Edmonton Oil Kings at Victoria Royals 08 Nov 11

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...onOilKings.gif at http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...oriaRoyals.gif

Edmonton is starting their West Coast trip with the Royals on Tuesday.
The Oil Kings are currently in fourth place in the Central Division, one point behind Red Deer.

Victoria is back to being tied in 2nd place in the BC Division after taking 2 of 4points against the Giants.

Edmonton Oil Kings 17 10 5 1 1 - 22 PTS 1-0-0-0 STK 7-3-0-0 P10 324 PIM

Victoria Royals 19 10 8 0 1 = 21 PTS 0-1-0-0 STK 6-3-0-1 P10 363 PIM

Edmonton, AB - The Edmonton Oil Kings snapped their recent two game losing streak with a 4-1 win on Saturday night from Rexall Place in Edmonton. Captain Mark Pysyk led the way with a two point (1G,1A) night and a plus-3 +/- rating as the Oil Kings led from the 4:58 mark of the first off a goal from Kristians Pelss and never relinquished the lead. Jordan Peddle notched his first as an Oil King and rookie Curtis Lazar continued his breakout rookie season with his fifth.
The Oil Kings out shot the T-Birds 44-25 on the night while going 1 for 3 on the power play. The win gives Edmonton a 10-5-1-1 record on the season and a 5-2-0-0 record within the friendly confines of Rexall Place.

Immediately following the game the Oil Kings departed for what will be a week long road trip through the B.C. division which will see them play four games in five nights this week. The first game will be their first ever match up with the Victoria Royals on Tuesday night on the island. Puck drop is set for 8:05 MT. All games this season will be broadcast live on the TEAM 1260 and streamed live at WHL.ca.

The Oil Kings will make their return to Rexall Place on November 18th for Military Night presented by ATB Financial. Edmonton Oilers Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Smyth, Sam Gagner and Devan Dubnyk will be in attendance as the Edmonton Oil Kings take on the Prince Albert Raiders. These five Edmonton Oilers are featured in the Oil Kings World Junior Bobblehead series and all have Canadian Hockey League and World Junior Hockey Championship experience. Smyth (1995), Dubnyk (2006), Gagner (2007), Eberle (2009/2010) and Hall (2010). Any fan with a ticket to the game will automatically be entered to win a chance to attend a private meet and greet with these five amazing players.

Hey Guys, don't go on Wednesday night, as Cdnsailor has noted ( Typo) - The Game is actually TUESDAY NITE & you DO NOT want to miss it

The OIL KINGS will be tough opposition. They are 4th in the Central Division, and although they have no scorers in the top 20, they are due to break out and improve their place in the standings, and word from inside their Camp says they're going to begin that here in Victoria.

Players to watch:

#28 Martin Gernad - 6 Goals & 12 Assists ** Defence

#16 T.J. Foster - 7 Goals & 10 Assists ** RW

#18 Michael St Croix- 5 Goals & 12 Assists ** Centre

#11 Dylan Wruck - 4 Goals & 10 Assists ** LW

Edmonton -- 324 PIMs

Victoria -- 363 PIMs --- Both Teams have the same kind of testosterone run amuck---- Should be interesting!!

The ROYALS should NOT take the OIL KINGS lightly, or look beyond Tuesday night’s Game, or The Oil Kings will slip out of Town with 2 Points.

Come On Royals !!!!--- Take it to them right from the initial faceoff & keep hitting and checking them off the puck for the entire 60 minutes. Stay out of the Box. Keep them on the outside and clear the Crease & Slot areas. --- Oh Tes -- & SCORE LOTS & OFTEN !!

GO ROYALS GO !!!!

I see Tuesday :p

Hey, YOU'RE GOOD Cdnsailor !!! How'd did you do it??? :confused:

Mod secret I bet !!!

Love it !! Yup, as you noted, IT'S TUESDAY !!!!

SEE YOU AT THE GAME :groovy:

Say Hi if you dare!

