Wednesday 5 February 2014

Preview: Calgary at Victoria Wed. Feb.05.2014

The Royals beat the Hitmen 7-2 Tuesday night
The Victoria Royals  (35-16-0-3, 73pts) look for the sweep in the back half of a two game set against the visiting Calgary Hitmen (32-15-3-3, 70pts) Wedenesday.
Pregame show on The Zone at 6:45.

Tuesday night, Austin Carroll had a hat trick as Victoria scored six unanswered goals to erase a 2-1 second period deficit, and knock off Calgary 7-2.

The Royals had multiple point games from six different players while outshooting Calgary 46-26.

Victoria earns back to back wins and 8 victories over their last 11.  Calgary has dropped back to back games, winning just 3 of their last 10.  Both clubs earned ‘Honourable Mention’ for the CHL Top 10 last week.

Both clubs sit 3rd in their respective Conferences, with the Royals having a 3 point lead on the Hitmen in the overall standings. 

Victoria tied the franchise record with 35 wins in a season, set a year ago and now have points in 6 straight games (5-0-0-1).  They remain 3 points ahead of Seattle for 3rd in the West while sporting the 4th best winning percentage in the league (0.676).

The Hitmen have scored 25 more goals overall than the Royals, however Victoria has given up 24 fewer goals.

Calgary owns the the 19th ranked power play, but 3rd best penalty kill in the league. 

Victoria is 5th most efficient when short handed, while allowing the fewest goals against on average per game in the league.    The Royals have scored 25 goals over their last 5 games.

The Hitmen have allowed the 6th fewest goals against on average pergame, while scoring the 5th most.

The Royals are 9 games over .500 at home, while the Hitmen are .500 mark on the road, but 17 over at home. Including tonight, the Hitmen will play 12 of their next 16 games on the road.  Victoria will play 13 of remaining 18 games on road.

Calgary acquired four new players near the WHL Trade Deadline.  Since joining the Hitmen Adam Tambellini has 13 points (4g 9a) in 12 games.  Mike Winther has seven points (2g 5a) in 7 games.  Connor Rankin has 5 points (3g 2a) in 10 games while defenceman Michael Zipp has 2 assists in 11 games.

Four Hitmen players were recognized by NHL Central Scouting in its midterm rankings of North American skaters for the 2014 NHL Entry Draft: forwards Jake Virtanen (9th) and Radel Fazleev (129th), and defencemen Ben Thomas (49th) and Travis Sanheim (167th).

Calgary is on a 5 game road trip and will also make stops in Vancouver (Feb. 7) and Kamloops (Feb. 8), before returning to the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday, Feb. 11 for a tilt against the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Royals wrap up their four game homestand (2-0-0-1) tonight against the Hitmen.  Next up a 3 game road trip with stops in Kamloops Friday, Kelowna Saturday and Vancouver at 2pm Holiday Monday.

-Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals vs Calgary Hitmen: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 1-0-0-0Calgary 0-1-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 1-2-0-0Calgary 2-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 4-6-0-0Calgary 6-4-0-0
Victoria vs. Calgary Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 3-3-0-0Calgary 3-3-0-0
Victoria vs. Calgary Last 5 Years record at Calgary Victoria 1-3-0-0Calgary 3-1-0-0
Previous Meetings This Season Calgary 2 @ Victoria 7 (Feb 4 2014) Final

How the 2 teams match up
Calgary
Victoria
Team Record 32-15-3-3 -- 70 points 35-16-0-3 -- 73 points
Division Ranking 2nd Central 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 3rd Eastern 3rd Western
League Ranking 7th 5th
Past 10 Games 3-6-1-0 7-2-0-1
Streak 0-2-0-0 5-0-0-1
Last Game 7-2 L @ Victoria (Feb 4 2014) Final 7-2 W vs Calgary (Feb 4 2014) Final
Home Record 22-5-1-2 19-10-0-2
Away Record 10-10-2-1 16-6-0-1
GF 195  170 
GA 153  129 
PP (Overall) (42/223) 18.8 (48/234) 20.5
PP (Home) (24/135) 17.8 (27/141) 19.1
PP (Away) (18/88) 20.5 (21/93) 22.6
PK (Overall) (38/241) 84.2 (37/218) 83.0
PK (Home) (23/134) 82.8 (23/128) 82.0
PK (Away) (15/107) 86.0 (14/90) 84.4
Leading Rookie Fazleev (5-20-25) Soy (10-12-22)
Most PIM Virtanen - 83 Carroll - 93
Team PIM/GM 15.6/Game 14.4/Game
Leading Scorers Chase (29-28-57) Magee (19-29-48)
Virtanen (32-18-50) Blomqvist (18-24-42)
Brassart (23-27-50) Nelson (17-25-42)
Rankin (16-22-38) Brown (10-32-42)
Helgesen (6-30-36) Carroll (25-16-41)
Last 5 Games 7-2 L @ Victoria (Feb 4 2014) Final 7-2 W vs Calgary (Feb 4 2014) Final
5-2 L @ Kootenay (Feb 1 2014) Final 3-2 W vs Vancouver (Feb 1 2014) Final OT
7-4 W vs Brandon (Jan 31 2014) Final 5-4 L vs Vancouver (Jan 31 2014) Final SO
4-1 L vs Tri-City (Jan 29 2014) Final 3-1 W @ Vancouver (Jan 25 2014) Final
3-2 L vs Edmonton (Jan 26 2014) Final OT 7-2 W @ Kamloops (Jan 24 2014) Final
Leading After 1st 19-3-0-0 21-1-0-1
Leading After 2nd 23-1-0-1 27-0-0-1
Tied After 1st 6-6-2-2 11-2-0-0
Tied After 2nd 7-3-2-0 4-0-0-1
Trailing After 1st 7-6-1-1 3-13-0-2
Trailing After 2nd 2-11-1-2 4-16-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 22-2-2-2 12-5-0-2
Out Shot by Opponents 9-12-1-1 20-11-0-1
1-Goal Games 8-3-3-3 15-5-0-3
2-Goal Games 5-5-0-0 8-5-0-0
3-Goal Games 13-2-0-0 5-3-0-0