, the Tigers defeated Calgary 6-2 in Medicine Hat on Saturday.  Curtis Valk and Miles Koules each scored twice and Trevor Cox chipped in with three assists as Marek Langhamer made 22 saves.

The Tigers kick off a 4 game BC Division swing, and are 2 under .500 on the road this year.

Victoria is 6 over .500 on home ice (16-10-0-1), and after Medicine Hat has to play 15 of their remaining 23 games on the road (14-6-0-1).

The Tigers take the most shots per game on average in the league (38.59), while scoring the 9th most.  They are the 7th most defensive team in the league, while the Royals remain the stingiest.

The Bengals are among the most disciplined team, taking the 4th fewest penalty minutes on average per game.

Medicine Hat is without Vancouver Canucks first round pick Hunter Shinkaruk who needed hip surgery.  They boast a roster with five NHL drafted players: Jacob Doty (St.Louis Blues), Marek Langhamer (Phoenix Coyotes), Tommy Vannelli (St.Louis Blues), Tyler Lewington (Washington Capitals) and Hunter Shinkaruk (Vancouver Canucks).

The Tigers had 3 players competing in respective World Junior Selection Camps.  Markus Eisenchmid for Germany, netminder Marek Langhamer for Czech Republic and forward Hunter Shinkaruk for Canada.

After Tuesday night, the Royals hit the road for a two game BC Division road swing with stops in Kamloops Friday and Vancouver Saturday.

-Marlon Martens

Royals Injury Report:
Hicketts, upper 1-2 weeks, Oleksyn, upper 7-10 days, Skapski, upper day-to-day

Victoria Royals vs Medicine Hat Tigers: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 0-0-0-1Medicine Hat 1-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 2-0-0-0Medicine Hat 0-1-1-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 5-4-1-1Medicine Hat 6-3-2-0
Victoria vs. Medicine Hat Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 3-2-0-0Medicine Hat 2-1-2-0
Victoria vs. Medicine Hat Last 5 Years record at Medicine Hat Victoria 2-2-1-1Medicine Hat 4-2-0-0
Previous Meetings This Season Victoria 3 @ Medicine Hat 4 (Dec 14 2013) Final SO

How the 2 teams match up
Medicine Hat
Victoria
Team Record 26-15-3-0 -- 55 points 30-16-0-2 -- 62 points
Division Ranking 3rd Central 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 4th Eastern 3rd Western
League Ranking 10th 6th
Past 10 Games 5-5-0-0 7-3-0-0
Streak 2-0-0-0 0-1-0-0
Last Game 6-2 W vs Calgary (Jan 18 2014) Final 5-3 L vs Kelowna (Jan 18 2014) Final
Home Record 18-5-2-0 16-10-0-1
Away Record 8-10-1-0 14-6-0-1
GF 150  144 
GA 125  116 
PP (Overall) (37/196) 18.9 (43/207) 20.8
PP (Home) (24/114) 21.1 (23/121) 19.0
PP (Away) (13/82) 15.9 (20/86) 23.3
PK (Overall) (29/145) 80.0 (33/204) 83.8
PK (Home) (17/86) 80.2 (20/118) 83.1
PK (Away) (12/59) 79.7 (13/86) 84.9
Leading Rookie Vannelli (11-23-34) Soy (9-8-17)
Most PIM Lewington - 73 Carroll - 91
Team PIM/GM 13.0/Game 15.1/Game
Leading Scorers Valk (22-27-49) Magee (15-27-42)
Cox (13-34-47) Brown (10-30-40)
Sanford (20-20-40) Carroll (21-15-36)
Vannelli (11-23-34) Blomqvist (17-19-36)
Koules (14-14-28) Nelson (12-21-33)
Last 5 Games 6-2 W vs Calgary (Jan 18 2014) Final 5-3 L vs Kelowna (Jan 18 2014) Final
2-1 W @ Lethbridge (Jan 14 2014) Final 3-1 W vs Kelowna (Jan 17 2014) Final
5-4 L vs Kelowna (Jan 11 2014) Final 2-1 L vs Portland (Jan 11 2014) Final
2-1 W vs Saskatoon (Jan 7 2014) Final 3-2 W vs Portland (Jan 10 2014) Final SO
4-3 L @ Kootenay (Jan 5 2014) Final 3-2 W @ Portland (Jan 4 2014) Final
Leading After 1st 13-2-1-0 18-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd 21-1-0-0 22-0-0-0
Tied After 1st 8-6-1-0 10-2-0-0
Tied After 2nd 2-1-2-0 4-0-0-1
Trailing After 1st 5-7-1-0 2-13-0-2
Trailing After 2nd 3-13-1-0 4-16-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 20-11-0-0 8-5-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 4-3-3-0 19-11-0-1
1-Goal Games 10-9-3-0 13-5-0-2
2-Goal Games 8-2-0-0 7-5-0-0
3-Goal Games 3-3-0-0 5-3-0-0