Tuesday 11 March 2014

Preview: Victoria at Kelowna, Tuesday March 11th, 2014

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Riding a 5 game win streak, the Victoria Royals (47-17-1-3, 98pts) visit the Kelowna Rockets (54-10-0-4, 112pts) Tuesday in their final regular season meeting of the year.

It’s a clash between two teams in the CHL Top 10, with the Royals ranked 8th, and the Rockets #1 for a 10th consecutive week.

Pregame show on The Zone @ 91.3 fm or online at www.thezone.fm/listen or http://cjzn.streamon.fm/

Victoria has a won 4 of 7 (4-2-0-1) in the season series, taking all 3 games in Kelowna, twice in regulation and once in a shoot out.  The Rockets have only lost 3 times in regulation on home ice all season (27-3-0-4).

The Royals won their last meeting 6-4 on the road back on February 8th.

Kelowna has won back to back games at home after a 7-0 win over Tri City Saturday and 3-1 victory over Spokane last Wednesday.  The Rockets have 8 wins over their past 10.

Saturday, Kelowna scored four power play goals to get past Tri-City, as seven different players scored and Jordon Cooke earned the shutout in net.  Cooke has been nominated for the CHL goaltender of the week, while allowing just 2 goals against over his last 4 games.

Victoria is coming off a weekend sweep of the Kamloops Blazers by scores of 3-2 Saturday night, and 5-1 the night before and have now won 9 of their last 10.

It’s the 5th time the Royals have had a win streak of 5 games or more this season. With 4 games remaining, Victoria needs 3 wins to hit 50, and two more points to reach a franchise first 100 point campaign.  The Royals have a franchise high 25 road wins this year, winning their last 3 in a row.

The Rockets continue to set new franchise records for most single season wins (54), and points (112) all with 4 games remaining. They break the old mark of 52 set just last season. The 112 points also snaps the old mark of 109 set by the 2002-2003 club.  For the first time in franchise history Kelowna is enjoying back-to-back 50 wins seasons.

The WHL record for most victories in a season is 60 (Victoria Cougars, 1980-81); the record for most points is 125 (Brandon Wheat Kings, 1978-79).

It’s a battle between two very stingy clubs, as Victoria has given up the fewest goals against on average in the WHL, Kelowna the 3rd fewest while mainting the most efficient penalty kill. 

The Rockets feature a balanced attack, having scored the 2nd most, yet have no one in the top 20 in scoring.

The Royals have 6 players with 50 or more points, led by Brandon Magee’s 63 points and Austin Carroll’s team leading 33 goals.  Magee has 199 career points.

Victoria has one of the best goaltending tandems in the WHL.  Coleman Vollrath leads the league in goals against average (2.24) and save percentage (0.930).  Patrik Polivka has the 4th best goals against (2.51) while winning all 7 games since returning from injury Feb 17th.

Kelowna is led by Myles Bell’s team leading 41 goals and 74 points.  Damon Severson is 4th among defenseman in scoring with 60 points.

The Rockets need one win in their remaining four games, or a Winterhawks loss, to claim the WHL regular season title for the first time since 2002-2003.

Victoria has locked up 3rd in the Conference, and will face the 6th seed in the West in round one of the playoffs.  Their opponent is yet to be determined as just 5 points separate 4th from 6th.  Seattle is in 4th with 86 points, Spokane 5th with 82 points and Everett is 6th with 81 points.

