Sunday 4 March 2012

Preview: Vancouver at Victoria (Sun March 4)

The Victoria Royals (21-38-2-4, 48pts) look to sweep the two game set against the visiting Vancouver Giants (36-25-1-3, 76pts) Sunday afternoon at 1pm.  Pregame show at 12:45 on The Zone @ 91.3 FM.

Jared Rathjen stops Jordan Martinook in a 5-2 Royals win Saturday
PAST 10:  Victoria (4-6), Vancouver (4-5-0-1)

LAST GAME:  Saturday night in Victoria, the Royals power play struck twice and stopped all 4 Giant chances in a 5-2 victory over Vancouver.  Victoria held period leads of 2-0, and 4-2 before adding an empty goal.

The win snapped the Royals two game skid, and handed the Giants a second consecutive loss, with only one win in their last six outings.

SERIES:  The Royals have a 3-5 record against the Giants in the ten game series.  Victoria's three victories have come on home ice, and will have their final meeting next Sunday evening at 5pm in Vancouver.

Vancouver 2 @ Victoria 5 (March 3 2012)
Victoria 3 @ Vancouver 11 (Nov 18 2011)
Vancouver 5 @ Victoria 3 (Nov 5 2011)
Vancouver 1 @ Victoria 2 (Nov 4 2011)
Victoria 1 @ Vancouver 8 (Oct 21 2011)
Victoria 1 @ Vancouver 5 (Oct 10 2011)
Vancouver 3 @ Victoria 5 (Sep 24 2011)
Victoria 2 @ Vancouver 5 (Sep 23 2011)

STANDINGS: Victoria sits 7th with 48 points, 1 ahead of Everett, and 4 up on 9th place Seattle who has a game in hand.  Prince George is 10th, 6 back.  The Spokane Chiefs are 2 ahead of the 5th place Vancouver Giants in the West.

HOME & AWAY:  Victoria looks for their 13th home win with a record of (12-18-1-2) at the SOFMC, while Vancouver is an even .500 on the road (15-15-1-2).  They wrap up 3 games in 3 days this afternoon.
STATS:  Victoria’s penalty killing has been a perfect 18 for 18 over their last 5 games, ranked 13th.  Their power play went 2 for 6 Saturday night, improving to 14th best overall.

Vancouver has taken the 3rd most PIM’s on average per game.  Their power play is ranked 15th, and penalty kill 11th best.  They’ve scored the 11th most goals for, while allowing the 12th most.  The Giants are stingy only allowing the 3rd fewest shots against on average (28.49).  Statistically their first period is the best when analyzing the goal differential per period (+23, -2, -7) over the course of the season.

Jared Rathjen stops Marek Tvrdon on 3rd period breakaway.
WHO’S HOT:
Saturday night, the Royals got two point efforts from Hayden Rintoul (1g 1a), Jordan Fransoo (1g 1a), Logan Nelson (2a), and Robin Soudek (2a).  Nelson remains 4th in rookie scoring, while Soudek has 149 career points.  Jamie Crooks notched his team leading 34th while Ben Walker and Zane Jones also scored.

Brendan Gallagher scored his 40th to extended his point streak to 4 games (4g 2a).  Marek Tvrdon had his 3 game point streak halted.

LEADING SCORERS:

Gallagher (40-34-74)
Tvrdon (25-38-63)
Martinook (34-20-54)
Franson (25-29-54)

Crooks (34-30-64)
Nelson (21-37-58)
Soudek (25-30-55)
Rintoul (16-32-48)

UP NEXT:  The Royals embark on their final regular season road trip to play 4 games in 5 nights beginning Wednesday in Everett.  They then travel to Kelowna, back to Everett before wrapping up the trek in Vancouver Sunday.  They’ll play their final two home games against Portland March 14th and 16th.

HEAD TO HEAD:
                         GP    G    A    Pts
Robin Soudek     8     4     4     8    
Steven Hodges   8     3     2     5    
Jamie Crooks     8     3     2     5    
Brandon Magee  7     1     4     5   
Logan Nelson     8     2     3     5

Brendan Gallagher  6     8     8     16    
Marek Tvrdon         8     7     8     15    
Cain Franson           8    4     5     9    
Dalton Sward          8     6     2     8    

DRAFTED/NHL SIGNED PLAYERS: For Victoria: D Tyler Stahl (Carolina, 6th rd 2010), D Jordan Fransoo (Ottawa, 7th rd 2011).  For Vancouver: F Marek Tvrdon (DET 4th rd 2011 ), F Brendan Gallagher (MTL 5th rd 2010 ), D David Musil (EDM 2nd rd 2011)

TOP PROSPECTS:  Central Scoutings mid-term rankings of North American players positions Victoria’s Steven Hodges (55), and Logan Nelson (108).  For Vancouver: D Brett Kulak (67), F Dalton Sward (188),

INJURIES:
For Vancouver:
#14, Austin Vetterl, Lower body, 1 month+
#16, Austin Fyten, Lower body, 1 month+

For Victoria:
#3, Zach Habscheid, Lower body, 1 month