WHL Preview: Royals vs Rockets back-to-back Tues Nov 18th and 19th
– Lisa Lynam, Zone 91.3 Interim Hockey reporter
The Victoria Royals (11-10-2-0, 24 pts) returned home after a five-game road stint (2W – 3L) a close 4th in the Western Conference, and just two points ahead of B.C. Division rivals Prince George (5th) and Kamloops (6th).
With a boost of confidence from Saturday’s 7-5 victory over Vancouver, the Royals are ready to do battle with the WHL leading Kelowna Rockets (20-1-1-0, 41 pts) in back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This will be the first two of four meetings at home against the Rockets, who are on a five-game road stretch to conclude in Victoria on Wednesday.
The puck drops both nights at 7:05 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, which has averaged over 4,500 in attendance for the first nine home games this season. The pregame show is on The Zone @ 91.3 fm at 6:45 p.m. or online at www.thezone.fm/whl.
A Royal Rocket Launch
The Royals will be looking to redeem themselves from their lacklustre 5-1 loss two weeks ago in Kelowna against the number two ranked team in the CHL’s BMO Top 10 Rankings (behind the now Connor McDavid-less #1 ranked Erie Otters). The West has proven strong this year – three other WHL teams made this week’s rankings: Brandon Wheat Kings (#5), Medicine Hat Tigers (#7), and Everett Silvertips (#8).
The 2004 Memorial Cup winning Rockets arrived in Victoria after a Saturday overnight bus ride from Prince George, where they trounced the Cougars twice (6-3 and 6-2) last Friday and Saturday. Their red-hot roster includes the WHL’s top point-getters: Rourke Chartier and Nick Merkley (both with 40 pts and leading the league with current streaks for goals (10 games) and assists (7 games) respectively), and the WHL’s winning-est netminder Jackson Whistle (16 wins).
No strangers to being at the top of the league, the Rockets topped the WHL standings last year in the regular season with 118 points, but fell in the third round of the playoffs to Portland. The Royals had the upper hand though in the majority of their match ups last season – dominating with a 5-2-0-1 record. The possibility of Victoria ending the Rockets’ 10-game winning streak with a Royal launch isn’t out of the question – two other teams have beaten them this year: Tri-City (5-2 in regulation on Oct. 18th) and Portland (3-2 in overtime on Nov 1st).
Team Confidence and Contributions
Victoria’s humble and hardworking captain Joe Hicketts, signed to the Detroit Red Wings, raised the bar on Saturday night by tallying four assists and overtaking Kelowna’s top rearguard Madison Bowey, a Washington Capitals prospect, in the WHL’s points race for defencemen. Hicketts, 18, now has 28 points (5g-23a) over Bowey’s 26 and leads the Royals in points. He also added a goal and an assist for Team WHL in last week’s two Subway Series games vs Russia. Twenty-year-old Calgary Flames prospect Austin Carroll is second in points for the Royals with 27 (14g-13a).
Following the 7-5 Vancouver win on Saturday night, captain Hicketts boldly stated, “Obviously we can score goals. I think that’s been our issue against Kelowna. Hopefully we’ll get some confidence from [the Vancouver win]. We had a lot of guys chip in and contribute. If we can push that going into Kelowna, I think we’ll have a chance at success.” Nine players contributed to the 18 point night: Magee (5a –tied franchise record), Hicketts (4a), Blomqvist (2g), Crunk (1g-1a), Brown (1g) Carroll (1g), Fushimi (1g), Nagy (1g), Gagnon (1a)).
Whether on the road or at home, Kelowna – under bench boss Dan Lambert in his first season as head coach after five seasons as assistant coach – isn’t a team that gives anything away, or allows mistakes to be capitalized upon. Victoria knows this well from their first meeting this season when they equaled Kelowna with shots on goal at 28 each, but couldn’t match Kelowna in the scoring. The Rockets’ onslaught included five unanswered goals – two of which were power play markers by the league’s number one power play (31.5%). A frustrated Royals team found their fifth ranked PP shutdown for three out of four man-advantage opportunities, and finished the third period accumulating a game high 65 penalty minutes.
Forward Axel Blomqvist recognized the challenge to turn around the result this time. “Obviously it’s going to be really tough against Kelowna. We’ll take the confidence we got from [the Vancouver win] and keep building on the good stuff and work on the not so good stuff,” said the 19-year-old Winnipeg Jets prospect from Sweden now in his second year with the Royals.
Bringing out the Best Team
Royals Head Coach Dave Lowry emphasized that they’ll need to bring more than confidence and play a lot better than they did against Vancouver, currently a less than .500 team. “We need a lot more structure and detail in our game to give ourselves a chance to win [against Kelowna],” said the Victoria’s head coach who was last year’s WHL Coach of the Year, and named assistant coach for the 2015 Canadian World Junior Team.
While the Rockets possess some marquee standouts in league leading stats, the Royals have their own gang topping the WHL stats in a number of less prominent categories.