Seattle (86 pts) remaining games (4):
                        
Mar. 11     Spokane     Tuesday                            
Mar. 14     Portland     Friday                            
Mar. 15     at Portland     Saturday                           
Mar. 16     at Tri-City     Saturday    

Spokane (82 pts) remaining games (4):

Mar. 11     at Seattle     Tuesday                     
Mar. 12     Everett     Wednesday                            
Mar. 14     Tri-City     Friday                            
Mar. 15     at Tri-City     Saturday    

Everett (81 pts) remaining games (4):

Mar. 12     at Spokane     Wednesday                            
Mar. 14     at Victoria     Friday                            
Mar. 15     Victoria     Saturday                            
Mar. 16     at Portland     Sunday    

- Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals vs Kelowna Rockets: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season Victoria 4-2-0-1Kelowna 3-3-0-1
Head to Head Record 2012-13 Regular Season Victoria 1-6-0-1Kelowna 7-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teams Victoria 16-19-1-3Kelowna 23-11-2-3
Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Victoria Victoria 7-10-1-2Kelowna 13-5-2-0
Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Kelowna Victoria 9-9-0-1Kelowna 10-6-0-3
Previous Meetings This Season Victoria 6 @ Kelowna 4 (Feb 8 2014) Final
Kelowna 5 @ Victoria 3 (Jan 18 2014) Final
Kelowna 1 @ Victoria 3 (Jan 17 2014) Final
Victoria 4 @ Kelowna 1 (Nov 20 2013) Final
Kelowna 2 @ Victoria 1 (Oct 26 2013) Final SO
Kelowna 4 @ Victoria 1 (Oct 25 2013) Final
Victoria 4 @ Kelowna 3 (Sep 28 2013) Final SO

How the 2 teams match up
Kelowna
Victoria
Team Record 54-10-0-4 -- 112 points 47-17-1-3 -- 98 points
Division Ranking 1st B.C. 2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking 1st Western 3rd Western
League Ranking 1st 5th
Past 10 Games 8-2-0-0 9-1-0-0
Streak 2-0-0-0 5-0-0-0
Last Game 7-0 W vs Tri-City (Mar 8 2014) Final 3-2 W vs Kamloops (Mar 8 2014) Final
Home Record 27-3-0-4 22-10-1-2
Away Record 27-7-0-0 25-7-0-1
GF 293  228 
GA 170  168 
PP (Overall) (65/293) 22.2 (60/284) 21.1
PP (Home) (32/157) 20.4 (33/152) 21.7
PP (Away) (33/136) 24.3 (27/132) 20.5
PK (Overall) (41/304) 86.5 (49/269) 81.8
PK (Home) (18/156) 88.5 (28/142) 80.3
PK (Away) (23/148) 84.5 (21/127) 83.5
Leading Rookie Merkley (23-31-54) Soy (13-14-27)
Most PIM Goulbourne - 102 Carroll - 110
Team PIM/GM 15.1/Game 13.6/Game
Leading Scorers Bell (41-33-74) Magee (24-39-63)
Severson (15-45-60) Carroll (33-22-55)
Olsen (28-30-58) Blomqvist (23-31-54)
Baillie (22-33-55) Walker (24-29-53)
Bowey (18-37-55) Brown (14-39-53)
Last 5 Games 7-0 W vs Tri-City (Mar 8 2014) Final 3-2 W vs Kamloops (Mar 8 2014) Final
3-1 W vs Spokane (Mar 5 2014) Final 5-1 W vs Kamloops (Mar 7 2014) Final
5-1 L @ Everett (Mar 4 2014) Final 2-1 W @ Prince George (Mar 1 2014) Final
3-1 W @ Vancouver (Mar 1 2014) Final 5-3 W @ Prince George (Feb 28 2014) Final
6-0 W vs Vancouver (Feb 28 2014) Final 6-3 W @ Saskatoon (Feb 22 2014) Final
Leading After 1st 28-2-0-1 27-1-1-1
Leading After 2nd 40-0-0-3 33-0-1-1
Tied After 1st 16-2-0-2 13-3-0-0
Tied After 2nd 10-4-0-1 9-0-0-1
Trailing After 1st 10-6-0-1 7-13-0-2
Trailing After 2nd 4-6-0-0 5-17-0-1
Out Shooting Opponents 37-6-0-2 20-6-1-2
Out Shot by Opponents 12-4-0-0 24-11-0-1
1-Goal Games 15-2-0-4 21-6-1-3
2-Goal Games 13-4-0-0 12-5-0-0
3-Goal Games 10-3-0-0 6-3-0-0