Preview: Victoria at Edmonton, Wed Oct.15-2014

The Victoria Royals (4-5-1-0) visit the reigning Memorial Cup Champions, Edmonton Oil Kings (4-3) Wednesday night.

Pregame show at 5:40, puck drop at 6pm on The Zone @ 91.3 fm online www.thezone.fm/whl

It’s the first of two meetings, as last season the Royals earned a split, falling at home 5-0 and then winning on the road 5-3.   In the victory, Brandon Magee had 3 points, and Patrik Polivka made 37 saves.

The Oil Kings snapped a 3 game losing streak Monday with a 5-2 win over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings, improving to one game over .500.

Mads Eller had three points (1g 2a) as his “Import Line” featuring a Dane, a Latvian and an American with Edgars Kulda (1g 1a) and Lane Bauer (1a) combined for 6 points.

Cole Benson added a pair of goals and is now tied with Ben Carroll – who extended his scoring streak to six games – for the team scoring lead with 6 points.  Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for his third win of the season.  Edmonton is 1-3 on their five-game home stand.

Tyler Soy scored the overtime winner Tuesday night in Red Deer as Victoria overcame a 4-0 deficit to beat the Red Deer Rebels 6-5.

Travis Brown, Joe Hicketts and Austin Carroll had 3 point nights, while netminder Evan Smith picked up his first WHL win.

Carroll extended his point streak to 8 games, (7g 6a) with 13 points, and his league high goal scoring streak to 7 games with 7goals.  Soy is now on a 4 game point streak collecting 6 points (2g, 4a).  Hicketts moves into a tie for 2nd in defenseman scoring with 10 points, 3 back of the Rockets Madison Bowey.

The Royals are 2-1 on their 6 game Central Division road swing, and have won 3 of their last 4, and picked up points in 4 of their last 5 games.  The wins came over Portland, Calgary and Red Deer.

The Oil Kings acquired defenseman Jake Kholhauser from Victoria for a conditional draft pick earlier this week.  The Royals acquired Russian defenseman Marsel Ibragimov off waivers from Edmonton, and played his first game with the club against Red Deer.

The Oil Kings feature six NHL drafted players on their roster:
 
2014
        Brett Pollock 2nd Round - 45th Overall Dallas
  Dysin Mayo 5th Round - 133rd Overall Arizona
  Brandon Baddock 6th Round - 161st Overall New Jersey
  Aaron Irving 6th Round - 162nd Overall Nashville
  Edgars Kulda 7th Round - 193rd Overall Arizona

2013
        Curtis Lazar 1st Round - 17th Overall Ottawa (currently with Senators)
  Tristan Jarry 2nd Round - 44th Overall Pittsburgh

Up next Victoria is in Lethbridge Friday and wrap up 6 games in 9 nights against Kootenay on Saturday.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Edmonton Oil Kings: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description	Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular Season	Victoria 0-0-0-0	Edmonton 0-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season	Victoria 1-1-0-0	Edmonton 1-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams	Victoria 3-5-1-0	Edmonton 6-3-0-0
Victoria vs. Edmonton Last 5 Years record at Victoria	Victoria 0-2-1-0	Edmonton 3-0-0-0
Victoria vs. Edmonton Last 5 Years record at Edmonton	Victoria 3-3-0-0	Edmonton 3-3-0-0