Brandon Magee, Forward:
#1 Points Per Game at 1.91 (21 pts in 11 games – 6g-15a)
Austin Carroll, Forward:
#1 Power Play Goals (8)
#2 (tied) Goals (14)
#3 in the WHL for season streak for goals (8 games for 8 goals)
Travis Brown, Defenceman:
#1 for D-men Power Play Goals with 7 (tied for #2 overall)
#2 (tied) First Goals (4)
Joe Hicketts, Defenceman:
#1 (tied) for D-men Power Play Assists and Shorthanded Assists
Coleman Vollrath, Goalie:
#3 for saves (516), and one of 7 WHL goalies with 10+ wins
The Royals face the Rockets again on Wednesday night November 19th, followed by two games welcoming the Everett Silvertips on Friday, November 21st and the Regina Pats on Saturday, November 22nd – both the first meetings of the season with these teams. Saturday night will also be the fourth annual Canadian Forces Night with Royals players wearing a limited edition jersey in honour of the Royal Canadian Navy Submarine Fleet. Proceeds from jersey auctions will benefit the Military Family Resource Centre. See www.victoriaroyals.coom/jerseyauctions.
Listen to the games and follow the reports on the Zone 91.3 or online at www.thezone.fm/whl .
Kelowna’s Chartier beats Jamie Benn’s record as first to 20:
Rourke Chartier: 20 goals in 19 games – 2014-2015 (Unknown total at season’s end)
Jamie Benn: 20 goals in 20 games – 2008-2009 (Benn scored 46 times)
Kelowna Rockets Colour: Field Trip to the East Side
After the game their Vancouver 5-3 on Nov 2nd, Tyson Baillie, Madison Bowey, Jackson Whistle, Jesse Leese, Cole Martin, Cole Linaker, and assistant coach Kris Mallette took an educational trip through Vancouver’s poverty and drug troubled downtown east side. In a program called Project Blast, they were accompanied by two special enforcement RCMP officers as they toured downtown Vancouver and will speak to Kelowna students about it later this year. The players had a chance to listen to a presentation from an ex gang member and recovering drug addict. As part of the program, Rockets players will speak to elementary schools in the Central Okanagan, passing on the lessons they learned that night in Vancouver.
Victoria Royals vs Kelowna Rockets: Head To Head Stats Summary
Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular Season
Victoria 0-1-0-0
Kelowna 1-0-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular Season
Victoria 5-2-0-1
Kelowna 3-4-0-1
Last 5 Years record between teams
Victoria 15-14-1-3
Kelowna 18-12-1-2
Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Victoria
Victoria 6-7-1-2
Kelowna 10-5-1-0
Victoria vs. Kelowna Last 5 Years record at Kelowna
Victoria 9-7-0-1
Kelowna 8-7-0-2
Previous Meetings This Season
Victoria 1 @ Kelowna 5 (Nov 5 2014) Final
How the 2 teams match up
Kelowna
Victoria
Team Record
20-1-1-0 — 41 points
11-10-2-0 — 24 points
Division Ranking
1st B.C.
2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking
1st Western
4th Western
League Ranking
1st
10th
Past 10 Games
9-0-1-0
5-4-1-0
Streak
10-0-1-0
1-0-0-0
Last Game
6-2 W @ Prince George (Nov 15 2014) Final
7-5 W @ Vancouver (Nov 15 2014) Final
Home Record
9-0-0-0
5-2-2-0
Away Record
11-1-1-0
6-8-0-0
GF
110
73
GA
49
80
PP (Overall)
(35/111) 31.5
(26/112) 23.2
PP (Home)
(12/42) 28.6
(11/36) 30.6
PP (Away)
(23/69) 33.3
(15/76) 19.7
PK (Overall)
(15/94) 84.0
(25/110) 77.3
PK (Home)
(4/39) 89.7
(7/37) 81.1
PK (Away)
(11/55) 80.0
(18/73) 75.3
Leading Rookie
Dube (0-0-0)
Nagy (3-2-5)
Most PIM
Bowey – 36
Carroll – 52
Team PIM/GM
15.0/Game
18.4/Game
Leading Scorers
Chartier (23-17-40)
Hicketts (5-23-28)
Merkley (7-33-40)
Carroll (14-13-27)
Baillie (15-11-26)
Magee (6-15-21)
Bowey (7-19-26)
Blomqvist (9-9-18)
Kirkland (8-12-20)
Brown (7-9-16)
Last 5 Games
6-2 W @ Prince George (Nov 15 2014) Final
7-5 W @ Vancouver (Nov 15 2014) Final
6-3 W @ Prince George (Nov 14 2014) Final
4-1 L @ Tri-City (Nov 14 2014) Final
4-3 W @ Spokane (Nov 11 2014) Final
6-2 W @ Prince George (Nov 8 2014) Final
5-0 W vs Vancouver (Nov 8 2014) Final
3-2 L @ Prince George (Nov 7 2014) Final
4-2 W vs Spokane (Nov 7 2014) Final
5-1 L @ Kelowna (Nov 5 2014) Final