Riding a 5 game win streak, the Victoria Royals (47-17-1-3, 98pts) visit the Kelowna Rockets (54-10-0-4, 112pts) Tuesday in their final regular season meeting of the year.
It’s a clash between two teams in the CHL Top 10, with the Royals ranked 8th, and the Rockets #1 for a 10th consecutive week.
Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm or online at www.thezone.fm/listen or http://cjzn.streamon.fm/
Victoria has a won 4 of 7 (4-2-0-1) in the season series, taking all 3 games in Kelowna, twice in regulation and once in a shoot out. The Rockets have only lost 3 times in regulation on home ice all season (27-3-0-4).
The Royals won their last meeting 6-4 on the road back on February 8th.
Kelowna has won back to back games at home after a 7-0 win over Tri City Saturday and 3-1 victory over Spokane last Wednesday. The Rockets have 8 wins over their past 10.
Saturday, Kelowna scored four power play goals to get past Tri-City, as seven different players scored and Jordon Cooke earned the shutout in net. Cooke has been nominated for the CHL goaltender of the week, while allowing just 2 goals against over his last 4 games.
Victoria is coming off a weekend sweep of the Kamloops Blazers by scores of 3-2 Saturday night, and 5-1 the night before and have now won 9 of their last 10.
It’s the 5th time the Royals have had a win streak of 5 games or more this season. With 4 games remaining, Victoria needs 3 wins to hit 50, and two more points to reach a franchise first 100 point campaign. The Royals have a franchise high 25 road wins this year, winning their last 3 in a row.
The Rockets continue to set new franchise records for most single season wins (54), and points (112) all with 4 games remaining. They break the old mark of 52 set just last season. The 112 points also snaps the old mark of 109 set by the 2002-2003 club. For the first time in franchise history Kelowna is enjoying back-to-back 50 wins seasons.
The WHL record for most victories in a season is 60 (Victoria Cougars, 1980-81); the record for most points is 125 (Brandon Wheat Kings, 1978-79).
It’s a battle between two very stingy clubs, as Victoria has given up the fewest goals against on average in the WHL, Kelowna the 3rd fewest while mainting the most efficient penalty kill.
The Rockets feature a balanced attack, having scored the 2nd most, yet have no one in the top 20 in scoring.
The Royals have 6 players with 50 or more points, led by Brandon Magee’s 63 points and Austin Carroll’s team leading 33 goals. Magee has 199 career points.
Victoria has one of the best goaltending tandems in the WHL. Coleman Vollrath leads the league in goals against average (2.24) and save percentage (0.930). Patrik Polivka has the 4th best goals against (2.51) while winning all 7 games since returning from injury Feb 17th.
Kelowna is led by Myles Bell’s team leading 41 goals and 74 points. Damon Severson is 4th among defenseman in scoring with 60 points.
The Rockets need one win in their remaining four games, or a Winterhawks loss, to claim the WHL regular season title for the first time since 2002-2003.
Victoria has locked up 3rd in the Conference, and will face the 6th seed in the West in round one of the playoffs. Their opponent is yet to be determined as just 5 points separate 4th from 6th. Seattle is in 4th with 86 points, Spokane 5th with 82 points and Everett is 6th with 81 points.