How the 2 teams match up

	Edmonton	Victoria
Team Record	4-3-0-0 -- 8 points	4-5-1-0 -- 9 points
Division Ranking	3rd Central	4th B.C.
Conference Ranking	7th Eastern	7th Western
League Ranking	15th	13th
Past 10 Games	4-3-0-0	4-5-1-0
Streak	1-0-0-0	1-0-0-0
Last Game	5-2 W vs Brandon (Oct 13 2014) Final	6-5 W @ Red Deer (Oct 14 2014) Final OT
Home Record	2-3-0-0	2-1-1-0
Away Record	2-0-0-0	2-4-0-0
GF	21	31
GA	18	44
PP (Overall)	(4/32) 12.5	(12/57) 21.1
PP (Home)	(4/27) 14.8	(4/20) 20.0
PP (Away)	(0/5) 0.0	(8/37) 21.6
PK (Overall)	(7/33) 78.8	(12/53) 77.4
PK (Home)	(6/21) 71.4	(4/16) 75.0
PK (Away)	(1/12) 91.7	(8/37) 78.4
Leading Rookie	Koep (3-0-3)	Hannoun (1-2-3)
Most PIM	Baddock - 13	Brown - 29
Team PIM/GM	13.3/Game	19.7/Game
Leading Scorers	Benson (3-3-6)	Carroll (7-6-13)
	Carroll (2-4-6)	Walker (4-6-10)
	Bauer (2-3-5)	Hicketts (3-7-10)
	Eller (1-4-5)	Soy (3-6-9)
	Pollock (2-2-4)	Brown (2-7-9)
Last 5 Games	5-2 W vs Brandon (Oct 13 2014) Final	6-5 W @ Red Deer (Oct 14 2014) Final OT
	6-2 L vs Kamloops (Oct 5 2014) Final	8-2 L @ Medicine Hat (Oct 11 2014) Final
	2-1 L vs Calgary (Oct 3 2014) Final	3-2 W @ Calgary (Oct 10 2014) Final
	4-2 L vs Medicine Hat (Sep 30 2014) Final	6-2 W vs Portland (Oct 6 2014) Final
	2-1 W @ Medicine Hat (Sep 27 2014) Final	2-1 L vs Swift Current (Oct 4 2014) Final OT
Leading After 1st	0-0-0-0	1-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd	2-0-0-0	1-1-0-0
Tied After 1st	4-1-0-0	1-0-0-0
Tied After 2nd	1-1-0-0	1-0-0-0
Trailing After 1st	0-2-0-0	2-4-1-0
Trailing After 2nd	1-2-0-0	2-4-1-0
Out Shooting Opponents	3-3-0-0	2-1-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents	1-0-0-0	2-4-0-0
1-Goal Games	1-1-0-0	3-0-1-0
2-Goal Games	1-1-0-0	0-2-0-0
3-Goal Games	1-0-0-0	0-1-0-0

Recap: VIC 6 - RD 5 OT

Tyler Soy scored the overtime winner as the visiting Victoria Royals  (4-5-1-0) came from behind to beat the Red Deer Rebels 6-5 Tuesday night.

“I think we got away lucky, we really dodged a bullet…” said Head Coach Dave Lowry, “You’re spotting teams, 3, 4 goal leads, and tonight we got away with it.”

Down 4-0 after 20 minutes, the Royals scored the next four to pull even, but the Rebels went ahead once more, before Victoria forced overtime with less than a minute to go.

Soy’s 3rd capped off comeback, for the clubs 2nd overtime win of the year.

“Carroll walked in, took a shot and I buried the rebound back door.  You couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that, it was definitely a good feeling.” said Soy on scoring the game winner.  “It was a character comeback, and it was good for the team.”

Evan Smith earned his first win as a Royal, stopping 17 of 19 in relief of Coleman Vollrath who allowed 3 goal on 10 shots.

“Couldn’t feel better right now, it was a great feeling, great win for sure.” Said Smith

Austin Carroll (1g 2a), Joe Hicketts (3a) and Travis Brown (3a) had 3 point nights, while Jack Walker (1g 1a) had two points.  Brown was named the games first star.

“It’s huge for our team, confidence wise.  We didn’t start the way we wanted but we stuck to the game plan and it ended up working out.” Said Brown

Six different Royals figured in the scoring, Brandon Fushimi back from injury got their first goal in the middle frame, while shorthanded.  Carroll got the second on the power play, before Matthew Campese got the third of four third period goals.  Jack Walker tied it at 4.  Axel Blomqvist got his first of the season with the goaltender pulled to send the game to overtime.

Victoria went 2 for 5 on the power play, Red Deer was 1 for 5 but didn’t get a man advantage in the final frame.

The Royals were outshot 13-5 in the first, 12 a piece in the second, then dominated the Rebels in the third with a 15-3 shot advantage.

Taylor Crunk fought Evan Polei in a heavy weight tilt in the second, with the club down 4-0, providing a lift.

“And the only reason we won the game was because Taylor Crunk goes out and really pays a price to lay a little spark, and finally somebody showed some emotion, we were able to score a short handed goal, and things started falling into place.” Said Lowry

Carroll extended his point streak to 8 games, (7g 6a) with 13 points, and his league high goal scoring streak to 7 games with 7goals.

Wyatt Johnson and Adam Musil had a goal and assist each, while Austin Strand and Grayson Pawlenchuk added singles for Red Deer.

Royals newest defenseman, 17 year old Russian Marsel Ibragimov, claimed off waivers from Edmonton had a strong showing in his debut with the club according to Lowry,

“I thought he played well…he’s a right handed shot, something that we don’t have a lot of.  He came as advertised, a skilled individual and I liked his game.”

