Victoria at Swift Current 17 Jan and Moose Jaw 18 Jan

[CdnSailor]

At 17 Jan and 18 Jan

Victoria ended a 10 game losing streak beating the Wheat Kings 4 - 3 in a shoot out. The Royals have had many close calls these past 10 games losing in OT and SOs as well.
Ther Royals are currently 8th place in the West, one point ahead of Prince George and tied with Seattle who has 4 games in hand.

They are now coming into Bronco territory where the Bronco's are 3 and 10 past 10 snapping a losing streak with a 4 - 0 win over Red Deer. The Broncos are currently in 10th place in the Eastern Division.

Moose Jaw is currently tied for 2nd in the East and has lost thier last two games and is 4 and 6 past 10.

Victoria Royals 44 14 25 2 3 = 33 PTS 1-0-0-0 STK 1-7-1-1 P10 758 PIM

Swift Current Broncos 44 17 22 2 3 = 39 PTS 1-0-0-0 STK 3-5-0-2 P10 772 PIM

Moose Jaw Warriors 44 25 14 4 1 = 55 PTS 0-2-0-0 STK 4-5-1-0 P10 745 PIM

[50sWHLer]

I'll predict a WIN tomorrow nite !!

SPEEDY CREEK 3 VICTORIA 5

GO ROYALS GO !!!!!

[the Royal Flush]

that would be nice...

[pontcanna]

Royals aim to round up two points

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM JANUARY 16, 2012 10:19 PM

The Victoria Royals practice Monday, in preparation for tonight’s Western Hockey League game in Swift Current against the Broncos, was so pure Canadiana that it could almost be imagined in sepia tones.

It was framed that way by design in a small-town rink in Vanguard, Sask.

Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid grew up about a half-hour’s drive from Vanguard. When coaching B.C.-based WHL teams in Kamloops, Kelowna, Chilliwack and now Victoria, Habscheid has made a point of connecting his players to the roots of the game during road trips to the Prairies.

“This is the way hockey started on frozen ponds and in small-town rinks,” said Habscheid, of his tradition of including a team practice in Vanguard. “Sometimes that gets lost in the all the fancy new buildings, so this is always a different experience for the players.”

The scene depicted on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill of kids playing hockey on a frozen pond doesn’t have much relevance to Victoria, the current cold snap notwithstanding. But that scene could have been lifted right out of Habscheid’s childhood years on a farm near Swift Current.

“Every day after school I would throw on the skates and be out on the frozen pond on our farm until supper, and then after supper, playing in the car headlights,” said the 48-year-old, who played in the NHL, AHL, Europe and for Canada’s national team.

“That’s how we learned the game and developed. It was certainly the right price in terms of the cost of ice time.”

The practice site in Vanguard may have been unique for several on the Royals roster, which includes seven players from B.C., four from the U.S. and two from the Czech Republic. But in every other way, it was a practice as usual as Victoria tries to build on its 4-3 victory from Saturday when forward Ben Walker scored the deciding goal in the shootout to beat the Wheat Kings in Brandon. The victory snapped a 10-game Victoria winless streak.

The win was critical in keeping Victoria in the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of ninth-place Prince George although the Cougars have a game in hand.

The Royals (14-25-5) are two points behind seventh-place Seattle but the Thunderbirds still have three games in hand.

Swift Current, meanwhile, is in even more dire straits in the Eastern Conference. The Broncos (17-22-5) are in 10th place and eight points adrift of a playoff position.

Not that the Royals can afford to take them for granted. Swift Current forward Taylor Vause is certainly dangerous with 23 goals and 51 points in 44 games. Forward Adam Lowry, brother of former BCHL Victoria Grizzlies forward and L.A.-Kings drafted Joel Lowry, was taken in the third round of the 2011 NHL draft by the Winnipeg Jets. The Broncos also have two forwards cited in Central Scouting’s mid-season rankings for the 2012 NHL draft — Coda Gordon rated 38th among North American skaters and Graham Black 53rd.

[the Royal Flush]

from the look of the stats i would say we were "outgoaled" again...

[CdnSailor]

from the look of the stats i would say we were "outgoaled" again...

yup

[CdnSailor]

2 0

Game Highlights

http://youtu.be/Uqf-5CG68T0

[CdnSailor]

Quite the head shots and fight to say the least.
Will be interesting to see the fines/suspensions that will be coming out of this one.

[pontcanna]

Loss a Royal pain

BY MARIO ANNICCHIARICO, TIMESCOLONIST.COM JANUARY 18, 2012 10:17 PM

The Victoria Royals’ first-ever visit to Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw was far from an artistic masterpiece Wednesday night, but as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A tough 2-0 loss to the big and talented East Division-leading Warriors has to be considered a bit of a moral victory, especially after a 3-1 loss in Swift Current the night before to the lesser-light Broncos.

