4 Game Road Trip

[CdnSailor]

The Victoria Royals, in desperate need of points to claim a spot in the Western Hockey League playoffs, were looking to duplicate their feat from Friday with another strong third period.

However, the Everett Silvertips were not about to let the Royals come back on Saturday from a

1-0 second-period deficit. The Silvertips rode the goaltending of Kent Simpson and defensive play en route to a 3-0 victory over the Royals before 7,963 fans at the Comcast Arena in Everett.

On Friday in Kelowna, the Royals trailed the Rockets 1-0 after two periods but then responded with three unanswered goals for a 3-1 win.

With the victory, the Silvertips vault over the Royals into seventh place with 51 points, one more than the eighth-place Royals. The top eight teams in the Western Conference advance to the playoffs. The Seattle Thunderbirds and the Prince George Cougars are tied for ninth place, four points behind Victoria.

Cody Fowlie opened the scoring for Everett early in the first period, and the second was scoreless. At 1:23 of the third period, with the Royals on the power play, Joshua Winquist scored shorthanded to deflate the Royals. That extended Winquist's point streak to seven games.

"Everett has a solid team, and we have struggled to score goals against them, especially in Everett,'' said Royals coach and GM Marc Habscheid. "In our last two games here, we have scored only two goals and you are not going to win a lot of games doing that.''

Habscheid said the game's turning point came early in the third period with that shorthanded goal.

"We were on the power play, pressing for the tying goal, and then they made it 2-0,'' said Habscheid. "That shorthanded goal put us on our heels and we had to take more chances by opening it up to get those two back.''

Everett swept the season-series against Victoria 4-0.

The Royals conclude the road portion of their regular season this afternoon (5 p.m.) in Vancouver against the Giants.

Victoria finishes the regular season with a two-game series at home on Wednesday and Friday against the Portland Winterhawks. Game time both nights at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre is 7 p.m.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/...#ixzz1onBomrxH

[pontcanna]

Worse that can happen is that Everett wins and ends up 3 points ahead of Vancouver

Eh?

[CdnSailor]

Eh?

Thanks proof reader

[CdnSailor]

at

This is the 10th and final game of the season between both teams.
Victoria played Vancouver for the very first game of the season in Victoria and beat them 5-2.
Since then, the Royals have only won 2 more games against them.
The Giants are still fighting for 4th place. They are currently tied with Spokane.
Giants are currently 3 and 7 past 10 where the Royals are 4 and 10.

[rednex50]

Season 1
Lost Game 1 in OT in Vancouver
Won Game 2 - both games Archi stood on his head, almost stole game one, stole game 2 (gee, I feel like a broken record for those who can't read)
Lost Game 3 via shutout in CHWK.
Lost Game 4 bad 5-1 in CHWK
Lost game 5 3-1 in Vancovuer, yet it was a really well played game.

Never did I ever say the Bruins should have won the series...I pointed everything out FACTUALLY. Especially the fact about Wuchterl and his antics after his goal in game 4. If a Bruin did that in your barn in a similar type of game, I think you would also take issue with it...like we did.

We were the underdogs. No one expected us to really make it a series when going in as a team with a 43 pt deficit in the regular season, yet we made it a series, almost pushed it to 6 games (Sexy was very lucky his team bailed him out in the 3rd and OT. Sexy was really shakey in game 1, and if you don't believe me, read a quote from one of your own on the Subject of Game 2 - by your own Old_Time_Hockey - "Tyson Sexsmith will get the call again in net but with a shorter lead on him this time I would imagine. If it looks like he is struggling, coach Hay might yank him sooner, rather than later."

Or this posting after the 2nd period of game 1 from another fan forum? Chiliwack 4 - Vancouver 2 (After 2)
* How bout them Bruins

Everett 4 - Spokane 0 (After 2)
Is this RIGHT?!?!
Vancouver outshooting Chilliwack 29-7 and losing 4-2??? - Gee, after 2 periods up 4-2with that shot differential, Archi WAS stealing the game.

yes, season 2 the B's and G's faced each other again, and even though it was a sweep, the games were much closer than that 2-1 / 3-2 / 4-3 OT / 2-1. All one goal games. Yes, Vancouver did have a shot advantage (but usually they always do with Hay) but to play that close to the team that goes to the Memorial Cup Championship...not too shabby when again we were the underdogs and not expected to do much against the Giants.

