Victoria at Prince Albert Raiders 20 Jan and Saskatoon Blades 21 Jan

[CdnSailor]

At 20 Jan and 21 Jan

Royals continue to struggle. Losing 3 of 4 on the road trip, it is only by the grace of the hockey gods that Prince George and Everett are doing as bad as we are.
Prince Albert is not doing well either. Sitting at the bottom of the barrel in 12th place and currently on a three game losing streak.
Maybe there is a little sun at the end of the tunnel but that was thought we the Royals played Swift Current.
Saskatoon is in a tight race. Any win or lose can bump them up or down in the standings from 5th position. They are currently 7 - 3 P10.

Victoria Royals 46 14 27 2 3 33 0.359 153 227 0-2-0-0 1-8-0-1 786

Prince Albert Raiders 45 15 27 1 2 33 0.367 143 188 0-3-0-0 5-5-0-0 772

Saskatoon Blades 46 27 18 0 1 55 0.598 169 164 0-1-0-0 7-3-0-0 818

[JMoney1988]

Really looking forward to our meeting Saturday, should be a dandy, I hope.......

[pontcanna]

Banged-up Royals look to halt skid in P.A.

BY MARIO ANNICCHIARICO, TIMESCOLONIST.COM JANUARY 19, 2012 11:06 PM

As the Victoria Royals’ bus heads north up the Louis Riel Trail to Prince Albert, the current six-game road trip becomes even more challenging for the travelling Western Hockey League club.

Preparing for their third outing in four nights in a 5 p.m. PST start against the Raiders tonight, the Royals’ roster is a little thinner. The team lost defencemen Zac Habscheid and Jesse Zgraggen and forward Tim Traber in a feisty affair in Moose Jaw on Wednesday.

Not that head coach and general manager Marc Habscheid is going to use those excuses for his troops in P.A., or in Saskatoon on Saturday to make it four games in five evenings.

“Not a chance. These guys are young. They have lots of rest. There is no fatigue issue,” stressed Habscheid. “Four in five nights; everybody does that and you just have to find a way. There are no excuses.”

Just as there were none for Wednesday’s 2-0 loss against a pretty solid Moose Jaw Warriors team that leads the East Division.

“It’s a gut check,” said Habscheid, who lost the trio of players to various injuries, including Traber, whose eye was swollen shut after a dustup with Moose Jaw’s Dallas Ehrhardt. “All games aren’t easy and all games aren’t fair.

“You face adversity and adversity builds character. You have to fight your way through it and you have to find a way to get the job done. That’s just the way it is,” Habscheid added. “You can’t complain about it or look around. You have to keep moving forward and plug away. That’s how teams are built.

“Sure, it was nasty,” continued Habscheid, who was happy about the push back in the second and third periods against Moose Jaw, which is now 19-3 on home ice. “We’re getting closer. I like the way the team is evolving. I hate not winning, but we’re young and in Moose Jaw they faced an older, big, rough, vicious team and eventually responded.”

Against the 15-27-1-2 Raiders, the Royals will face a club with a similar record (Victoria is 14-27-2-3), but on the outside looking in for a post-season berth.

“They’re trying to work their way into a playoff spot and lately they’ve played better,” said Habscheid, who may have to bring in affiliated players to finish up this trip. “They’re looking for consistency and we just want to go up there and get a couple of points.

“We’ve competed. Maybe not in Regina (where they started this six-game trip), but Tuesday and Wednesday night, we could have easily won both those games and we can just as easily be 3-1 on this trip and not 1-3. This is another tough game coming up,” said Habscheid.

[CdnSailor]

6 4

Game Highlights

http://youtu.be/iri9aTRNB8U

[CdnSailor]

Victoria’s Jamie Crooks scores 24th goal in 6-4 win over Prince Albert.


For Immediate Release

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Prince Albert, SK – In a Friday night matchup at the Art Hauser Center, the Victoria Royals faced off against the Prince Albert Raiders. Victoria started Keith Hamilton in net while Prince Albert countered with Cole Holowenko.

The game got off to a fast start as both teams looked to establish the early momentum. The first quality chance went to Prince Albert’s Jonas Knutsen, who was sent in alone on a breakaway before he was caught by the Royals’ Keegan Kanzig to negate the opportunity. Victoria opened the scoring at 5:41 when Steven Hodges picked up his own rebound, and slid a low shot underneath the right pad of Holowenko for his 14th goal of the season. The Royals’ Jordan Fransoo and the Raiders’ Tyler Hart would drop the gloves in a spirited tilt at the 8:16 mark, with Fransoo earning the decision. Prince Albert notched the equalizer at 11:56 when Mike Winther centered a pass from the bottom of the right circle for Logan McVeigh, who buried a one-timer on the ice past Hamilton. After 20 minutes the score remained tied 1-1.

The Royals were awarded a power play 37 seconds into the middle frame and were quick to capitalize. Stationed in front of the net, Robin Soudek received a pass from Hodges at the right half boards and redirected it past Holowenko at 1:01. The Raiders would make it 2-2 while shorthanded at 6:27 when Winther finished off a 2-on-1 feed from Justin Maylan. Just 26 seconds later, on the same Victoria powerplay, Kade Pilton fired a shot from the left point, through a crowd in front to make it 3-2. Following an altercation, that saw both teams penalized, Victoria received a 4-on-3 man-advantage. Jamie Crooks took a Hayden Rintoul feed at the top of the right circle and let go a wrist shot through a Soudek screen and over the right shoulder of Holowenko. The goal was Crooks’ team-leading 24th of the season. After two periods, the Royals led 4-2.

