Kamloops at Victoria 27/28 Jan 12

[CdnSailor]

at

Victoria is holding on to 8th spot in the West, 1 point behind Seattle who has 3 games in hand and 3 points ahead of Prince George who has 2 game in hand.

Royals had a very dismal road trip to the Prairie Provinces winning 2 of the 6 games. They are 2 and 8 past 10.
Victoria has played the Blazers 5 games so far this season winning zippo.

Kamloops have been playing very well this season currently holding 1st place overall and is on a 9 game winning streak.

Kamloops Blazers 47 34 10 1 2 71 PTS 9-0-0-0 P10 STK 9-1-0-0 743 PIM
Victoria Royals 48 15 28 2 3 35 PTS 0-1-0-0 STK 2-7-0-1 P10 816 PIM

[fatshad]

at

Victoria is holding on to 8th spot in the West, 1 point behind Seattle who has 3 games in hand and 3 points ahead of Prince George who has 2 game in hand.

Royals had a very dismal road trip to the Prairie Provinces winning 2 of the 6 games. They are 2 and 8 past 10.
Victoria has played the Blazers 5 games so far this season winning zippo.

Kamloops have been playing very well this season currently holding 1st place overall and is on a 9 game winning streak.

Kamloops Blazers 47 34 10 1 2 71 PTS 9-0-0-0 P10 STK 9-1-0-0 743 PIM
Victoria Royals 48 15 28 2 3 35 PTS 0-1-0-0 STK 2-7-0-1 P10 816 PIM

Disagree on the dismal road trip comment . Of the 24 players on the roster there are eight 94's and four 95's thats half the team starting the season as 16 and 17 year olds !! 2 out of 6 is not bad at all considering the prairie trip is gruelling and eastern teams always seem to be tough at home. Also with a bounce here or there the Royals deserved to win the Swift Current game and had a chance in the Saskatoon game as it was 7 - 6 with 80 seconds left !! All in all I feel the road trip was a positive for this young squad immediately after the trading of great player and friend Kevin Sundher !! The new additions fit in quite well and if they can aquire some goaltending this team will fare considerably better next season !!!!

[IR_Hockey]

Disagree on the dismal road trip comment.

Agreed!

[pontcanna]

Royals wary of red-hot Blazers

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM JANUARY 26, 2012 11:06 PM


If there is a blueprint for the Victoria Royals to follow, it is being supplied by the Kamloops Blazers, who visit Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for a Western Hockey League set tonight and Saturday.

One season after missing the playoffs, the Blazers are 34-10-4 and ranked No. 2 in the BMO Mastercard Canadian Hockey League ranking of major junior teams behind only the London Knights of Ontario.

The Blazers’ problems became systemic after the three Memorial Cup national championships of the 1990s. They have not been past the first round of the playoffs in the 12 seasons since current Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid took them to the league final in 1999.

The Chilliwack Bruins-Victoria Royals franchise, in its sixth year, has had only one winning season. Now at 15-28-5, it is highly unlikely to record its second this year. But the mantra coming out of the Royals organization is that it is laying a foundation for the future and that fans need to be patient.

After a barren decade, patience seems to have finally paid off for the Blazers, whose nine-game winning streak became a 10-game unbeaten string following Wednesday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Rockets in Kelowna.

“They are an older team with good balance and depth,” said Habscheid.

“We have to be ready this weekend and play our best, for sure. We can’t let them outwork us.”

The latter is the Royals’ only advantage going into this set. Kamloops, which is undefeated in its last nine road games at 6-0-3, has won all five meetings against the Royals this season.

“We’re very familiar with them and they are fast and physical,” said Royals forward Logan Nelson.

“We have to play our game and dictate matters by playing physical and gritty like we do.”

That was the general theme of the week as the Royals prepared to meet the blazing Blazers.

“We have to focus on our game and not so much what they do,” said Victoria defenceman Keegan Kanzig.

The Royals have returned 2-4 from a marathon six-game, two-week excursion through the Eastern Division and return to play in the Memorial Centre for the first time since Jan. 7.

“It was good bonding, but it feels good to be back in our own beds,” said Nelson, the native of Minnesota and 108th-ranked North American skater for the 2012 NHL draft.

“The bus legs are gone and we feel ready to go at home again.”

Nelson and Kanzig are both WHL rookies and the recent trip was the first for both through Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“That was a lot of bus time and eating in restaurants, so it feels great getting back to my own bed,” said Kanzig.

Every game is crucial now for Victoria, which holds the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference. Prince George, which is three points behind Victoria with two games in hand, hosts last-place Everett in a two-game set this weekend before coming to the Island for a critical double dip against the Royals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I do check the standings but you have to focus on the task at hand,” said Kanzig.

[pontcanna]

As of about 2 pm Friday, there are reported to be less than 500 seats left for Saturday's (Pink in the Rink) game

[CdnSailor]

4 2

After seeing 2 shots and 2 goals in 15 seconds for the Blazers, I as well as 5000+ fans felt that the game was over and time to go home. Everyone looked at Habscheid to see if he was going to take out Hamilton.
Thankfully he did not, as 33 shots later the Royals beat the Blazers 4 - 2.

