Saturday 17 January 2015

Preview: Victoria at Calgary, Sat. Jan.17.2015

The Victoria Royals visit the Calgary Hitmen Saturday night, in the middle of a 3 game in 3 day Central Division road trip.

Pregame show at 5:40 on The Zone @ 91.3 fm or online cjzn.streamon.fm

Royals Greg Chase and Hitmen Keegan Kanzig will square off against their former clubs for the first time since the trade on November 19th.  Chase has 22 points in 19 games with Victoria (8g 14a).  Kanzig has 7 assists, 64 pims and is a +17 on his new club.

Head Coach Dave Lowry also takes on his former team. Lowry spent four seasons with the Hitmen from 2005 to 2009.  His first two seasons were as an assistant coach before being named an associate coach for the 2007-08 season.

He was then promoted to head coach for the 2008-09 campaign.  During this one season as bench boss, Lowry guided the Hitmen to a 59-9-4 record.

It’s also contest which features gold medalists Joe Hicketts versus Jake Virtanen, teamates on Team Canada at the World Juniors.  Lowry was an assistant coach for the country.

It’s the second meeting of the season, with Victoria earning a 3-2 victory in Calgary on October 10th.

The Royals are looking to extend their 3 game winning streak after a 2-1 shoot out victory Friday night against the host Rebels.

Greg Chase scored in regulation and Austin Carroll scored the lone goal in the 7th round while Coleman Vollrath was the game’s first star, stopping 34 of 35 through overtime, and all 7 in the shoot out, earning the victory in his 100th career game.

Vollrath’s GAA is 1.48 over his last 6 starts, & saving 181 of 190 (.953) while winning 5 of 6.

Victoria wins their 3rd in a row, while snapping Red Deer’s 5 game win streak.  It was the second time the Royals beat the Rebels this season, earning a 6-5 overtime victory in Red Deer Oct. 14th.  They’ll meet once more on the Island on February 7th.

The Royals have now won 6 of their last 7, and improve to 1-1 in the shoot out.

The Hitmen are winless in 2, after falling 5-4 in a shoot out against the visiting Rebels on Wednesday, and 5-4 loss to the Wheat Kings last Sunday.

Calgary has just 4 wins in their past 10 (4-4-0-2) and are 3 over .500 at home (13-10-0-1).

The Hitmen have scored the 3rd most goals for, on average per game, while allowing the fewest shots against per game average.  Calgary’s roster boasts 9 NHL drafted players.

Victoria is 2nd in the BC Division, 7 up on Prince George, and 9 up on Vancouver.  Calgary is 3rd in the Central, trailing Red Deer by 5 points, and just 2 up on Edmonton.

Victoria has only allowed 11 goals against over their last 7 games, an average of 1.57 per game.  They’ve now won 15 of 19 games when scoring the games first goal.

Tyler Soy is riding a 10 game point streak (8g 8a) with 16pts.

He’s ‘C’ rated by NHL Central Scouting for the upcoming draft.  Defenseman Chaz Reddekopp is also ‘C’ rated.

Travis Brown is tied with Ivan Provorov of Brandon for most points by a defenseman with (41), he’s tops in goals (16) and power play markers (8).  Joe Hicketts leads all defenseman in assists with 32, and is 3rd in d-men points with 40.

Austin Carroll is the team leader in points with 53, tied for 10th in the league.  His 26 goals has him tied for 5th overall.  Carroll leads the WHL in power play goals with 12.

Victoria forward Brandon Magee is only 4 points away from becoming the franchise's leading scorer.

1. Kevin Sundher: 241 points (90g-151a)
2. Brandon Magee: 238 points (104g-134a)

Royals defenseman Bryton Sayers suited up for his first game with his new team Friday night, recently acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

“I hope he can bring some energy and from a physical stand point, bring that element into his game as well.” said Head Coach Dave Lowry

Newcomer defenseman Alexey Sleptsov has yet to dress for the Royals due to injury.

Victoria concludes their 3 game in 3 day Alberta swing in Edmonton Sunday at 3pm.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Calgary Hitmen: Head To Head Stats Summary
Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular SeasonVictoria 1-0-0-0Calgary 0-1-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular SeasonVictoria 1-0-1-0Calgary 1-1-0-0
Last 5 Years record between teamsVictoria 4-5-1-0Calgary 6-4-0-0
Victoria vs. Calgary Last 5 Years record at VictoriaVictoria 2-2-1-0Calgary 3-2-0-0
Victoria vs. Calgary Last 5 Years record at CalgaryVictoria 2-3-0-0Calgary 3-2-0-0
Previous Meetings This SeasonVictoria 3 @ Calgary 2 (Oct 10 2014) Final

How the 2 teams match up
Calgary
Victoria
Team Record23-16-1-4 -- 51 points23-19-2-1 -- 49 points
Division Ranking3rd Central2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking5th Eastern5th Western
League Ranking7th10th
Past 10 Games4-4-0-26-3-0-1
Streak0-1-0-13-0-0-0
Last Game5-4 L vs Red Deer (Jan 14 2015) Final SO2-1 W @ Red Deer (Jan 16 2015) Final SO
Home Record13-10-0-115-7-2-0
Away Record10-6-1-38-12-0-1
GF178 152 
GA141 146 
PP (Overall)(36/161) 22.4(42/199) 21.1
PP (Home)(22/94) 23.4(25/96) 26.0
PP (Away)(14/67) 20.9(17/103) 16.5
PK (Overall)(34/185) 81.6(42/196) 78.6
PK (Home)(20/107) 81.3(17/96) 82.3
PK (Away)(14/78) 82.1(25/100) 75.0
Leading RookieKarnaukhov (16-12-28)Nagy (4-6-10)
Most PIMKanzig - 115Carroll - 80
Team PIM/GM14.0/Game15.4/Game
Leading ScorersRankin (23-26-49)Carroll (26-27-53)
Tambellini (26-22-48)Brown (16-25-41)
Lang (18-23-41)Hicketts (8-32-40)
Sanheim (10-29-39)Forsberg (16-21-37)
Fazleev (13-21-34)Soy (15-22-37)
Last 5 Games5-4 L vs Red Deer (Jan 14 2015) Final SO2-1 W @ Red Deer (Jan 16 2015) Final SO
5-4 L vs Brandon (Jan 11 2015) Final5-2 W vs Prince George (Jan 10 2015) Final
5-3 W @ Lethbridge (Jan 10 2015) Final3-2 W vs Prince George (Jan 9 2015) Final OT
5-4 L @ Swift Current (Jan 7 2015) Final SO3-2 L vs Medicine Hat (Jan 8 2015) Final
6-1 W @ Moose Jaw (Jan 6 2015) Final4-2 W vs Spokane (Jan 3 2015) Final
Leading After 1st11-5-1-29-3-0-0
Leading After 2nd19-1-0-314-1-0-0
Tied After 1st9-3-0-18-5-0-1
Tied After 2nd2-1-1-15-2-1-0
Trailing After 1st3-8-0-16-11-2-0
Trailing After 2nd2-14-0-04-16-1-1
Out Shooting Opponents16-9-1-313-5-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents7-7-0-19-13-1-1
1-Goal Games3-6-1-49-6-2-1
2-Goal Games6-3-0-05-6-0-0
3-Goal Games4-4-0-03-3-0-0