Earlier in the day, Kristian Ferletak who the Royals put on waivers was claimed by the Broncos.

“It’s always tough when you have good kids and you have to make tough decisions on them…” said Lowry on the import situation, “…with Kristian we felt there was an opportunity to upgrade our team, and upgrade our back end.”

Victoria improves to 2-1 on their 6 game Central Division road trip with a win in Calgary and loss in Medicine Hat.  Up next they’re in Edmonton Wednesday, Lethbridge Friday and wrap up in Kootenay on Saturday.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals 6 (OT) at Red Deer Rebels 5 - Status: End of Game
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - Enmax Centrium - Red Deer, AB

Victoria 0 1 4 1 - 6
Red Deer 4 0 1 0 - 5

1st Period-
1, Red Deer, Musil 4 (Johnson), 0:47.
2, Red Deer, Feser 2 (Cote, Charif), 2:46 (PP).
3, Red Deer, Johnson 3 (de Wit, Musil), 10:04.
4, Red Deer, Pawlenchuk 3 (Bleackley, Fleury), 15:46.

Penalties-Brown Vic (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:58; Reddekopp Vic (checking to the head), 4:07; Fleury R.d (holding), 10:49; Blomqvist Vic (slashing), 16:06; Crunk Vic (roughing), 19:30; Nell R.d (roughing), 19:30.

2nd Period-
5, Victoria, Fushimi 2 (Hicketts), 14:48 (SH).

Penalties-Brown Vic (charging), 4:38; Brown Vic (major-fighting), 10:50; Polei R.d (major-fighting), 10:50; Kanzig Vic (roughing), 13:07; Cote R.d (hooking), 18:11; Fleury R.d (roughing), 20:00.

3rd Period-
6, Victoria, Carroll 7 (Brown, Walker), 1:21 (PP).
7, Victoria, Campese 2 (Palmer), 3:17.
8, Victoria, Walker 4 (Brown, Hicketts), 11:03 (PP).
9, Red Deer, Strand 1   12:32.
10, Victoria, Blomqvist 1 (Carroll, Hicketts), 19:03.

Penalties- R.d (too many men), 5:04; Maxwell R.d (tripping), 10:05.

OT Period-
11, Victoria, Soy 3 (Carroll, Brown), 1:09.

Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-
Victoria 5-12-15-2-34.
Red Deer 13-12-3-1-29.

Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 2 / 5;
Red Deer 1 / 5.

Goalies-

Victoria,
Vollrath 3-5-1-0 (10 shots-7 saves);
Smith 1-0-0-0 (19 shots-17 saves).

Red Deer,
Toth 3-3-1-0 (34 shots-28 saves).

A-3,831
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Reid Anderson (53).
Linesmen-Chad Huseby (59), Cody Huseby (88).

Kholhauser Traded to Edmonton

ROYALS ACQUIRE CONDITIONAL DRAFT PICK IN TRADE WITH OIL KINGS

Victoria trades defenceman Jake Kohlhauser to Edmonton.

For Immediate Release

Monday, October 13, 2014

Victoria, BC- The Victoria Royals today announced that the club has acquired a conditional draft pick from the Edmonton Oil Kings in exchange for 18-year-old defenceman Jake Kohlhauser.

Victoria sends Kohlhauser to Edmonton after acquiring the 6-1, 203 lb defender from the Vancouver Giants at the start of last season. In 47 regular season games with the Royals over parts of the past two seasons, the St. Albert, AB native has three assists and 25 penalty minutes.

The Royals next two games go tomorrow in Red Deer vs. the Rebels, and Wednesday, October 15^th in Edmonton against the defending Mastercard Memorial Cup Champion Oil Kings. Puck drop for both games is scheduled at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST).

Victoria will then return home for a pair of games vs. the Vancouver Giants on Friday October 24^th and Saturday October 25^th. Friday’s contest marks the unveiling of the Royals third jersey, while Saturday’s game is the annual Pink in the Rink Night at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Get your tickets today by calling 250-220-7777 or visiting at www.victoriaroyals.com 

Pro-rated Royals season ticket packages are still available and offer a host of fantastic benefits. Get more details by calling 250-220-7889 or visiting at www.victoriaroyals.com. Join the Royal family today.