“It was quite a vicious game,” said Royals general manager and head coach Marc Habscheid. “They came out and played real physical and I didn’t think we responded real good in the first. I thought in the second and third we competed a lot better.

“Especially for our young guys, I thought it was a game where they needed to face that level of physicality and intensity. They were thrown into the fire and after watching in the first, I thought we were much more committed to compete.”

The Royals organization has had little success in Moose Jaw. As the Chilliwack Bruins, the team posted a 1-4 record in the Civic Centre, better known as the Crushed Can. Mosaic Place opened in September of 2011 and the run of losses in the Jaw continues, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort.

James Henry made it 1-0 for the Warriors at 9:20 of the first period, converting on a power play. Cam Braes, of Shawnigan Lake, collected an assist, as did Quinton Howden, recently of the Canadian junior team.

Braes later collected the second Moose Jaw goal and, in fact, leads the Warriors in scoring with 52 points. Braes now has three goals and four assists in six games since the former Lethbridge Hurricanes’ captain moved eastward at the trade deadline.

Moose Jaw out-shot the Royals 13-2 in the first 20 minutes, a physical affair that spilled into the second. Victoria’s Zac Habscheid was injured on a Howden hit late in the opening stanza and the Royals defenceman did not return, though he managed to skate off on his own steam.

In the second, Victoria’s Tim Traber laid out Cody Beach with a solid hit, but was cut in a subsequent fight with Moose Jaw’s Dallas Ehrhardt. Like Habscheid, Traber did not return.

Bad news came in threes as Warriors defenceman Dylan McIlrath — the 10th-overall draft pick of the New York Rangers in 2010 — took a run at Victoria’s Jesse Zgraggen late in the second and he, too, was hurt. McIlrath was ejected on a major for checking to the head, which comes with a game misconduct.

The Royals out-shot Moose Jaw 11-6 in the second, but couldn’t solve netminder Spencer Tremblay, named first star for his 23 total saves. Third star Keith Hamilton made 26 stops for Victoria, which is now 1-3 on the six-game road trip that stops in Prince Albert on Friday and then in Saskatoon on Saturday. Braes was the second star.

[fatshad]

Loss a Royal pain

BY MARIO ANNICCHIARICO, TIMESCOLONIST.COM JANUARY 18, 2012 10:17 PM

The Victoria Royals’ first-ever visit to Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw was far from an artistic masterpiece Wednesday night, but as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A tough 2-0 loss to the big and talented East Division-leading Warriors has to be considered a bit of a moral victory, especially after a 3-1 loss in Swift Current the night before to the lesser-light Broncos.

“It was quite a vicious game,” said Royals general manager and head coach Marc Habscheid. “They came out and played real physical and I didn’t think we responded real good in the first. I thought in the second and third we competed a lot better.

“Especially for our young guys, I thought it was a game where they needed to face that level of physicality and intensity. They were thrown into the fire and after watching in the first, I thought we were much more committed to compete.”

The Royals organization has had little success in Moose Jaw. As the Chilliwack Bruins, the team posted a 1-4 record in the Civic Centre, better known as the Crushed Can. Mosaic Place opened in September of 2011 and the run of losses in the Jaw continues, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort.

James Henry made it 1-0 for the Warriors at 9:20 of the first period, converting on a power play. Cam Braes, of Shawnigan Lake, collected an assist, as did Quinton Howden, recently of the Canadian junior team.

Braes later collected the second Moose Jaw goal and, in fact, leads the Warriors in scoring with 52 points. Braes now has three goals and four assists in six games since the former Lethbridge Hurricanes’ captain moved eastward at the trade deadline.

Moose Jaw out-shot the Royals 13-2 in the first 20 minutes, a physical affair that spilled into the second. Victoria’s Zac Habscheid was injured on a Howden hit late in the opening stanza and the Royals defenceman did not return, though he managed to skate off on his own steam.

In the second, Victoria’s Tim Traber laid out Cody Beach with a solid hit, but was cut in a subsequent fight with Moose Jaw’s Dallas Ehrhardt. Like Habscheid, Traber did not return.

Bad news came in threes as Warriors defenceman Dylan McIlrath — the 10th-overall draft pick of the New York Rangers in 2010 — took a run at Victoria’s Jesse Zgraggen late in the second and he, too, was hurt. McIlrath was ejected on a major for checking to the head, which comes with a game misconduct.

The Royals out-shot Moose Jaw 11-6 in the second, but couldn’t solve netminder Spencer Tremblay, named first star for his 23 total saves. Third star Keith Hamilton made 26 stops for Victoria, which is now 1-3 on the six-game road trip that stops in Prince Albert on Friday and then in Saskatoon on Saturday. Braes was the second star.

I saw the game live in Moose Jaw and I will say that McIlrath and Beach are classless players and man do they think they are something !! Can hardly wait untill they move up level , if they do , and take a real **** kicking !!