Victoria at Portland 28 and 30 Dec

[CdnSailor]

at

Victoria plays Portland 4 times this season. These two in Portland and then the last 2 games of the season in Victoria.

Portland is currently in 2nd place in the US Division and 4th overall in the Western Conference with a 6 - 4 past 10.

Victoria is currently 4th in the BC Division and 7th overall in the Western Conference and is 2 - 8 past 10.

Portland Winterhawks 35 21 11 2 1 = 45 PTS 1-0-0-0 STK 6-3-1-0 P10 575 PIM

Victoria Royals 37 13 20 2 2 = 30 PTS 1 0-2-1-1 STK 2-5-2-1 P10 649 PIM

[pontcanna]

Rested Royals turn attention to Winterhawks

BY RON RAUCH, TIMESCOLONIST.COM DECEMBER 27, 2011 11:06 PM

The extended six-game road trip for the Victoria Royals started on Dec. 10 in Seattle and it will not end until Friday against the Winterhawks in Portland.

During those 20 days, including a Christmas break, the Western Hockey League Royals will have played in Washington, Oregon and Alberta.

The Royals have a doubleheader (tonight and Friday) in Portland before returning to the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Jan. 3 against the Calgary Hitmen. Game time is 7 p.m.

“It really hasn’t felt that much like a road trip because it was so broke up,’’ said Royals’ GM and coach Marc Habscheid. “In the second half of the season, I would like to see us play with a little more consistency, especially on the road.’’

The Royals have an 8-8-2 mark on home ice, while they are 5-12-2 on the road.

“Our team really seems to feed off the great crowds at home and now we have to do a better job on the road.

“We are getting better defensively but our goals against [a league-worst 181] is really skewed because we had a bad two-week span when we gave up a lot of goals. We have cut down on the scoring chances and now our goaltenders have to give us a higher save percentage.’’

Goaltender Keith Hamilton has handled the bulk of the work for the Royals and he has a .874 save percentage and a 4.38 goals-against average. Jared Rathjen is at .801 (save percentage) and a 5.95 goals-against average.

“We have played a lot of hockey and this break will give us the opportunity to heal some bumps and bruises.’’

On the injury front, Habscheid had hoped to have defenceman Tyler Stahl back with the team after Christmas but he suffered a setback from his concussion and his return to the squad remains uncertain. Stahl played only four games before he was injured.

The Royals will also be without 16-year-old defenceman Keenan Kanzig as he has headed east to play for Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge which starts Thursday in Windsor, Ont.

Heading into Tuesday night’s action, Victoria was seventh (top eight teams make the playoffs) in the 10-team Western Conference with a record of 13-20-4. The Royals are three points in front of Seattle but the Thunderbirds have six games in hand. The Prince George Cougars are only four points behind Victoria with two contests in hand.

With the trade deadline looming on Jan. 10, Habscheid said the team will explore all of its options.

“Our future is with our youth. We want to develop a championship team here and we will do whatever is the best for the club.’’

The Winterhawks have a veteran team, loaded with several professional prospects, including leading scorers Ty Rattie and Sven Bartschi. Portland has a 21-11-3 record, second in the U.S. Division to the Tri-City Americans.

[CdnSailor]

By Ron Rauch, timescolonist.com December 27, 2011 11:06 PM


The extended six-game road trip for the Victoria Royals started on Dec. 10 in Seattle and it will not end until Friday against the Winterhawks in Portland.

During those 20 days, including a Christmas break, the Western Hockey League Royals will have played in Washington, Oregon and Alberta.

The Royals have a doubleheader (tonight and Friday) in Portland before returning to the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Jan. 3 against the Calgary Hitmen. Game time is 7 p.m.

“It really hasn’t felt that much like a road trip because it was so broke up,’’ said Royals’ GM and coach Marc Habscheid. “In the second half of the season, I would like to see us play with a little more consistency, especially on the road.’’

The Royals have an 8-8-2 mark on home ice, while they are 5-12-2 on the road.

“Our team really seems to feed off the great crowds at home and now we have to do a better job on the road.

“We are getting better defensively but our goals against [a league-worst 181] is really skewed because we had a bad two-week span when we gave up a lot of goals. We have cut down on the scoring chances and now our goaltenders have to give us a higher save percentage.’’

Goaltender Keith Hamilton has handled the bulk of the work for the Royals and he has a .874 save percentage and a 4.38 goals-against average. Jared Rathjen is at .801 (save percentage) and a 5.95 goals-against average.

“We have played a lot of hockey and this break will give us the opportunity to heal some bumps and bruises.’’

On the injury front, Habscheid had hoped to have defenceman Tyler Stahl back with the team after Christmas but he suffered a setback from his concussion and his return to the squad remains uncertain. Stahl played only four games before he was injured.

The Royals will also be without 16-year-old defenceman Keenan Kanzig as he has headed east to play for Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge which starts Thursday in Windsor, Ont.

Heading into Tuesday night’s action, Victoria was seventh (top eight teams make the playoffs) in the 10-team Western Conference with a record of 13-20-4. The Royals are three points in front of Seattle but the Thunderbirds have six games in hand. The Prince George Cougars are only four points behind Victoria with two contests in hand.

With the trade deadline looming on Jan. 10, Habscheid said the team will explore all of its options.