Preview: Victoria at Red Deer, Tues. Oct 14

The Victoria Royals (3-5-1-0) visit the host team of the 2016 Memorial Cup, the Red Deer Rebels (3-5) Tuesday night.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm at 5:40, puck drop at 6pm PST.  Online at www.thezone.fm/whl

It’s the third contest of the Royals 6 game in 9 night Central Division road swing.  Victoria is 1-1 so far after a 3-2 victory in Calgary Friday, and an 8-2 loss in Medicine Hat Saturday.

Last season the Royals earned a split against the visiting Rebels, falling 2-1 and then winning 3-2 the next night.

Red Deer has dropped their last two, and 4 of their last 5 games.  They’re coming off a 6-4 loss to Brandon, and 5-1 defeat to Medicine Hat.

Former Victoria defenseman Brett Cote leads Red Deer in scoring with 8 assists.  It’s also home for Royals forward Logan Fisher.  Jack Walker scored his first WHL goal in Red Deer assisted by his brother Ben.

Victoria forward Austin Carroll is on a league high 6 game goal scoring streak (6g), and a 7 game point streak with 10 points (6g 4a).

The Rebels feature two first round picks at the 2014 NHL entry draft.  Defenseman Hayden Fleury was selected 7th overall by Carolina and has signed with the Hurricanes.  Going 23rd overall is forward Conner Bleakley to the Colorado Avalanche.

Red Deer has four skaters rated by NHL Central Scouting for the 2015 draft.  ‘B’ rated skater Adam Musil, and ‘C’ rated players Mario Grman, Grayson Pawlenchuk, and netminder Taz Burman.  Defenseman Josh Mahura will represent Canada at the U17 tournament in November.

Victoria features two ‘C’ rated skaters in Tyler Soy and Chaz Reddekopp.

The Royals are still without Brandon Fushimi, and Brandon Magee who is set for return in Cranbrook this Saturday night.

Friday, the Royals claimed 17 year old defenceman Marsel Ibragimov off of WHL Import Waivers today from the Edmonton Oil Kings.  He’s a 6-2, 197 lb defenceman from Kazan, Russia, drafted in the first round by Edmonton in the 2014 CHL Import Draft (58th overall). Ibragimov has skated in one game for the Oil Kings this season. The acquisition, required the placement of Kristian Ferletak onto waivers.

Victoria plays in Edmonton Wednesday, then Lethbridge and Kootenay Friday and Saturday.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Red Deer Rebels: Head To Head Stats

Description	Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular Season	Victoria 0-0-0-0	Red Deer 0-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season	Victoria 1-1-0-0	Red Deer 1-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams	Victoria 2-4-0-2	Red Deer 6-1-0-1
Victoria vs. Red Deer Last 5 Years record at Victoria	Victoria 2-3-0-0	Red Deer 3-1-0-1
Victoria vs. Red Deer Last 5 Years record at Red Deer	Victoria 0-1-0-2	Red Deer 3-0-0-0

How the 2 teams match up

	Red Deer	Victoria
Team Record	3-5-0-0 -- 6 points	3-5-1-0 -- 7 points
Division Ranking	4th Central	5th B.C.
Conference Ranking	9th Eastern	8th Western
League Ranking	18th	14th
Past 10 Games	3-5-0-0	3-5-1-0
Streak	0-2-0-0	0-1-0-0
Last Game	6-4 L vs Brandon (Oct 11 2014) Final	8-2 L @ Medicine Hat (Oct 11 2014) Final
Home Record	1-3-0-0	2-1-1-0
Away Record	2-2-0-0	1-4-0-0
GF	24	25
GA	31	39
PP (Overall)	(3/28) 10.7	(10/52) 19.2
PP (Home)	(2/12) 16.7	(4/20) 20.0
PP (Away)	(1/16) 6.3	(6/32) 18.8
PK (Overall)	(7/31) 77.4	(11/48) 77.1
PK (Home)	(3/11) 72.7	(4/16) 75.0
PK (Away)	(4/20) 80.0	(7/32) 78.1
Leading Rookie	de Wit (1-0-1)	Hannoun (1-2-3)
Most PIM	Fafard - 15	Crunk - 27
Team PIM/GM	13.8/Game	20.0/Game
Leading Scorers	Cote (0-8-8)	Carroll (6-4-10)
	Musil (3-4-7)	Walker (3-5-8)
	Kopeck (4-2-6)	Soy (2-6-8)
	Charif (1-5-6)	Hicketts (3-4-7)
	Polei (3-2-5)	Brown (2-4-6)
Last 5 Games	6-4 L vs Brandon (Oct 11 2014) Final	8-2 L @ Medicine Hat (Oct 11 2014) Final
	5-1 L vs Medicine Hat (Oct 10 2014) Final	3-2 W @ Calgary (Oct 10 2014) Final
	4-3 W @ Regina (Oct 5 2014) Final OT	6-2 W vs Portland (Oct 6 2014) Final
	7-1 L @ Brandon (Oct 4 2014) Final	2-1 L vs Swift Current (Oct 4 2014) Final OT
	3-0 L @ Moose Jaw (Oct 2 2014) Final	5-3 L @ Vancouver (Sep 28 2014) Final
Leading After 1st	2-1-0-0	1-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd	2-1-0-0	1-1-0-0
Tied After 1st	0-0-0-0	1-0-0-0
Tied After 2nd	1-0-0-0	1-0-0-0
Trailing After 1st	1-4-0-0	1-4-1-0
Trailing After 2nd	0-4-0-0	1-4-1-0
Out Shooting Opponents	3-2-0-0	1-1-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents	0-3-0-0	2-4-0-0
1-Goal Games	1-0-0-0	2-0-1-0
2-Goal Games	0-2-0-0	0-2-0-0
3-Goal Games	1-1-0-0	0-1-0-0

