Saturday 5 January 2013

Preview: Tri City at Victoria (Sat)

The Victoria Royals (19-15-1-2, 41pts) look for a weekend split Saturday night against the visiting Tri City Americans (22-14-1-2, 47 pts) after falling 3-2 in overtime Friday.

Michal Plutnar scored with less than a second in overtime to give the Americans the extra point, widening the gap between the 5th and 6th place clubs to 6 points.

The series is now tied at 1 a piece after Victoria (1-0-1-0) won 4-3 in a shoot out on October 6th at Tri City (1-0-0-1).

The Royals opened the scoring and retook the lead in the third in an evenly matched game, but were stunned with :03 seconds left in the extra frame.

Jordan Fransoo and Steven Hodges scored for Victoria, while Tri City got goals from Brian Williams, Zachary Yuen and Michal Plutnar.

Netminder Eric Comrie bested Patrik Polivka as the Americans outshot the Royals 34-29.

Tri City went 1 for 5 on the power play, while Victoria went 0 for 4.

Alex Gogolev returned to the lineup after missing the past 3 games and picked up an assist.  Newly acquired Royal F Trent Lofthouse did not figure in the scoring but got into many different playing situations. 

Victoria played without F Ben Walker (Upper, day to day), F Logan Nelson (Lower, 4-6 weeks), F Luke Harrison (Upper, indefinite), and defenseman Ryan Gagnon and Joe Hicketts who have yet to return from the U-17 tournament where they finished 5th for Team Pacific.

The Royals kick off a 3 game road trip Wednesday in Kelowna, and make stops in Everett and Seattle before returning home for a pair against Kamloops.


Tri City has 12 wins in 20 road games (12-7-1-0), Victoria is 7 over .500 at home (12-5-1-1).

Injuries:
#28 Luke Harrison, F, upper body, indefinite
#19 Logan Nelson, F, lower body, 4 - 6 weeks
#10 Ben Walker, F, Upper, Day to Day



How the 2 teams match up

Tri-City
Victoria
Team Record 22-14-1-2 -- 47 points 19-15-1-2 -- 41 points
Division Ranking 3rd U.S. 3rd B.C.
Conference Ranking 5th Western 6th Western
League Ranking 9th 12th
Past 10 Games 5-4-0-1 5-3-1-1
Streak 2-0-0-0 0-1-1-0
Last Game 3-2 W @ Victoria (Jan 4 2013) Final OT 3-2 L vs Tri-City (Jan 4 2013) Final OT
Home Record 10-7-0-2 12-5-1-1
Away Record 12-7-1-0 7-10-0-1
GF 120  110 
GA 109  120 
PP (Overall) (30/150) 20.0 (33/177) 18.6
PP (Home) (20/80) 25.0 (15/87) 17.2
PP (Away) (10/70) 14.3 (18/90) 20.0
PK (Overall) (23/130) 82.3 (35/168) 79.2
PK (Home) (15/56) 73.2 (15/75) 80.0
PK (Away) (8/74) 89.2 (20/93) 78.5
Leading Rookie McCue (12-9-21) Hicketts (1-8-9)
Most PIM Mychan - 71 Kanzig - 84
Team PIM/GM 12.5/Game 20.4/Game
Leading Scorers Feser (21-24-45) Gogolev (13-24-37)
Strömwall (12-17-29) Nelson (8-23-31)
Rankin (15-11-26) Crooks (18-12-30)
McCue (12-9-21) Walker (13-17-30)
Williams (11-9-20) Magee (14-14-28)
Last 5 Games 3-2 W @ Victoria (Jan 4 2013) Final OT 3-2 L vs Tri-City (Jan 4 2013) Final OT
6-3 W vs Spokane (Dec 31 2012) Final 4-2 L @ Kelowna (Jan 2 2013) Final
4-3 L @ Portland (Dec 29 2012) Final 4-3 W vs Prince George (Dec 29 2012) Final SO
4-3 L vs Portland (Dec 28 2012) Final 5-1 W vs Prince George (Dec 28 2012) Final
4-1 W @ Seattle (Dec 18 2012) Final 5-2 L @ Edmonton (Dec 15 2012) Final
Leading After 1st 11-2-0-1 10-3-0-1
Leading After 2nd 13-0-0-2 11-0-0-1
Tied After 1st 9-4-1-1 5-3-1-1
Tied After 2nd 5-3-1-0 1-1-1-0
Trailing After 1st 2-8-0-0 4-9-0-0
Trailing After 2nd 4-11-0-0 7-14-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 11-7-0-2 8-4-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 10-7-1-0 9-11-1-1
1-Goal Games 11-5-1-2 11-2-1-2
2-Goal Games 4-3-0-0 4-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 5-4-0-0 1-7-0-0