“Our future is with our youth. We want to develop a championship team here and we will do whatever is the best for the club.’’

The Winterhawks have a veteran team, loaded with several professional prospects, including leading scorers Ty Rattie and Sven Bartschi. Portland has a 21-11-3 record, second in the U.S. Division to the

Tri-City Americans.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Re...#ixzz1hoONtupP

[The Wheatiemaniac]

Any rumblings if the Royals are shopping these two to build for the future? We could use both of them quite nicely.

[pontcanna]

Just a reminder that tonight's game is a video webcast freebie on whl.ca

[pontcanna]

Winterhawks soar over Royals

BY MARIO ANNICCHIARICO, TIMESCOLONIST.COM DECEMBER 28, 2011 11:05 PM

Keith Hamilton’s return to Portland wasn’t exactly what the Victoria Royals netminder, or his coach, was hoping for.

The 19-year-old Kelowna product essentially faced a firing squad from his former teammates as the host Winterhawks bombarded the visiting Royals with 54 shots in a 6-3 home victory before 8,049 fans at the Rose Garden in Portland on Wednesday night.

Out-shot 30-15 at the halfway point of the game, Hamilton kept the Royals in it, down just 2-1, before the Winterhawks broke through.

Hamilton, acquired in an off-season trade from the Winterhawks where he was a backup as Portland made it to the Western Hockey League final last season, gave up goals to Chase De Leo and Taylor Peters 22 seconds apart 34 minutes into the game.

“We had turkey legs for the first 10 minutes, then we got it going. In the second, they brought their game a little more, for sure,” said Royals general manager and head coach Marc Habscheid.

“We were hanging around and then the two quick ones put us in a difficult situation, no question. We got outworked, and we’ve talked since Day 1, that that has to be the mantra of our team. One thing you can control is how hard you work and how hard you compete. We don’t have enough guys who work as hard as they should.”

Hamilton, who faced 20 shots in the opening 20 minutes and 44 after 40, made a solid save off Brad Ross on a breakaway five minutes into the second after forcing Ty Rattie to shoot wide on a penalty shot four minutes earlier.

The two quick goals were later followed by a power-play effort from Taylor Leier as the Winterhawks — the No. 1 scoring and shooting team in the WHL — grabbed a 5-2 advantage after 40 minutes. Ross had a pair for Portland, while defenceman Joseph Morrow, the first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins this past summer, had a goal and two assists.

Victoria’s Brandon Magee had a pair, while Ben Walker had the other goal as the Royals made it close at 5-3 early in the third.

The Royals — out-shot 54-32 — fall to 13-21-2-2 (including a 0-3-1-1 log in their last five), while Portland improves to 22-11-2-1, second place in the U.S. Division.

The news gets worse for Victoria as the Prince George Cougars and Seattle Thunderbirds both won Wednesday. The T-Birds move one point in front of the Royals for seventh place in the Western Conference playoff race (the top eight qualify). And Seattle has played five fewer games than the Royals. The Cougars are now just two points back of Victoria with two games in hand.

It was the first game back after the Christmas break for both Victoria and the Winterhawks, who meet again on Friday at 7 p.m.

[CdnSailor]

Who would have guessed that the great Victoria Royals would ever plumet to 8th spot with less then half a season to go.
Prince George is 2 points behind and has 2 games in hand.
Seattle who is currently in 7th place is one point ahead of the Royals and has 5 games in hand.
Everyone keeps touting the great Royals. We will all see how much touting there is within the next month.

[pontcanna]

I don't think people are touting the "Great Royals" as much as they are touting Major Junior hockey.

[coach]

Who would have guessed that the great Victoria Royals would ever plumet to 8th spot with less then half a season to go.
Prince George is 2 points behind and has 2 games in hand.
Seattle who is currently in 7th place is one point ahead of the Royals and has 5 games in hand.
Everyone keeps touting the great Royals. We will all see how much touting there is within the next month.

Most postive post you have had so far.

And you are a mod on a site for junior hockey. lmfao
This is what Victoria wanted and was originally promised, maybe you should excuse yourself from this site and let junior hockey supporters enjoy it and junior hockey. I suppose your not enjoying the 2012 junior hockey tournament either. I would suggest pulling your head out but maybe we are better off if you just left it up there.

As far as the Royal's are concerned, I will expect more next season but for now I knew exactly what we would see the first season. In junior hockey we will see many more seasons like this in future years and many great seasons too.

[CdnSailor]

Most postive post you have had so far.

And you are a mod on a site for junior hockey. lmfao
This is what Victoria wanted and was originally promised, maybe you should excuse yourself from this site and let junior hockey supporters enjoy it and junior hockey. I suppose your not enjoying the 2012 junior hockey tournament either. I would suggest pulling your head out but maybe we are better off if you just left it up there.

As far as the Royal's are concerned, I will expect more next season but for now I knew exactly what we would see the first season. In junior hockey we will see many more seasons like this in future years and many great seasons too.

I keep wondering why you keep saying 1st season. If they were 1st season I would have no problem bowing down to you coach, but they have been around for 6 years now.
They are just a transfer from the mainland to the island. If they were still over in Chilliwack they would still be in the same position. I imagine the fans over there would be just as upset as they are getting over here. (Except for you of course) as this is what you expect after a 6 year team.