Recap: VIC 2 - MH 8

The Medicine Hat Tigers used 4 power play goals to defeat the visiting Victoria Royals 8-2 Saturday night.

“We didn’t like the final score but I’ll take the way our group stuck together tonight and move forward.” – Royals Head Coach Dave Lowry

The Royals had their two game win streak snapped, and fall to a record of (3-5-1-0), while the Tigers who are the 6th ranked team in the CHL, improve to 8-1 with their 5th straight victory.

Victoria trailed 2-1 after 20, and 4-2 after 40, and were out shot 14-6 in the final frame as Medicine Hat scored four more including two on the power play.

The Tigers special teams came through going 4 for 11 with the man advantage, including a short handed marker.  The Royals were unable to connect on 7 power plays in an emotionally charged game.

“We don’t like those guys, there’s no secret there…” said Lowry, “Our guys play the game the right way…they have a team that has a lot of speed and skill but I don’t like the way that some of their guys play.  They have some big guys that like to take advantage, and liberties on some of smaller players and I thought our older, bigger guys they stood up, and tried to challenge their guys and we ended up losing the special teams game.”

Netminder Coleman Vollrath stopped 31 of 39 in the loss, while Marek Langhammer only allowed two goals on 22 shots.

Dante Hannoun was taken into the Royals open gate by Fischer of the Rebels and did not return.

“Go figure that out…we play straight up and we played hard.  One thing we’ll learn from this playing these guys is they come and they come hard and finish their checks - It doesn’t matter so…We do see them one more time and we’ll be more disciplined team, and we will remember plays like that.” said Lowry on the Hannoun hit.

Chad Butcher led the way with 2 goals and an assist, while Markus Eisenschmid also had a three point night, with a goal and two helpers.  In total eight players had multiple point nights for Medicine Hat.

Jack Walker and Austin Carroll had a goal and an assist each for Victoria.

“We battled until the end tonight, but things didn’t go our way and I think our power play has to be better.  Being a team on the road we have to be better in the first two periods.” Said Walker.

Carroll extends his league leading goal scoring streak to 6 games with 6 goals.  His point streak is now at 7 games with 6 goals and 4 assists.

Taylor Crunk fought Connor Hobbs in the second period.

“It was an emotionally filled game, that’s one part of the game that we did like,” said Crunk, “…the end result is nothing near what we wanted to be.  In the end it’s a learning experience, It’s a game that brings a team closer together if anything.”

The Royals are 1-1 on their six game Central Division road trip after opening with a 3-2 come from behind victory in Calgary Friday.  Up next they play in Red Deer Tuesday, Edmonton Wednesday and Lethbridge and Kootenay Friday and Saturday.

Victoria has two days to regroup before heading into Red Deer, according to Lowry,

“We’ll re-energize, refocus and get back to understanding our strengths will be our discipline and our pace.” 

-Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals 2 at Medicine Hat Tigers 8 - Status: In Progress (2:27 remaining in 3rd)
Saturday, October 11, 2014 - Medicine Hat Arena

Victoria 1 1 0 - 2
Medicine Hat 2 2 4 - 8

1st Period-
1, Medicine Hat, Butcher 6 (Eisenschmid, Schultz), 1:39.
2, Medicine Hat, Sanford 6 (Cox, Stanton), 8:52 (SH).
3, Victoria, Carroll 6 (Walker, Soy), 15:22.