From pros to junior, Laxdal keeps producing winners

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM NOVEMBER 7, 2011 10:31 PM


If Derek Laxdal manages a victory today at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, just add it to the list. It’s a long one.

The visitors bench might as well have his name on it. He won a lot of games on Blanshard Street against the Salmon Kings during a successful five-year head coaching run in the professional ECHL in leading the Idaho Steelheads to five consecutive 40-plus win seasons, two Kelly Cup finals and one championship.

Only the leagues and Victoria opponent have changed. It’s the Royals now, not the Salmon Kings. But the constant remains that Laxdal is still winning as a head coach as he brings his Edmonton Oil Kings (10-5-2) into the Memorial Centre for a Western Hockey League game tonight at 7 against the Royals (10-8-1).

“You are judged by wins and losses in this business,” said Laxdal, as he made himself at home again in the Memorial Centre visitors dressing room Monday for an afternoon skate by his Oil Kings.

Coaches are indeed judged by the win-loss column — as Laxdal’s former Alaska Aces ECHL Western Conference coaching opponent Davis Payne discovered Sunday when he was let go as head coach of the St. Louis Blues.

Laxdal and Payne are among a clutch of head coaches from the ECHL Western Conference who went on. Glen Gulutzan went from the Las Vegas Wranglers and is now head coach of the Dallas Stars. Former Alaska coach Keith McCambridge and the Salmon Kings’ Mark Morrison now run the St. John’s bench in the American Hockey League as head coach and assistant coach, respectively, of the Winnipeg Jets-affiliate IceCaps.

“It was a good time and place and the ECHL is a great breeding ground for coaches,” said Laxdal.

“You learn a lot because it’s the toughest league in which to coach in terms of workload with the recruiting, apartments and travel. I wouldn’t trade my time in the ECHL for anything. It was good to me but the work load wears on you.”

Being in junior hockey now allows Laxdal the kind of long-term program planning one can never do in minor-pro, where players are constantly being called up and sent down at any time.

“In the ECHL, you win and die by your AHL affiliates,” he said.

“Everything has to fall into place at the right time.”

Laxdal is bringing the Oil Kings along since taking over last season. In seven seasons as a pro head coach, including two in the Central League with the Wichita Thunder, Laxdal never had a losing season. He suffered his first by going 31-34-7 last season with the Oil Kings but still extended his personal streak of consecutive playoff appearances behind the bench to eight. Laxdal’s stamp on the Oil Kings is becoming more his own in his second WHL season, as he adjusts to guiding teens after coaching men. And this team has some big-name teens. The Oil Kings feature defencemen Griffin Reinhart and Keegan Lowe, the sons of former NHLers Paul Reinhart and Kevin Lowe.

“It’s a lot different because obviously you’re dealing with teenagers,” he said.

“You have to re-teach things more whereas in the pros you would only have to say it a couple of times.”

Whatever Laxdal has said in his coaching career it seems to have worked. And tonight, his past meets his present on the Memorial Centre visitors bench.

“This has always been a great building with great fan support,” said Laxdal.

He should know. His Steelheads often frustrated those Victoria fans and he aims to have his Oil Kings do the same.

ICE CHIPS: Oil Kings radio-by-play announcer Corey Graham of Victoria, a Mount Douglas Secondary grad and former Racquet Club hockey player, returns to his hometown tonight.

Graham will occupy the visitor’s radio booth in the Memorial Centre once occupied by Jack Michaels, who went from being the long-serving voice of the ECHL Alaska Aces to now the radio play-by-play announcer of the NHL Edmonton Oilers. Is that a harbinger for Graham of bigger things? “Getting to the WHL was a goal of mine and we’ll see where it goes,” said the graduate of NAIT, who also hosts his own nightly call-in sports talk show on Team 1260.

Griffin Reinhart a big chip off the old block

Son of former NHLER leads Oil Kings into Victoria today

VANCOUVER — The day was grey, the weather miserable and Griffin Reinhart could not have been happier Monday sailing to Victoria on a B.C. ferry.

