Thursday 27 February 2014

Preview: Victoria at Prince George, Feb 28th, 2014

The Victoria Royals (43-17-1-3, 90pts) visit the Prince George Cougars (26-32-3-5, 60pts) for a pair of games Friday and Saturday, in their final two meetings of the season.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm both nights at 6:45.

The Royals are 5-1 against the Cougars this season, winning the last 5 encounters.

Most recently by 8-1 and 5-2 scores on the Island December 27th and 28th respectively.  Overall Victoria has outscored Prince George 22-9, including two shut outs.

With 8 games remaining, Victoria is 3rd in the West, 7 back of Portland and 8 ahead of Seattle.

Prince George is 9th, 2 points back of Tri City for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West.  The Americans have three games in hand.

The Royals are coming off an Eastern road swing winning 4 of 5 games, and are now ranked 9th in the CHL Top 10.   Victoria now has 90 points, after earning road victories over Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Brandon and Saskatoon, with the only loss on the trip coming in Regina.

They set the franchise record for wins in a month with 10 (10-1-1-0), after a 6-3 victory over the Blades last Saturday. 

The Cougars fell on the road against the Rockets 9-5 Tuesday, in their 3rd consecutive meeting against the #1 team in the CHL.  Prince George went 1-2 in that stretch against Kelowna, with a 2-1 win and 4-2 loss, both on home ice. 

The Cougars are .500 at the CN Centre (12-12-2-5), have scored 10 more goals overall than the Royals, but given up 117 more.  Prince George has taken the 7th most PIM’s on average per game, roughly 4.5 more minutes than Victoria.

Prince George has two players in the top 15 in scoring.  Todd Fiddler is 5th with 89 points, including the 3rd most goals with 42.  Fiddler is on a 16 game point streak, amassing 30 points in that span.  Colorado Avalanche 3rd round pick, Troy Bourke is 12th in scoring with 72 points.

Victoria has 4 players with 50 or more points.  Forward Brandon Magee leads the way with 58 points, followed by Austin Carroll’s 53 including a team leading 32 goals.  Axel Blomqvist has 51 points and defenseman Tyler Brown has 50, good for 11th best among reargaurds.

The Royals have given up the 2nd fewest goals against on average per game, their power play has now improved to 10th best, and on the road have 23 victories (23-7-0-1), the the 3rd most in the WHL.  Victoria had their 9 game road win streak snapped 2 games ago in Regina.

The Royals have also set franchise records this season with 43 wins, and 90 points.  The club has a plus 52 goal differential, and is on the positive side of the scale for the first time in franchise history.

Victoria’s next home game is March 7th and 8th – both against Kamloops.

-Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Prince George Cougars: Head To Head Stats
Summary

   
Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 5-1-0-0Prince George 1-5-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 6-2-0-0Prince George 2-4-0-2
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 27-9-0-2Prince George 11-23-0-4
Victoria vs. Prince George Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 14-5-0-1Prince George 6-12-0-2
Victoria vs. Prince George Last 5 Years record at Prince George Victoria 13-4-0-1Prince George 5-11-0-2
Previous Meetings This Season Prince George 2 @ Victoria 5 (Dec 28 2013) Final
Prince George 1 @ Victoria 8 (Dec 27 2013) Final
Prince George 4 @ Victoria 5 (Oct 16 2013) Final
Prince George 0 @ Victoria 3 (Oct 14 2013) Final
Victoria 1 @ Prince George 0 (Oct 2 2013) Final
Victoria 0 @ Prince George 2 (Oct 1 2013) Final

How the 2 teams match up
     
 
Prince George
Victoria
Team Record 26-32-3-5 -- 60 points 43-17-1-3 -- 90 points
Division Ranking 4th B.C. 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 9th Western 3rd Western
League Ranking 18th 5th
Past 10 Games 3-6-1-0 8-1-1-0
Streak 0-1-0-0 1-0-0-0
Last Game 9-5 L @ Kelowna (Feb 25 2014) Final 6-3 W @ Saskatoon (Feb 22 2014) Final
Home Record 12-12-2-5 20-10-1-2
Away Record 14-20-1-0 23-7-0-1
GF 223  213 
GA 278  161 
PP (Overall) (55/302) 18.2 (58/274) 21.2
PP (Home) (23/142) 16.2 (31/148) 20.9
PP (Away) (32/160) 20.0 (27/126) 21.4
PK (Overall) (74/296) 75.0 (48/261) 81.6
PK (Home) (30/127) 76.4 (27/138) 80.4
PK (Away) (44/169) 74.0 (21/123) 82.9
Leading Rookie Harkins (10-21-31) Soy (12-13-25)
Most PIM McNulty - 113 Carroll - 101
Team PIM/GM 16.3/Game 14.0/Game
Leading Scorers Fiddler (42-47-89) Magee (22-36-58)
  Bourke (26-52-78) Carroll (32-21-53)
  Pochiro (26-34-60) Blomqvist (21-30-51)
  Wilson (26-33-59) Brown (12-38-50)
  Tkatch (16-29-45) Nelson (22-27-49)
Last 5 Games 9-5 L @ Kelowna (Feb 25 2014) Final 6-3 W @ Saskatoon (Feb 22 2014) Final
  2-1 W vs Kelowna (Feb 22 2014) Final 3-2 L @ Regina (Feb 21 2014) Final
  4-2 L vs Kelowna (Feb 21 2014) Final 5-3 W @ Brandon (Feb 19 2014) Final
  5-1 L @ Portland (Feb 18 2014) Final 4-3 W @ Moose Jaw (Feb 17 2014) Final SO
  6-4 W @ Seattle (Feb 16 2014) Final 5-4 W @ Prince Albert (Feb 15 2014) Final
Leading After 1st 13-3-0-2 24-1-1-1
Leading After 2nd 17-2-0-1 29-0-1-1
Tied After 1st 7-13-2-1 13-3-0-0
Tied After 2nd 6-3-0-2 9-0-0-1
Trailing After 1st 6-16-1-2 6-13-0-2
Trailing After 2nd 3-27-3-2 5-17-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 14-8-2-3 17-6-1-2
Out Shot by Opponents 12-23-1-2 23-11-0-1
1-Goal Games 10-5-3-5 19-6-1-3
2-Goal Games 7-6-0-0 11-5-0-0
3-Goal Games 3-10-0-0 6-3-0-0