Penalties-Kanzig Vic (holding), 6:47; M.h (too many men), 7:37; Vannelli M.h (high sticking), 9:52; Hannoun Vic (hooking), 11:20; Penner M.h (holding opp. stick), 15:43; Nagy Vic (holding opp. stick), 19:26; Fisher Vic (tripping), 19:46.

2nd Period-
4, Medicine Hat, Vannelli 3 (Sanford, Cox), 0:55 (PP).
5, Victoria, Walker 3 (Kanzig, Carroll), 2:28.
6, Medicine Hat, Becker 4 (Vannelli, Owre), 5:36 (PP).

Penalties-Carroll Vic (checking to the head), 4:16; Fisher Vic (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 7:10; Sanford M.h (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 7:10; Gagnon Vic (major-fighting), 7:44; Hobbs M.h (roughing, major-fighting), 7:44; Brown Vic (hooking), 12:35; Crunk Vic (major-fighting), 20:00; Lewington M.h (major-fighting), 20:00.

3rd Period-
7, Medicine Hat, Quenneville 1 (Stanton, Eisenschmid), 1:45 (PP).
8, Medicine Hat, Butcher 7 (Owre, Hobbs), 3:56.
9, Medicine Hat, Eisenschmid 5 (Butcher), 10:33.
10, Medicine Hat, Mowbray 3 (Penner, Schultz), 12:39 (PP).

Penalties-Walker Vic (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:07; Nagy Vic (roughing), 2:47; Eisenschmid M.h (roughing), 2:47; Hobbs M.h (interference), 5:21; Carroll Vic (slashing, roughing), 6:06; Becker M.h (roughing), 6:06; Vannelli M.h (roughing, unsportsmanlike cnd.), 6:26; Crunk Vic (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 11:23; Hicketts Vic (cross checking), 13:48; Kanzig Vic (roughing), 16:50.

Shots on Goal-
Victoria 8-8-6-22.
Medicine Hat 14-11-14-39.

Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 0 / 7;
Medicine Hat 4 / 11.

Goalies-
Victoria, Vollrath 3-4-1-0 (39 shots-31 saves).
Medicine Hat, Langhamer 4-1-0-0 (22 shots-20 saves).

A-4,006
Referees-Kevin Bennett (29), Chris Schlenker (9).
Linesmen-Matthew Sanders (70), Scott Sharun (103).

Preview: Victoria at Medicine Hat, Sat. Oct.11th

The Victoria Royals (3-4-1-0)  visit the 6th ranked team in the CHL, the Medicine Hat Tigers (7-1) Saturday night at 6:30 PST.

Online: www.thezone.fm/whl

The Tigers have won 4 straight after a 5-1 victory in Red Deer Friday.

Defenseman Kyle Becker led the way with 2 goals and an assist as the Tigers outshot the Rebels 35-28 with netminder Marek Langhammer collecting his 4th win in 5 games.

Medicine Hat was 2 for 3 on the power play, while shutting out all 3 Red Deer man advantages.

The Tigers sit atop of the Eastern Conference with 14 points, winning 7 of 8 games thus far.  Leading the way offensively is Cole Sanford with 17 points in 8 games (5g, 12a).

Last season the Royals picked up a win and a shoot out loss in their two meetings.

Victoria fell 4-3 in a shoot out in Medicine Hat, and followed it up with a 2-1 win on home ice.

The Royals have won back to back games, with points in 3 straight.  They earned their first road win of the year against the Hitmen 3-2 giving them five out of a possible six points in its last three games.

Victoria rallied from a two goal, third period deficit with three unanswered Friday night.  Down 2-0 after 40 minutes, the Royals rallied with goals by Logan Fisher, Tyler Soy and Austin Carroll.

Soy had a goal and an assist while being named first star and Joe Hicketts had a pair of helpers.  Carroll extends his point streak to 6 games with 5 goals and 3 assists.  He has a league high 5 game goal scoring streak (5g).

Coleman Vollrath stopped 27 shots, and came through killing off 6 of 7 Hitmen man advantages.  He’s now 5th in the league in saves, with 200.  For a second game in a row, Victoria’s power play went 2 for 5.

The club saw the return of Axel Blomqvist who picked up an assist, but are still without Brandon Fushimi, and Brandon Magee who is set for return in Cranbrook next Saturday night.

