Saturday 15 November 2014

Preview: Victoria at Vancouver, Saturday Nov.15

The Victoria Royals (10-10-2-0, 22pts) visit the Vancouver Giants (8-11, 16 pts) Saturday night in their 5th meeting of the season.

Preagame show at 6:40 with puck drop at 7 on The Zone @ 91.3 fm, www.thezone.fm/whl

The Royals are 2-2 against the Giants this season, taking the last two meetings on the Island by 2-1 and 3-2 scores in late October.

Vancouver sits 10th in the West, but snapped their 3 game losing streak Wednesday with a 6-2 win over the visiting Tri City Americans.  Carter Popoff scored twice in a 36 second span while netminder Cody Porter earned the win.

Victoria is coming off a 4-1 loss at Tri City Friday night and remain tied for 4th in the West with Prince George.

The Americans used a pair of power play goals while outshooting the Royals 35-25.  Beau McCue had a 4 point night, while Richard Nejezchleb struck twice with the man advantage.  Tri City scored twice in the second period, and twice just :31 seconds apart in the third to pull ahead 4-0 before Tyler Soy broke Eric Comrie’s shut out bid.

Vancouver has 7 of their 8 wins this season at the Pacific Coliseum.  The Giants power play is 6th overall, and 3rd best on home ice.  They’ve scored the 8th most goals on average per game.

The Giants have a three way tie for their scoring lead.  Carter Popoff, Joel Hamilton and Jackson Houck all have 18 points.  Popoff leads the club in goals with 10.

Tyler Benson, the first overall selection in 2013 returned from the U-17 tournament with a lower body injury and has yet to play.  Benson has 11 points in 12 games for Vancouver this season.

Victoria is led in scoring by Austin Carroll with 26 points including 13 goals.  Joe Hicketts has 24 points, while Axel Blomqvist, Brandon Magee and Jack Walker all have 16 points.  Hicketts 6 game point streak and Magee’s 9 game streak ended in Tri City.

Saturday is Legends Night at the Pacific Coliseum. Montreal Canadiens great Yvan Cournoyer will be in attendance while the Giants will wear Vancouver Blazers heritage jerseys.

Up next the Royals return to the Island to open a four game homestand against the #2 team in the CHL, the Kelowna Rockets for a pair Tuesday and Wednesday.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Vancouver Giants: Head To Head Stats Summary
  
Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular SeasonVictoria 2-2-0-0Vancouver 2-2-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular SeasonVictoria 5-4-0-1Vancouver 5-4-1-0
Last 5 Years record between teamsVictoria 22-20-1-1Vancouver 22-21-1-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at VictoriaVictoria 14-7-0-1Vancouver 8-13-1-0
Victoria vs. Vancouver Last 5 Years record at VancouverVictoria 8-13-1-0Vancouver 14-8-0-0
Previous Meetings This SeasonVancouver 2 @ Victoria 3 (Oct 25 2014) Final
Vancouver 1 @ Victoria 2 (Oct 24 2014) Final
Victoria 3 @ Vancouver 5 (Sep 28 2014) Final
Victoria 1 @ Vancouver 3 (Sep 20 2014) Final

How the 2 teams match up
   
 
Vancouver
Victoria
Team Record8-11-0-0 -- 16 points10-10-2-0 -- 22 points
Division Ranking5th B.C.3rd B.C.
Conference Ranking10th Western5th Western
League Ranking18th11th
Past 10 Games3-7-0-05-4-1-0
Streak1-0-0-00-1-0-0
Last Game6-2 W vs Tri-City (Nov 12 2014) Final4-1 L @ Tri-City (Nov 14 2014) Final
Home Record7-4-0-05-2-2-0
Away Record1-7-0-05-8-0-0
GF60 66 
GA59 75 
PP (Overall)(18/81) 22.2(24/106) 22.6
PP (Home)(12/38) 31.6(11/36) 30.6
PP (Away)(6/43) 14.0(13/70) 18.6
PK (Overall)(18/77) 76.6(24/108) 77.8
PK (Home)(8/43) 81.4(7/37) 81.1
PK (Away)(10/34) 70.6(17/71) 76.1
Leading RookieBenson (3-8-11)Nagy (2-2-4)
Most PIMAtwal - 35Carroll - 52
Team PIM/GM14.1/Game18.8/Game
Leading ScorersPopoff (10-8-18)Carroll (13-13-26)
 Hamilton (7-11-18)Hicketts (5-19-24)
 Houck (5-13-18)Blomqvist (7-9-16)
 Foster (6-8-14)Magee (6-10-16)
 Geertsen (1-12-13)Walker (6-10-16)
Last 5 Games6-2 W vs Tri-City (Nov 12 2014) Final4-1 L @ Tri-City (Nov 14 2014) Final
 5-0 L @ Kelowna (Nov 8 2014) Final6-2 W @ Prince George (Nov 8 2014) Final
 5-1 L vs Everett (Nov 7 2014) Final3-2 L @ Prince George (Nov 7 2014) Final
 5-3 L vs Kelowna (Nov 2 2014) Final5-1 L @ Kelowna (Nov 5 2014) Final
 1-0 W @ Seattle (Nov 1 2014) Final5-4 L vs Tri-City (Nov 2 2014) Final OT
Leading After 1st3-2-0-05-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd5-1-0-06-1-0-0
Tied After 1st4-5-0-03-3-0-0
Tied After 2nd2-1-0-02-1-1-0
Trailing After 1st1-4-0-02-6-2-0
Trailing After 2nd1-9-0-02-8-1-0
Out Shooting Opponents7-4-0-06-2-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents1-4-0-03-7-1-0
1-Goal Games1-5-0-05-3-2-0
2-Goal Games3-2-0-01-2-0-0
3-Goal Games1-1-0-01-2-0-0