Prince Albert jumped out to a quick start in the third, netting two goals just 90 seconds into the period. The first marker was awarded to Anthony Bardaro when his cross-ice feed deflected off the skate of a Royals’ defender and into the net. The Raiders’ fourth goal came off the stick of Tyler Yaworksi, whose point shot beat a screened Hamilton to even the score. Victoria regained the lead at 7:48 after Luke Harrison dished the puck to Austin Carroll, who ripped a shot from the slot over the shoulder of Holowenko. The Royals continued their offensive response when Crooks sent Logan Nelson in alone on a breakaway. The Royals’ rookie made no mistake, beating Holowenko up high for his 19th of the campaign. Victoria would withstand Prince Albert’s late push to secure the victory. Royals 6, Raiders 4.

Victoria went 3/6 = 50.0% on the power play, while Prince Albert was 0/2 = 0.0%. The Raiders outshot the Royals 32-30.

[CdnSailor]

Royals power past Raiders
By Ron Rauch, timescolonist.com January 20, 2012 10:17 PM After managing just one goal in their last two Western Hockey League games, the Victoria Royals’ offence came to life Friday in Prince Albert.

The Royals erupted for six goals, including three on the power play, en route to a 6-4 victory over the Raiders before 2,758 fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

“Our offence was a little dry in the last two games and tonight it produced,’’ said Royals’ coach and general manager Marc Habscheid. “We were up 4-2 in the second period and on the power play when we [Brandon Magee] hit two goal posts. We could have been up 6-2 and it would have been all but over.’’

The Raiders struck for two quick goals (47 seconds apart) early in the third period to tie the game at 4-4.

“We knew that Prince Albert was going to make a push to start the third period and we did a little bit too much watching. That made it interesting but our fourth line [Austin Carroll, Taylor Crunk and Luke Harrison] responded with the game-winning goal.’’

With the victory, Victoria’s fourth outright win in its last 25 games, the Royals move into a tie for seventh place in the Western Conference with the Seattle Thunderbirds, but the T-Birds have four games in hand. Victoria, with a 15-27-5 record, also moved three points in front of the ninth-place Prince George Cougars, who have played two fewer games.

Steven Hodges, Robin Soudek, Kade Pilton, Jamie Crooks, Carroll and Logan Nelson on a breakaway scored for Victoria. Crooks and Nelson each had three-point performances.

Logan McVeigh, Mike Winther (shorthanded), Tyler Yaworski and Anthony Bardaro countered for Prince Albert (15-28-1-2).

The Royals conclude their six-game road trip tonight in Saskatoon against the Blades. During his playing days in the WHL, Habscheid played a starring role with the Blades.

“I have some fond memories of playing in Saskatoon,’’ said Habscheid. “I still see people in Saskatoon who watched me play. I really miss playing in the old barn [demolished Saskatoon Arena]. That was my favourite place to play.’’

The next home game for the Royals is Friday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Kamloops Blazers. Game time is 7 p.m.

LOOSE PUCKS: Moose Jaw’s Dylan McIlrath was suspended for eight games by the WHL on Friday after receiving a checking to the head major and injuring Royals’ defenceman Jesse Zgraggen on Wednesday. Zgrappen is out of the lineup with a concussion. . . . Tickets and family packs for Victoria’s Pink in the Rink night on Jan. 28 against the Blazers are still available at the Select Your Tickets Box Office (victoriaroyals.com or by calling 250-220-7889). A $50 family pack includes four tickets as well as two cowbells.


Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Royals+...#ixzz1k4cUykcl

[chalk_one_up]

Went to watch the Royals last night, and I must say, you guys have some good players, but the defensive zone coverage was a mess. Numerous times Habscheid got beat, coughed the puck up 5 feet in front of the goal and just didn't transition backwards well enough. Zach has to go. Too bad Zgraggen and Stahl are injured.

Nelson, Hodges, Pilton and Crooks were your best players on the night. Fortunately for the Royals, they played an equally bad team and just outscored the opposition to get the win. The Royals were a physical team, maybe the most physical I have seen any team all season long. The defense is big, but made way too many mistakes for a WHL team. Lots of times they got caught standing around and too many passes through the middle of the ice in the defensive zone. The PP looked really good and converted a few times. For a Marc Habschied team, I was a bit disappointed of the structure that the Royals played with, albeit, when the Raiders tied the game early in the 3rd, I thought the Royals would fold like a cheap tent, but after Marc called the time out, the Royals responded.

Fransoo and Conroy were two players I really wanted to see and they played well overall. Franny fought Hart and I would have to probably give the decision to Jordan even though the fight ended abruptly. After Bourhis' cheap hit, Pilton and a few others came to the rescue and fed him good, which was nice to see the team stick up for one another.

Overall a good game, real physical, lots of speed and chances both ways. The Royals, however, are a mess defensively and will need to tighten that up considerably. Nice to see a West team come in here.

[CdnSailor]

Our defense has been our weakest link this season from what I can see as well. I am not sure as to what will happen next season but we defiantly need help in that area.

[the Royal Flush]

Our defense has been our weakest link this season from what I can see as well. I am not sure as to what will happen next season but we defiantly need help in that area.

a couple of WHL calibre goalies would help the situation as well...

[JMoney1988]

Well, we meet you guys next, hopefully a good crowd along a pre-ceremony thing, should be a good one......