Defensivley the Royals have buckled down, only allowing 5 goals over their last 3 outings.   The Bengals have outscored their opposition by a margin of 23 goals, 35 for, and 12 against.

The Tigers Cole Sanford leads the WHL in scoring with 17 points in 8 games including a league high 12 assists.  Forward Chad Butcher is on a 4 game goal scoring streak with 4 tallies and 3 assists during that span. The line of Sanford-Owre-Cox have combined for 34 points this season.

Netminders Marek Langhammer and Nick Schneider have the 3rd and 4th best Sav % in the league at 0.949 and 0.933.

Medicine Hat features 3 NHL Drafted players, Langhammer (PHX, signed), Tyler Lewington (WASH), and Tommy Vannelli (STL, signed).

Friday, the Royals claimed 17 year old defenceman Marsel Ibragimov off of WHL Import Waivers today from the Edmonton Oil Kings.  He’s a 6-2, 197 lb defenceman from Kazan, Russia, drafted in the first round by Edmonton in the 2014 CHL Import Draft (58th overall). Ibragimov has skated in one game for the Oil Kings this season.  The acquisition, required the placement of Kristian Ferletak onto waivers.

Victoria plays in Red Deer Tuesday, Edmonton Wednesday, then Lethbridge and Kootenay Friday and Saturday.

-Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Medicine Hat Tigers: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description	Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular Season	Victoria 0-0-0-0	Medicine Hat 0-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season	Victoria 1-0-0-1	Medicine Hat 1-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams	Victoria 5-3-0-1	Medicine Hat 4-4-1-0
Victoria vs. Medicine Hat Last 5 Years record at Victoria	Victoria 3-1-0-0	Medicine Hat 1-2-1-0
Victoria vs. Medicine Hat Last 5 Years record at Medicine Hat	Victoria 2-2-0-1	Medicine Hat 3-2-0-0

How the 2 teams match up

	Medicine Hat	Victoria
Team Record	7-1-0-0 -- 14 points	3-4-1-0 -- 7 points
Division Ranking	1st Central	5th B.C.
Conference Ranking	1st Eastern	7th Western
League Ranking	2nd	13th
Past 10 Games	7-1-0-0	3-4-1-0
Streak	4-0-0-0	2-0-1-0
Last Game	5-1 W @ Red Deer (Oct 10 2014) Final	3-2 W @ Calgary (Oct 10 2014) Final
Home Record	3-1-0-0	2-1-1-0
Away Record	4-0-0-0	1-3-0-0
GF	35	23
GA	12	31
PP (Overall)	(9/49) 18.4	(10/45) 22.2
PP (Home)	(4/30) 13.3	(4/20) 20.0
PP (Away)	(5/19) 26.3	(6/25) 24.0
PK (Overall)	(3/29) 89.7	(7/37) 81.1
PK (Home)	(1/13) 92.3	(4/16) 75.0
PK (Away)	(2/16) 87.5	(3/21) 85.7
Leading Rookie	Bradley (3-2-5)	Hannoun (1-2-3)
Most PIM	Stanton - 17	Crunk - 20
Team PIM/GM	13.6/Game	17.8/Game
Leading Scorers	Sanford (5-12-17)	Carroll (5-3-8)
	Cox (1-9-10)	Hicketts (3-4-7)
	Butcher (5-4-9)	Soy (2-5-7)
	Eisenschmid (4-5-9)	Walker (2-4-6)
	Owre (4-3-7)	Brown (2-4-6)
Last 5 Games	5-1 W @ Red Deer (Oct 10 2014) Final	3-2 W @ Calgary (Oct 10 2014) Final
	5-1 W vs Kamloops (Oct 4 2014) Final	6-2 W vs Portland (Oct 6 2014) Final
	8-1 W vs Saskatoon (Oct 3 2014) Final	2-1 L vs Swift Current (Oct 4 2014) Final OT
	4-2 W @ Edmonton (Sep 30 2014) Final	5-3 L @ Vancouver (Sep 28 2014) Final
	2-1 L vs Edmonton (Sep 27 2014) Final	4-3 W vs Kamloops (Sep 27 2014) Final OT
Leading After 1st	5-0-0-0	1-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd	6-1-0-0	1-1-0-0
Tied After 1st	1-1-0-0	1-0-0-0
Tied After 2nd	1-0-0-0	1-0-0-0
Trailing After 1st	1-0-0-0	1-3-1-0
Trailing After 2nd	0-0-0-0	1-3-1-0
Out Shooting Opponents	6-1-0-0	1-1-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents	1-0-0-0	2-3-0-0
1-Goal Games	1-1-0-0	2-0-1-0
2-Goal Games	2-0-0-0	0-2-0-0
3-Goal Games	0-0-0-0	0-1-0-0

VIC 3 - CGY 2

Austin Carroll scored the game winning goal as the visiting Victoria Royals came from behind to upset the Calgary Hitmen 3-2.

