Friday 3 January 2014

Preview: Victoria at Spokane Friday, January 3rd, 2014

The Victoria Royals (27-13-0-2, 56pts) visit the Spokane Chiefs (23-13-0-2,48pts) Friday night as they kick off a 2 game US road swing.

The Royals are 3rd in the West, and the Chiefs 6th with 8 points separating.

Victoria looks to even the season series at 2, as most recently the Royals beat the Chiefs 4-1 in Spokane October 19th with Coleman Vollrath making 41 saves.  The Chiefs won by 6-2 and 6-1 scores on the Island back in September.

Spokane has won 5 of their last 6, and are coming off a 4-2 win in Tri City Wednesday, with Mitch Holmberg scoring a pair of goals.

Victoria is riding a 6 game winning streak, 1 away from tying the franchise record of 7 in a row that they accomplished last season. The Royals have points in 8 straight (7-0-0-1), while winning 7 of the past 10.  They received honourable mention for the CHL Top 10 this week.

The Royals recently swept the Everett Silvertips in New Years home and home, 3-2 in Everett Tuesday and 1-0 in a shoot out Wednesday afternoon.

Jack Walker scored the lone goal in the shoot out and Patrik Polivka earned his 5th shutout.

On the road, Victoria is 8 games over .500 (13-5-0-1), 3 straight wins and points in 5 straight.

Spokane owns the leagues most efficient power play (26.3%), while scoring the most short handed goals with 11. 

Chiefs forward Mitch Holmberg leads the league in points with 77 and goals with 39.  Mike Aviani is 5th in scoring with 52 points.  Combined the two have scored 47.8% of the teams goals and 35% of the clubs total points.

Victoria forward Axel Blomqvist left the game after losing a tooth when he took a puck to the mouth.  The Royals were already without, Brandon Magee (lower day to day), Joe Hicketts (upper 6-7 weeks), forward Logan Nelson (upper 1-2 weeks), and forward Braden Oleksyn (upper 4-5 weeks).

At the U-17’s are Royals Tyler Soy and Chaz Reddekopp, with the tournament wrapping up this weekend in Nova Scotia.

After Spokane Friday, Victoria plays in Portland Saturday before returning home to open a 5 game homestand with a pair against the Winterhawks.

- Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals vs Spokane Chiefs: Head To Head Stats
Summary

   
Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 1-2-0-0Spokane 2-1-0-0
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 1-2-1-0Spokane 3-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 4-12-1-2Spokane 15-4-0-0
Victoria vs. Spokane Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 1-8-1-0Spokane 9-1-0-0
Victoria vs. Spokane Last 5 Years record at Spokane Victoria 3-4-0-2Spokane 6-3-0-0
Previous Meetings This Season Victoria 4 @ Spokane 1 (Oct 19 2013) Final
Spokane 6 @ Victoria 1 (Sep 25 2013) Final
Spokane 6 @ Victoria 2 (Sep 24 2013) Final



How the 2 teams match up
     
 
Spokane
Victoria
Team Record 23-13-0-2 -- 48 points 27-13-0-2 -- 56 points
Division Ranking 4th U.S. 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 6th Western 3rd Western
League Ranking 10th 5th
Past 10 Games 6-4-0-0 7-2-0-1
Streak 1-0-0-0 7-0-0-1
Last Game 4-2 W @ Tri-City (Dec 31 2013) Final 1-0 W vs Everett (Jan 1 2014) Final SO
Home Record 11-7-0-1 14-8-0-1
Away Record 12-6-0-1 13-5-0-1
GF 138  128 
GA 113  99 
PP (Overall) (42/160) 26.3 (37/182) 20.3
PP (Home) (20/74) 27.0 (20/103) 19.4
PP (Away) (22/86) 25.6 (17/79) 21.5
PK (Overall) (38/179) 78.8 (29/179) 83.8
PK (Home) (22/88) 75.0 (17/103) 83.5
PK (Away) (16/91) 82.4 (12/76) 84.2
Leading Rookie Bechtold (0-11-11) Soy (9-8-17)
Most PIM Proft - 78 Carroll - 76
Team PIM/GM 17.3/Game 15.0/Game
Leading Scorers Holmberg (39-38-77) Magee (14-22-36)
  Aviani (27-25-52) Carroll (20-12-32)
  Gow (0-35-35) Blomqvist (15-17-32)
  Fram (4-29-33) Nelson (12-20-32)
  Helewka (15-13-28) Walker (17-11-28)
Last 5 Games 4-2 W @ Tri-City (Dec 31 2013) Final 1-0 W vs Everett (Jan 1 2014) Final SO
  2-1 L vs Kootenay (Dec 28 2013) Final 3-2 W @ Everett (Dec 31 2013) Final
  6-4 W @ Kootenay (Dec 27 2013) Final 5-2 W vs Prince George (Dec 28 2013) Final
  2-0 W @ Everett (Dec 15 2013) Final 8-1 W vs Prince George (Dec 27 2013) Final
  6-3 W vs Prince George (Dec 14 2013) Final 5-3 W @ Edmonton (Dec 17 2013) Final
Leading After 1st 13-1-0-0 17-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd 15-1-0-0 20-0-0-0
Tied After 1st 6-1-0-2 8-1-0-0
Tied After 2nd 4-2-0-2 4-0-0-1
Trailing After 1st 4-11-0-0 2-11-0-2
Trailing After 2nd 4-10-0-0 3-13-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 18-7-0-1 8-5-0-1
Out Shot by Opponents 5-6-0-1 16-8-0-1
1-Goal Games 8-4-0-2 11-4-0-2
2-Goal Games 6-4-0-0 6-3-0-0
3-Goal Games 3-3-0-0 5-3-0-0