Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm at 4:45 PST.
It’s the lone meeting of the season between the clubs, with the Royals winning 5-2 on home ice last year led by a pair of goals by Jamie Crooks. The year prior, Victoria fell 9-6 in Saskatoon.
Friday night, Victoria had their franchise tying 7 game win streak snapped with a 3-2 loss in Regina.
Austin Carroll had a goal and assist, but the host Regina Pats scored three, second period goals in a span of 7:25, then hung on for the win.
The Royals peppered the Pats netminder Daniel Wapple with 16 third period shots, and 33 overall earning him first star honours. Coleman Vollrath kicked out 24 of 27 in the defeat.
Brandon Magee's 22nd tallied the other goal for Victoria handing the club their first regulation loss in 15 games.
The Royals face the Blades who were eliminated from the playoff race for the first time since 2008 after a 4-2 loss to Regina Wednesday.
This will be the 2nd straight season that a Memorial Cup host missed the playoffs the following season (Shawinigan).
Saskatoon has 8 wins in 29 home games this year (8-20-1-0), while Victoria has 22 road wins in 30 as they had their 9 game road win streak snapped in Regina.
The Blades have just 2 wins in their past 10 (2-7-1-0), while the Royals have 8 (8-1-1-0) earning them the number 10 spot in the CHL Top 10 for a second week in a row.
On their Eastern Division road swing, Victoria is 3-1, with wins in Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Brandon.
Victoria is led in scoring by Brandon Magee’s 55 points. Austin Carroll leads the club in goals with 32.
Saskatoon features the leagues leading rookie point scorer, Russian forward Nikita Scherbak (26g 43a) 69pts. He also has the most power play points by a freshman with 27. Scherbak is ranked 24th by Central Scouting in their mid term rankings for the NHL entry draft.
It’s Wendel Clark bobblehead night in Saskatoon, arguably the most famous member of the Blades alumni group.
Clark's #22 is one of only 5 numbers retired by the Saskatoon Blades franchise. The product of Kelvington, Saskatchewan spent two seasons with the Blades before he was selected 1st overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. During his two seasons as a member of the Blades, Clark scored 55 goals and added 100 assists for 155 points in 136 games. Clark was also known for playing with an edge, picking up 478 penalty minutes in the two years.
Clark would go on to a long NHL career with 6 different NHL teams over 15 years, playing in 793 games. He would score 330 NHL regular season goals with 564 points and 1690 minutes in penalties. He would rack up another 69 points and 201 PIMs in 95 NHL playoff games.
Saturday’s contest in Saskatoon wraps up 5 games in 8 days, an 11 day round trip.
-Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals vs Saskatoon Blades: Head To Head Stats
Description
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Result
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| Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season | Victoria 0-0-0-0 | Saskatoon 0-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season | Victoria 1-0-0-0 | Saskatoon 0-1-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Victoria 2-2-0-0 | Saskatoon 2-1-0-1 |
| Victoria vs. Saskatoon Last 5 Years record at Victoria | Victoria 1-1-0-0 | Saskatoon 1-1-0-0 |
| Victoria vs. Saskatoon Last 5 Years record at Saskatoon | Victoria 1-1-0-0 | Saskatoon 1-0-0-1 |
Saskatoon
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Victoria
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| Team Record | 16-40-2-3 -- 37 points | 42-17-1-3 -- 88 points |
| Division Ranking | 6th East | 2nd B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 11th Eastern | 3rd Western |
| League Ranking | 20th | 6th |
| Past 10 Games | 2-7-1-0 | 8-1-1-0 |
| Streak | 0-1-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Last Game | 4-2 L vs Regina (Feb 19 2014) Final | 3-2 L @ Regina (Feb 21 2014) Final |
| Home Record | 8-20-1-0 | 20-10-1-2 |
| Away Record | 8-20-1-3 | 22-7-0-1 |
| GF | 177 | 207 |
| GA | 256 | 158 |
| PP (Overall) | (53/241) 22.0 | (57/270) 21.1 |
| PP (Home) | (22/121) 18.2 | (31/148) 20.9 |
| PP (Away) | (31/120) 25.8 | (26/122) 21.3 |
| PK (Overall) | (72/282) 74.5 | (47/258) 81.8 |
| PK (Home) | (29/125) 76.8 | (27/138) 80.4 |
| PK (Away) | (43/157) 72.6 | (20/120) 83.3 |
| Leading Rookie | Scherbak (26-43-69) | Soy (12-13-25) |
| Most PIM | Nikkel - 79 | Carroll - 101 |
| Team PIM/GM | 13.3/Game | 14.1/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Scherbak (26-43-69) | Magee (22-33-55) |
| Sanvido (15-20-35) | Carroll (32-19-51) | |
| Stovin (13-16-29) | Blomqvist (20-30-50) | |
| Zajac (9-20-29) | Brown (12-38-50) | |
| Busenius (9-19-28) | Nelson (20-27-47) | |
| Last 5 Games | 4-2 L vs Regina (Feb 19 2014) Final | 3-2 L @ Regina (Feb 21 2014) Final |
| 4-1 W @ Red Deer (Feb 15 2014) Final | 5-3 W @ Brandon (Feb 19 2014) Final | |
| 6-5 L @ Calgary (Feb 14 2014) Final OT | 4-3 W @ Moose Jaw (Feb 17 2014) Final SO | |
| 7-3 L @ Regina (Feb 8 2014) Final | 5-4 W @ Prince Albert (Feb 15 2014) Final | |
| 5-2 L vs Medicine Hat (Feb 7 2014) Final | 3-2 W vs Tri-City (Feb 12 2014) Final OT | |
| Leading After 1st | 9-4-0-1 | 23-1-1-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 9-2-1-0 | 28-0-1-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 3-10-1-1 | 13-3-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 5-1-0-2 | 9-0-0-1 |
| Trailing After 1st | 4-26-1-1 | 6-13-0-2 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-37-1-1 | 5-17-0-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 4-4-0-0 | 16-6-1-2 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 11-34-1-2 | 23-11-0-1 |
| 1-Goal Games | 5-10-2-3 | 19-6-1-3 |
| 2-Goal Games | 5-10-0-0 | 11-5-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 5-8-0-0 | 5-3-0-0 |