Seattle (86 pts) remaining games (4):
Mar. 11 Spokane Tuesday
Mar. 14 Portland Friday
Mar. 15 at Portland Saturday
Mar. 16 at Tri-City Saturday
Spokane (82 pts) remaining games (4):
Mar. 11 at Seattle Tuesday
Mar. 12 Everett Wednesday
Mar. 14 Tri-City Friday
Mar. 15 at Tri-City Saturday
Everett (81 pts) remaining games (4):
Mar. 12 at Spokane Wednesday
Mar. 14 at Victoria Friday
Mar. 15 Victoria Saturday
Mar. 16 at Portland Sunday
- Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals vs Kelowna Rockets: Head To Head Stats
Summary
Description
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Result
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| Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season | Victoria 4-2-0-1 | Kelowna 3-3-0-1 |
| Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season | Victoria 1-6-0-1 | Kelowna 7-1-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Victoria 16-19-1-3 | Kelowna 23-11-2-3 |
| Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Victoria | Victoria 7-10-1-2 | Kelowna 13-5-2-0 |
| Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Kelowna | Victoria 9-9-0-1 | Kelowna 10-6-0-3 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Victoria 6 @ Kelowna 4 (Feb 8 2014) Final Kelowna 5 @ Victoria 3 (Jan 18 2014) Final Kelowna 1 @ Victoria 3 (Jan 17 2014) Final Victoria 4 @ Kelowna 1 (Nov 20 2013) Final Kelowna 2 @ Victoria 1 (Oct 26 2013) Final SO Kelowna 4 @ Victoria 1 (Oct 25 2013) Final Victoria 4 @ Kelowna 3 (Sep 28 2013) Final SO |
How the 2 teams match up
Kelowna
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Victoria
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| Team Record | 54-10-0-4 -- 112 points | 47-17-1-3 -- 98 points |
| Division Ranking | 1st B.C. | 2nd B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 1st Western | 3rd Western |
| League Ranking | 1st | 5th |
| Past 10 Games | 8-2-0-0 | 9-1-0-0 |
| Streak | 2-0-0-0 | 5-0-0-0 |
| Last Game | 7-0 W vs Tri-City (Mar 8 2014) Final | 3-2 W vs Kamloops (Mar 8 2014) Final |
| Home Record | 27-3-0-4 | 22-10-1-2 |
| Away Record | 27-7-0-0 | 25-7-0-1 |
| GF | 293 | 228 |
| GA | 170 | 168 |
| PP (Overall) | (65/293) 22.2 | (60/284) 21.1 |
| PP (Home) | (32/157) 20.4 | (33/152) 21.7 |
| PP (Away) | (33/136) 24.3 | (27/132) 20.5 |
| PK (Overall) | (41/304) 86.5 | (49/269) 81.8 |
| PK (Home) | (18/156) 88.5 | (28/142) 80.3 |
| PK (Away) | (23/148) 84.5 | (21/127) 83.5 |
| Leading Rookie | Merkley (23-31-54) | Soy (13-14-27) |
| Most PIM | Goulbourne - 102 | Carroll - 110 |
| Team PIM/GM | 15.1/Game | 13.6/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Bell (41-33-74) | Magee (24-39-63) |
| Severson (15-45-60) | Carroll (33-22-55) | |
| Olsen (28-30-58) | Blomqvist (23-31-54) | |
| Baillie (22-33-55) | Walker (24-29-53) | |
| Bowey (18-37-55) | Brown (14-39-53) | |
| Last 5 Games | 7-0 W vs Tri-City (Mar 8 2014) Final | 3-2 W vs Kamloops (Mar 8 2014) Final |
| 3-1 W vs Spokane (Mar 5 2014) Final | 5-1 W vs Kamloops (Mar 7 2014) Final | |
| 5-1 L @ Everett (Mar 4 2014) Final | 2-1 W @ Prince George (Mar 1 2014) Final | |
| 3-1 W @ Vancouver (Mar 1 2014) Final | 5-3 W @ Prince George (Feb 28 2014) Final | |
| 6-0 W vs Vancouver (Feb 28 2014) Final | 6-3 W @ Saskatoon (Feb 22 2014) Final | |
| Leading After 1st | 28-2-0-1 | 27-1-1-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 40-0-0-3 | 33-0-1-1 |
| Tied After 1st | 16-2-0-2 | 13-3-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 10-4-0-1 | 9-0-0-1 |
| Trailing After 1st | 10-6-0-1 | 7-13-0-2 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 4-6-0-0 | 5-17-0-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 37-6-0-2 | 20-6-1-2 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 12-4-0-0 | 24-11-0-1 |
| 1-Goal Games | 15-2-0-4 | 21-6-1-3 |
| 2-Goal Games | 13-4-0-0 | 12-5-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 10-3-0-0 | 6-3-0-0 |