“Kind of reminds me of home,” said the 17-year-old Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman and son of former NHL stalwart Paul Reinhart. “I like the rain. I’ll take it any day over the snow. It’s nice to be back.”

Griffin and the Oil Kings were on their way to a date today with the Victoria Royals and they’ll be in Vancouver on Wednesday night to face the Giants. Griffin is one of three Reinhart boys playing in the Western Hockey League — older brother Max and younger brother Sam are both on the Kootenay Ice — but he’s the big deal this year thanks to the 2012 NHL entry draft.

At 6-4 and 205 pounds, he is being touted as a firstround pick. He might even match or better his 5-11 dad, who went 12th overall in 1979 to the Atlanta Flames. Paul moved with the Flames’ franchise to Calgary the following year and then spent his last two NHL seasons as a Vancouver Canuck. Back woes cut Paul’s career short and he settled down in West Vancouver, where Max (1992), Griffin (1994) and Sam (1995) were born and raised.

You can imagine, with three boys less than four years apart, what their younger days were like.
“We had a rec room above the garage that basically housed everything from WWE wrestling through to contact basketball,” Paul recalled Monday with a chuckle. “The boys played constantly up there and, I mean, they did it all. They were competitive but they weren’t mean to each other.”

Mini-sticks, a rec room staple for energetic young hockey players, was among their pursuits.

“Yeah, we played it a bit and it would get pretty competitive and turn into full contact pretty quick,” Griffin confirmed. “We did get carried away sometimes but it was a lot of fun having two brothers. We all got along pretty well.”

Max and Sam became forwards while Griffin turned into a defenceman like his dad. All three boys were born after Paul retired so they never saw him play live. Then Griffin watched Paul on TV in one of those classic games — Flames versus Oilers during the 1987-88 playoffs — and he was stunned.
“I had never seen him play until then and, just seeing a glimpse of him, it’s pretty amazing how much we play alike,” Griffin said.

Paul was a smooth skater, superb passer and wonderful on the power play. He was also stunned watching the same classic game. In fact, he texted all three of his sons to alert them to the fact that dad was going to be on TV.

“I was amazed at the similarities of Griffin’s game to the way I played,” said Paul, now 51 and working in the investment business. “I wasn’t just looking at the positives but even the negatives. I was joking with Griffin that the things I comment to him that he needs to work on, I needed to do, too. He is way more similar to my game than I would have guessed.”

One thing Griffin won’t do is match Paul’s stats in his draft year. Back then, players were selected when they were 19 and going on 20. Now it’s 17 going on 18. In Paul’s final year of junior, his amassed 51 goals and 129 points for the Kitchener Rangers. Griffin has six points in 12 games for the Oil Kings this season.

“I don’t know how he did it, 129 points,” said an impressed Griffin. “I think he played a little bit of forward, too, but it’s pretty amazing to see his stats.”
Griffin, a product of the Hollyburn minor hockey program, has no intention of becoming a hybrid like dad and, instead, is trying to hone his game for both the Oil Kings and the NHL scouts.

He says he sees the ice well and has good hockey sense but admits he is hardly a fancy player. He’ll be able to further showcase his ability next Wednesday in Regina when he suits up for Team WHL in a Subway Super Series game against the touring Russian side.

“I’m not like a dangler or anything,” Griffin said. “I’m not a guy who will dipseydoodle through everybody on the rush but I think the skill set I do have will help me be a pro someday. The NHL draft is definitely in the back of my head, like it is for everyone in my age group.

“I’m trying not to think too far ahead and I think I’ve done a very good job of kind of living in the moment.”

think i'll wear the blue jersey tonight...

Blue Salmon King Home Jersey ??? --- OR Royals Jersey?? --You a Turncoat?

Say, I've got an ECHL Salmon King Playoff Banner ---- You want to buy it and add to your Collection?? Rare, & a definite item that a Real Collector like you should have ! -- interested ?

LETS GO ROYALS --- DRILL THOSE OILERS !!! :clap: