Thursday 16 October 2014

Preview: Victoria at Lethbridge, Friday Oct. 17th

The Victoria Royals (4-6-1-0) visit the Lethbridge Hurricanes (1-6-0-1) Friday night to play their 5th game of a 6 game Central Division road trip.

Pregame show at 5:40, puck drop at 6pm on The Zone @ 91.3 fm, online www.thezone.fm/whl

Last season the Royals won all 3 meetings, outscoring the ‘Canes 14-4 in total.  They won twice at home by 4-0 and 4-3 scores, and in the ‘Bridge 6-1.

Axel Blomqvist faces his former team in Lethbridge, playing 78 games amassing 44 points.

Victoria is 2-2 so far on the trek, with wins against Calgary (3-2) and Red Deer (6-5 OT), the losses coming from Medicine Hat (8-2) and Edmonton (3-2).

Most recently the Royals came to within one of the Oil Kings Tuesday, in a 3-2 loss.  Austin Carroll and Joe Hicketts got the goals, while Evan Smith made 27 saves in the defeat, his first WHL start.

The Hurricanes are winless in 4, having dropped their last 3, all on the road.  They fell 6-2 against the Cougars, 3-1 to the Blazers, and wrapped up the trip with a 4-2 loss against the Rockets.

Lethbridge held a 2-1 lead into the 3rd, but Kelowna scored a pair of goals 14 seconds apart and added an empty netter to win 4-2.  Zac Robidoux made 31 saves in the loss.

The Hurricanes have 3 points in eight games this season, all of which came on home ice (1-1-0-1).

Thursday, Team WHL for the 2014 Subway Super Series was announced, with Victoria defenseman, Joe Hicketts making roster.  Team WHL will be coached by Royals bench boss Dave Lowry, who will also serve as Assistant Coach for Team Canada at the World Juniors.

Team WHL will face Team Russia  November 10th and 11th in Saskatoon and Brandon respectively.

http://whl.ca/article/team-whl-roster-announced

Royals forward Austin Carroll is on a 9 game point streak, (8g 6a) with 14 points, and a league high 8 game goal scoring streak with 8 goals, tied for 2nd in the WHL.

Hicketts is tied for 2nd in defenseman scoring with 11 points, 3 back of the Rockets Madison Bowey.

Victoria wraps up their 6 game in 9 night trip and 4 in 5 Saturday in Cranbrook against Kootenay.

- Marlon Martens

‘CANES NOTES:

-Trading Block: The Hurricanes completed a 6-player swap September 30th sending Reid Duke, Macoy Erkamps and prospect Tak Anholt to the Brandon Wheat Kings for C – Ryley Lindgren, LW – Brett Kitt and D – Kord Pankewicz.

Lindgren had 17 points (9G, 8A) in 67 games last season while Kitt added 10 point in 37 games and Pankewicz had 8 points in 35 games. Earlier, on October 25th, the Hurricanes sent their 4th round Bantam pick in 2015 to the Everett Silvertips in exchange for O/A left winger Zane Jones. The 6’3, 210 pound 20-year old from Olds has played 192 career WHL games registering 104 points (48G, 56A) to go along with a plus-11 +/- rating and 183 penalty minutes.

U17 Hockey Challenge: Stuart Skinner was named the goalie for Canada Team Black at the U17 Hockey Challenge scheduled for November 2nd – 8th in Sarnia-Lambton, ON. The 1998-born goalie is one of 66 players named to the three Canadian rosters. The tournament will be the first to feature three Canadian national teams – Black, Red and White. From 1986 to 2014, Canada was represented by five regional teams: Atlantic, Ontario, Pacific, Quebec and West.

NHL’s Watchful Eye: 2nd year Centre, Giorgio Estephan has caught the eye of the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau. On the preliminary Draft Watch List for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the 6’0, 184 pound native of Edmonton was listed as a WHL “C” skater indicating a 4th to 6th round candidate. Estephan was drafted in the 1st round (4th overall) by Lethbridge in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft and last year finished with 24 points (12G, 12A) in 64 games.

-NHL Camps: Nick Walters signed an Amateur Tryout Agreement with the Columbus Blue Jackets and attended their Prospects Camp in September where he competed at the NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.