Giants fans can say all they want. We never had the talent or depth to really compete with them in the regular season for the first few seasons. Gee, if I recall correctly, the Giants blew goats their first season as well...but they don't want to discuss that. BUT, when it came time for the playoffs, the B's step it up. They didn't make it easy on the G's in either season, missed the Playoffs in season 3, took T.C. to 6 games in a series we SHOULD have won in season 4 and took Spokane to a hard fought 5 games with 2 going to OT (game 5 Manning/Howse/Horak and Soudek just to name 4 who I know of who gutted it out and played when they really shouldn't have because of injuries in the series/previous game.

To be honest, season 4 was our best chance to get past the 1st round. Gore was Superman in net, did what he needed to do to have his team in a place to win, 2 games with last minute goals to take it to OT from the clutches of a "Sure American Win" in regulation.

The heart and soul that this franchise had shown in the post season can all be traced back to the leadership of Josh Aspenlind in year 1. There is a reason why in our short franchises existence he was reckognized and put into the rafters at Prospera Centre.

And no offense, if you think Bhungal is a thug, then what was your beloved Hunt? Possibly the dirtiest player I have ever witnessed, even more than Shinnimann.

We not have had much in the way of celebrations or highlights in some peoples eyes, but in 5 seasons, we the fans have a plethera of highlights and memories even if some are bittersweet.

As much as Game 1 was huge for us to actually have a lead after 20 and 40 minutes, or winning Game 2 in Vancouver, but Game 5 was truly THE game that cemented our hatred towards the Giants. We may not have been "competitive" on paper, but didn't back down on the ice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV-G7awBc14

[CdnSailor]

WoW to be in the lead after 2 is fantastic to say the least.
Go Royals Go

[CdnSailor]

Great playing on both sides. Victoria played one of their best games in a long time.
To bad Everett got a point though.

[pontcanna]

Royals pick up a valuable point with gritty OT loss in Vancouver


BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMESCOLONIST.COM MARCH 11, 2012 10:02 PM

VANCOUVER — Heading into the final week of the Western Hockey League regular season, the playoff picture in the Western Conference is about as clear as an abstract expressionist painting.

Read into it what you will.

After the ice spray had settled Sunday, the Victoria Royals retained the eighth and final playoff position, three points ahead of the ninth-place Seattle Thunderbirds but with the knowledge Seattle retains two games in hand and would win all tiebreakers.

The seventh-place Everett Silvertips stayed a point ahead of Victoria, with a game in hand, following games Sunday in which the Royals needed a last-gasp goal to salvage a point in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Giants in Vancouver while the Thunderbirds edged the Silvertips 3-2 in overtime.

The 10th-place Prince George Cougars blew a 3-1 lead against the Americans in losing 5-3 at Tri City. The Cougars trail Victoria by five points and are now largely an irrelevancy, despite holding a game in hand.

The Royals close out the regular season Wednesday and Friday at home inside Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the powerhouse Portland Winterhawks (48-17-4).

“I’m proud of the guys,” said Victoria GM and head coach Marc Habscheid, after defenceman Hayden Rintoul’s 17th goal of the season, with 22 seconds remaining, sent Sunday’s game at Vancouver to extra time.

Jordan Martinook won it for the Giants at 2:50 of overtime but even a single digit added in the standings looms large at this late juncture and situation in the season for Victoria.

“That was a huge point for us, especially in a place that has been a haunted house for us,” said Habscheid, referring to the fact Victoria had lost all four previous games this season at the PNE Pacific Coliseum.

“There was less than 30 seconds left and nobody quit. Everybody supported one another.”

Rintoul, the graduating 20-year-old captain of the Royals, will not go softly from junior and finished with a goal and assist Sunday.

Brandon Magee, whose motor doesn’t come with an off-switch, scored twice for Victoria (22-41-7) while Logan Nelson, the 108th-ranked North American skater for the 2012 NHL draft, scored the other Royals goal.

Martinook and Marek Tvrdon led the Giants (39-26-5) with two goals each.

Rookie Jared Rathjen made 34 saves in goal for the Royals while WHL veteran Adam Morrison, a 2009 third-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, made 24 for Vancouver.

[CdnSailor]

5 4(OT)

SCORING 1 2 3 OT Total
Victoria Royals 0 3 1 0 4
Vancouver Giants 1 1 2 1 5

SHOTS 1 2 3 OT Total
Victoria Royals 7 9 11 2 29
Vancouver Giants 18 12 7 2 39

Three Stars

1. VAN - 17 Marek Tvrdon
2. VIC - 18 Brandon Magee
3. VAN - 15 Riley Kieser

Attendance
6983

Game Summary
http://www.whl.ca/schedule/show/game/60146