Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm at 6:45 pm, or online at www.thezone.fm/listen
Victoria looks to snap a 3 game slide after a pair of home losses to Spokane Tuesday and Wednesday by 6-1 and 6-2 scores.
The Royals were without some key contributors in defenseman Joe Hicketts (Upper, day to day), 19 year old forwards Brandon Magee (Upper, 7-10 days), Steven Hodges (lower 4-5 weeks) and defenseman Keegan Kanzig (Flames Camp) who returns to the club for the weekend.
Kelowna is riding a 2 game win streak after sweeping Kamloops in a home and home set by identical 5-2 scores. The Rockets haven’t played since last Saturday’s home victory, 6 days in between games.
It’s the first of 8 meetings, last season the Royals had a win and a shoot out loss (1-6-0-1).
The Rockets won 52 games last year, 31 at home, taking top spot in the BC Division and 2nd overall in the Conference. They beat Seattle in 7 games, and were swept by the Blazers in 4.
The Kelowna Rockets lose only four players from last year’s roster. Their Captain Colton Sissons has signed with the Nashville Predators, gone on to play for their AHL affiliate. Forwards Dylan McKinlay, JT Barnett and Cody Fowlie have graduated as overage players.
The Rockets have four 20 year-old players this season in Myles Bell, MacKenzie Johnston, Jordon Cooke and Zach Franko. Twenty players from last year’s team are back this season campaign. Newcomers include 17 year-old Kris Schmidli, taken in this summer’s European Draft, 17 year-old listed player Dalton Yorke and 16 year-old’s Nick Merkley and defenceman Joe Gatenby.
TRADES:
Thursday, Victoria traded 18 year old defenseman Kolton Dixon to his hometown of Red Deer, in exchange for a conditional draft pick. Dixon had three assists and 51 penalty minutes in 43 games over the past two seasons.
The Royals then aquired 17 year old defenceman Jake Kohlhauser (coal-how-zer) from the Vancouver Giants in exchange for a conditional draft pick.
Kohlhauser is 6’ 185lbs and was drafted by Vancouver in the 2nd round, 30th overall, in 2011. Last season he played Midget Triple A for the St. Albert Raiders scoring 5 pts (1g-4a) in 29 games. In the post-season, Kohlhauser notched three points (1g-2a) in four games for the Raiders.
The Giants will receive a fourth-round pick in the 2015 Bantam Draft unless Kohlhauser plays more than 50 games in the 2014/2015 season in which the Giants will receive a third-round pick in the 2015 Draft.
Kohlhauser will wear #7.
RETURNING
Calgary’s 3rd round selection, defenseman Keegan Kanzig was returned to the Royals, and has joined the club on the road trip.
SUSPENSION:
Forward Taylor Crunk was suspended 2 games for a spearing incident against the Chiefs Wednesday.
After Kelowna, Victoria will play in Prince George Tuesday and Wednesday, and then stop in Kamloops Friday, before returning home for a matinee tilt against Tri City October 6th.
Victoria Royals vs Kelowna Rockets: Head To Head Stats
Summary
Description
|
Result
|
|
| Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season | Victoria 0-0-0-0 | Kelowna 0-0-0-0 |
| 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 12-17-1-2 | Kelowna 20-8-2-2 |
| Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Victoria | Victoria 6-8-1-1 | Kelowna 10-4-2-0 |
| Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Kelowna | Victoria 6-9-0-1 | Kelowna 10-4-0-2 |
How the 2 teams match up
Kelowna
|
Victoria
|
|
| Team Record | 2-0-0-0 -- 4 points | 1-3-0-0 -- 2 points |
| Division Ranking | 1st B.C. | 4th B.C. |
| Conference Ranking | 2nd Western | 9th Western |
| League Ranking | 3rd | 16th |
| Past 10 Games | 2-0-0-0 | 1-3-0-0 |
| Streak | 2-0-0-0 | 0-3-0-0 |
| Last Game | 5-2 W vs Kamloops (Sep 21 2013) Final | 6-1 L vs Spokane (Sep 25 2013) Final |
| Home Record | 1-0-0-0 | 0-3-0-0 |
| Away Record | 1-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| GF | 10 | 8 |
| GA | 4 | 16 |
| PP (Overall) | (3/11) 27.3 | (2/16) 12.5 |
| PP (Home) | (2/5) 40.0 | (2/14) 14.3 |
| PP (Away) | (1/6) 16.7 | (0/2) 0.0 |
| PK (Overall) | (0/9) 100.0 | (6/18) 66.7 |
| PK (Home) | (0/5) 100.0 | (5/15) 66.7 |
| PK (Away) | (0/4) 100.0 | (1/3) 66.7 |
| Leading Rookie | Merkley (1-1-2) | (0-0-0) |
| Most PIM | Bowey - 4 | Crunk - 16 |
| Team PIM/GM | 10.0/Game | 20.0/Game |
| Leading Scorers | Baillie (2-2-4) | Nelson (1-4-5) |
| Chartier (2-1-3) | Carroll (3-0-3) | |
| Bowey (1-2-3) | Magee (1-1-2) | |
| Glover (1-1-2) | Soy (0-2-2) | |
| Merkley (1-1-2) | Hicketts (1-0-1) | |
| Last 5 Games | 5-2 W vs Kamloops (Sep 21 2013) Final | 6-1 L vs Spokane (Sep 25 2013) Final |
| 5-2 W @ Kamloops (Sep 20 2013) Final | 6-2 L vs Spokane (Sep 24 2013) Final | |
| 2-1 L vs Vancouver (Sep 21 2013) Final | ||
| 4-2 W @ Vancouver (Sep 20 2013) Final | ||
| Leading After 1st | 1-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| Leading After 2nd | 2-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| Tied After 1st | 1-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Tied After 2nd | 0-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
| Trailing After 1st | 0-0-0-0 | 1-2-0-0 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 0-0-0-0 | 0-3-0-0 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 2-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 0-0-0-0 | 1-2-0-0 |
| 1-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 0-1-0-0 |
| 2-Goal Games | 0-0-0-0 | 1-0-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 2-0-0-0 | 0-0-0-0 |