-Oh Captain my Captain: The Lethbridge Hurricanes announced 4th year veteran and Calgary native Jamal Watson as the 24th Captain in franchise history. The team named the 6 assistants who will wear the ‘A’ either at home or on the road. The Assistants are: Riley Sheen, Nick Walters, Zane Jones, Lenny Hackman, Tyler Wong and Carter Folk.

-By the Numbers: The Canes have 27 on their roster: 2 Goalies, 8 Defencemen and 17 Forwards.

-Age Breakdown: 3 – 20 year olds, 5 – 19 year olds, 12 – 18 year olds, 5 – 17 year olds and 2 – 16 year olds. Rookies include (Nikita Milekhin, Pavel Skumatov, Jaeger White, Brandon Kennedy, Andrew Nielsen, Zac Robidoux and Stuart Skinner)

Victoria Royals vs Lethbridge Hurricanes: Head To Head Stats
Summary

Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular SeasonVictoria 0-0-0-0Lethbridge 0-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular SeasonVictoria 3-0-0-0Lethbridge 0-3-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teamsVictoria 6-2-1-0Lethbridge 3-6-0-0
Victoria vs. Lethbridge Last 5 Years record at VictoriaVictoria 4-1-0-0Lethbridge 1-4-0-0
Victoria vs. Lethbridge Last 5 Years record at LethbridgeVictoria 2-1-1-0Lethbridge 2-2-0-0

How the 2 teams match up
Lethbridge
Victoria
Team Record1-6-0-1 -- 3 points4-6-1-0 -- 9 points
Division Ranking6th Central4th B.C.
Conference Ranking12th Eastern8th Western
League Ranking22nd15th
Past 10 Games1-6-0-14-5-1-0
Streak0-3-0-10-1-0-0
Last Game4-2 L @ Kelowna (Oct 11 2014) Final3-2 L @ Edmonton (Oct 15 2014) Final
Home Record1-1-0-12-1-1-0
Away Record0-5-0-02-5-0-0
GF16 33 
GA36 47 
PP (Overall)(2/33) 6.1(12/63) 19.0
PP (Home)(1/13) 7.7(4/20) 20.0
PP (Away)(1/20) 5.0(8/43) 18.6
PK (Overall)(5/36) 86.1(12/58) 79.3
PK (Home)(2/14) 85.7(4/16) 75.0
PK (Away)(3/22) 86.4(8/42) 81.0
Leading RookieSkumatov (2-0-2)Hannoun (1-2-3)
Most PIMFolk - 20Brown - 33
Team PIM/GM16.1/Game18.8/Game
Leading ScorersSheen (3-5-8)Carroll (8-6-14)
Jones (4-2-6)Hicketts (4-7-11)
Watson (3-2-5)Walker (4-6-10)
Pankewicz (2-1-3)Soy (3-6-9)
Skumatov (2-0-2)Brown (2-7-9)
Last 5 Games4-2 L @ Kelowna (Oct 11 2014) Final3-2 L @ Edmonton (Oct 15 2014) Final
3-1 L @ Kamloops (Oct 10 2014) Final6-5 W @ Red Deer (Oct 14 2014) Final OT
6-2 L @ Prince George (Oct 8 2014) Final8-2 L @ Medicine Hat (Oct 11 2014) Final
3-2 L vs Kamloops (Oct 3 2014) Final SO3-2 W @ Calgary (Oct 10 2014) Final
4-3 W vs Calgary (Oct 1 2014) Final SO6-2 W vs Portland (Oct 6 2014) Final
Leading After 1st0-0-0-01-1-0-0
Leading After 2nd0-1-0-01-1-0-0
Tied After 1st0-3-0-01-0-0-0
Tied After 2nd0-1-0-01-0-0-0
Trailing After 1st1-3-0-12-5-1-0
Trailing After 2nd1-4-0-12-5-1-0
Out Shooting Opponents0-0-0-02-1-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents1-6-0-12-5-0-0
1-Goal Games1-1-0-13-1-1-0
2-Goal Games0-2-0-00-2-0-0
3-Goal Games0-0-0-00-1-0-0