Down 2-0 after 40 minutes, the Royals scored three unanswered, including two on the power play.

“For us to be able to shut the door after giving up a couple in the first, and to stay with it…that goal by Fisher was a real lift for the team.  Coleman made a lot of saves to not only keep us in the game, but then give us an opportunity to win.” said Head Coach Dave Lowry

Netminder Coleman Vollrath was instrumental in shutting down 6 of 7 Hitmen power plays, kicking out 27 shots for the win in his hometown.  The Royals went 2 for 5 with the man advantage.

“It’s obviously really special to have my friends and family supporting me and getting a win in front of them…” said Vollrath, “It’s my first win in 3 games at the Saddledome, and growing up as kid wanting to play in this rink when I got older, and now winning in this rink is a special feeling.”

Mack Shields allowed 3 goals on 22 shots.

Victoria earns their first road win of the season as they kicked of a 6 game in 9 night Central Division road trip.

The Royals also got goals from Logan Fisher and Tyler Soy who was named the games first star with a goal and assist.  Joe Hicketts was third star with a pair of helpers.

Chase Lang had both goals for Calgary in the first period.

For Carroll playing in his hometown, in the rink of the Flames who drafted him in the 7th round this year, the goal extended his point streak to 6 games (5g 3a) with 8 points.  Carroll also laid out Connor Rankin in the third before his goal, with the hit of the game.

“It was huge, especially picking it up in the third there felt good to get a good period in.  Show my friends and family as well if there was some eyes up top.”  Said Carroll

Axel Blomqvist made his return back to the line up from injury earning an assist.

Earlier in the day, the Royals put forward Kristian Ferletak on waivers while claiming Russian defenseman Marsel Ibragimov off waivers from the Edmonton Oil Kings.  At 6-2, 197 lb's he was drafted in the first round by Edmonton in the 2014 CHL Import Draft (58th overall). Ibragimov has skated in one game for the Oil Kings this season.

Up next Victoria plays in Medicine Hat Saturday night, the 6th ranked team in the CHL, off to a 7-1 start.  Pregame at 6:10, puck drop at 6:30 PST on the Zone @ 91.3 fm

-Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals 3 at Calgary Hitmen 2 - Status: In Progress (2:17 remaining in 3rd)
Friday, October 10, 2014 - Scotiabank Saddledome - Calgary, AB

Victoria 0 0 3 - 3
Calgary 2 0 0 - 2

1st Period-
1, Calgary, Lang 4 (Chase, Tambellini), 15:42 (PP).
2, Calgary, Lang 5 (Thomas), 18:14.

Penalties-Walker Vic (hooking), 10:38; Gagnon Vic (roughing), 14:47.

2nd Period-
No Scoring.

Penalties-Fazleev Cal (hooking), 4:39; Stallard Cal (holding), 10:01; Kohlhauser Vic (hooking), 12:35; Carroll Vic (roughing), 17:45; Kanzig Vic (checking from behind), 17:45; Lang Cal (roughing), 17:45.

3rd Period-
3, Victoria, Fisher 1 (Dmytriw), 3:35.
4, Victoria, Soy 2 (Blomqvist, Palmer), 11:27 (PP).
5, Victoria, Carroll 5 (Hicketts, Soy), 16:24 (PP).

Penalties-Chase Cal (tripping), 4:14; Walker Vic (interference), 5:56; Brown Vic (delay of game), 7:29; Shields Cal (tripping), 10:02; Fisher Vic (high sticking), 11:29; Harmsworth Cal (tripping), 14:30.

Shots on Goal-
Victoria 4-11-7-22.
Calgary 12-7-10-29.

Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 2 / 5;
Calgary 1 / 7.

Goalies-
Victoria, Vollrath 2-4-1-0 (29 shots-27 saves).
Calgary, Shields 2-2-0-0 (22 shots-19 saves).

A-6,591
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Kevin Webinger (6).
Linesmen-Cory Lundquist (128), Jared Mackey (52).