3 Stars
1. VIC - 25 Robin Soudek
2. VIC - 18 Brandon Magee
3. KAM - 15 Tim Bozon

SHOTS 1 2 3 Total
Kamloops Blazers 17 5 13 35
Victoria Royals 12 16 7 35

SCORING 1 2 3 Total
Kamloops Blazers 2 0 0 2
Victoria Royals 1 2 1 4

[pontcanna]

Same old Royals for 15 seconds. Then this other team came on the ice and played the rest of the way with commitment and intensity, recovering from defensive zone mistakes rather than making two or three and giving up a goal. For once I saw what was pretty close to a full team effort. The kind of game that can start to turn a season around. The Blazers will undoubtedly be p***ed and push back hard tomorrow, but I see green shoots of hope poking out of the soil. The doubleheader against the Brodsky Cougars this coming week will be very important. Need all the points in regulation time.

The SOFA will be damn noisy tomorrow night!

[CdnSailor]

Will be interesting to see how we perform tomorrow evening. Blazers will be coming out a blazin but with our barn sold out, should be one heck of a game.

[pontcanna]

Royals extinguish Blazers

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM JANUARY 27, 2012 11:07 PM


That the Western Hockey League game Friday night didn’t start out promising for the Victoria Royals is an understatement of the highest order.

Trailing 2-0 after just 15 seconds, the Royals rallied for a 4-2 victory against the league-leading Kamloops Blazers before 5,593 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

The result was not insignificant, considering it came against a Blazers team that is 34-11-4 and ranked No. 2 in the BMO Mastercard Canadian Hockey League ranking of major junior teams behind only the London Knights of Ontario.

Kamloops had also been undefeated in its previous nine road games at 6-0-3 and had won all five previous meetings against the Royals this season. Those streaks came to a crashing halt Friday.

“The start wasn’t awesome but we battled right back and won the game,” said Royals forward Robin Soudek, who was a factor all night and named first star with a goal and an assist.

“It was good for us and the fans.”

The game began with a rare occurrence as Tim Bozon of the Blazers, a rookie no less, scored twice in 15 seconds to start the game.

The fastest goal to start any period is five seconds but the WHL record book does not list the fastest goal to start a game, nor the fastest two goals to start a game or the fastest two goals by the same player to start a game or period. The WHL record for the fastest two goals is five seconds and held by four players.

“It was a rough start, but we regrouped well,” said Royals goaltender Keith Hamilton, who was strong in making 33 saves after the two early quick ones.

One thing you notice about Hamilton’s demeanor is that he’s an even-keeled customer who doesn’t become unglued.

“You have to forget about [a start like] that and just go on to the next play,” he said. “You have to stay in the moment for the whole game.”

Soudek’s 21st of the season at 7:57 pulled Victoria to within one as the Royals responded to the early setback with a great deal of spunk. The persistence paid off as defenceman Hayden Rintoul leveled matters 2-2 on the power play at 5:16 of the second period for this 12th goal of the season and Ben Walker gave Victoria the lead at 18:24.

A power-play goal by Brandon Magee at 11:24 of the third period, on a nifty assist from Soudek, gave Victoria its final cushion.

Soudek, game second-star Magee and Logan Nelson, with two assists, all had two points on the night.

“There was nothing to say after that start,” Nelson said. “We all knew what we had to do.”

Kamloops’ rep and record didn’t faze the Royals.

“I don’t think the rankings mean much to us. On any give night, anyone can win,” said Nelson, of a game in which the Royals seemed to impose their will physically on the favoured Blazers.

The Royals (16-28-5), who hold down the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference, moved five points ahead of the ninth-place Prince George Cougars, who were 5-2 losers at home Friday to the last-place Everett Silvertips. The Cougars, however, retain two games in hand.

[CdnSailor]

Keith Hamilton makes 33 saves in Victoria’s 4-2 comeback win over Kamloops.

For Immediate Release

Friday, January 27, 2012

Victoria, BC – In a Friday night matchup at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, the Victoria Royals returned home to square off with divisional rival the Kamloops Blazers in the first of a two game set. The Royals started Keith Hamilton in net, while the Blazers went with Cole Cheveldave.

Kamloops opened the scoring eight seconds into the game after a defensive miscue behind the net led to an open net for Tim Bozon. Kamloops doubled their lead seven seconds later after J.C. Lipon centered a pass to Bozon who tipped the puck past Hamilton. The Royals cut the lead in half just prior to the 10 minute mark off a face-off. Steven Hodges won the draw cleanly to Brandon Magee who fed Robin Soudek for a one-timer from the top of the right circle that beat Cheveldave. The Blazers’ enjoyed back-to-back powerplays halfway through the period, but couldn’t notch their third after several quality saves from the Hamilton, including two quick pad stops on Chase Schaber from in close. Kamloops took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Victoria tied the game up 2-2 off a powerplay five minutes into the middle frame. From a face-off, Hayden Rintoul fired a hard wrist shot from the right point that beat the blocker of a screened Cheveldave four seconds into the man advantage. The Royals continued to press after Robin Soudek found the puck to the side of the net and tried to wrap it around Cheveldave, but the Blazers’ netminder stretched out his leg to make a left toe save. Victoria completed the comeback with less than two minutes left in the period when a Logan Nelson shot deflected off Ben Walker into the net. The Royals held a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Kamloops opened the final period strong after Austin Madaisky fired a shot through a crowd and off the left post and into the corner. Before the 10 minute mark, Soudek burst down the left boards before he cut to the net for a shot, but the Blazers’ goaltender was able to make the save. Victoria found their fourth goal only minutes later on their second powerplay marker of the night. From behind the net Soudek centered a pass out to Brandon Magee who chipped the puck past Cheveldave. Royals 4 Blazers 2.

Victoria went 2/7 = 28.6% on the powerplay, while Kamloops was 0/5 = 0.00%. The Blazers and Royals tied for shots 35-35.