BIG WEEKEND FOR ROYALS AGAINST KELOWNA

The Victoria Royals have a chance to make a big statement this weekend with back-to-back games against the Kelowna Rockets at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

It will be the second and third games between the BC Division rivals on Friday and Saturday, with puck drop for both games at 7:05pm. The Rockets appeared to be on their way to a win the last time they met on September 28 in the Okanagan with a 3-1 lead after two periods, but the Royals scored two in the third and won 4-3 in a shoot-out. The Royals go into the game with a two point lead on the Rockets for first in the division, although Kelowna holds four games in hand on Victoria.

Even though the Royals saw their five-game win streak end in Tri-City last Friday, they responded with a huge 4-1 win in Spokane the following night. Coleman Vollrath was sensational with a 41-save performance for his second win of the season. That performance, along with his victory against the Rockets could give Vollrath the start again Friday, although a week off for for Patrik Polivka will certainly have him refreshed after he started five games in eight nights from October 11-18.

Logan Nelson continues to roll for the Royals as he takes an eight-game point streak into play Friday. With his assist in Spokane Saturday, Nelson has mustered seven goals and 13 points over his streak and continues to lead Victoria with 18 points on the year. Ben Walker has started to heat up on the score sheet, as well, with the game winner against the Chiefs and has six points in his last five games and a three game point streak.

Friday is the first of four straight road games for the Rockets against two teams. They play back-to-back with the Royals, and then two games in Prince George with the Cougars November 1 and 2. The Rockets are 7-2-0-2 and lost their last time out in a 2-1 setback to Calgary on Tuesday night. Goaltender Jordon Cooke rested Tuesday and is third among WHL goalies with a 2.08 goals against average and .932 save percentage and has yet to lose in regulation this season. Both losses were in shoot-outs. Tyson Baillie, still three weeks away from his 18th birthday, and 16-year-old Nick Merkley are tied for the Rockets’ lead in points with 14. The Rockets have seven players with 10-points or more just a month into the season, tied with Swift Current for second behind Portland, who boast eight players in double-digits.
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This week’s injury report shows Steven Hodges still two or three weeks away from a return from the lower body injury that his kept him out of the line-up this season. Meanwhile, Brandon Magee is listed as day-to-day with his lower body injury that has forced him to be a scratch the last two games. Magee had a three-game assist streak going prior to the injury.

For the Rockets, Carter Rigby could make a return to the line-up this weekend. He has missed every game this season with a shoulder injury. Forward Austin Glover is out of the line-up for a while with a broken ankle and defenceman Jesse Lees is day-to-day with a hand injury.
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This has been the week of big deals in the WHL and the Seattle Thunderbirds have served notice that they fully intend to stay among the big kids in the West. The Thunderbirds pulled the trigger on a trade with the Lethbridge Hurricanes that sees them acquire disgruntled forwards Jaimen Yakubowski and Sam McKechnie from the Hurricanes for 19-year-old forward Riley Sheen, 17-year-old forward Carter Folk and a third round pick in 2015. Yakubowski and McKechnie led the ‘Canes in goals last season with 32 and 26, respectively, but were sent home by the Hurricanes to await a trade after they had requested for one. Neither has done much this season offensively, but likely because of their displeasure with their situations in Lethbridge, whatever the reasons were. The Hurricanes get a good player in Sheen who had 40 points last season and Folk is a young player who was a fourth round bantam pick by the Thunderbirds.

Earlier in the week the Kootenay Ice pulled were able to obtain high-scoring forward and Montreal Canadiens’ prospect Tim Bozon from the Kamloops Blazers, along with defenceman Landon Cross for forward Collin Shirley and defenceman Matt Thomas, along with three draft picks including a first-rounder in 2015. Our next game on Shaw will have the Ice in Red Deer to face the Rebels and hopefully we get a chance to chat with General Manager Jeff Chynoweth about the deal. Indications are Bozon had had enough in Kamloops and a fresh start with Sam Reinhart and Jaedon  Descheneau could be a huge addition for an Ice squad that is right in the thick of a tight pack in the Eastern Conference. Five points separates second place Prince Albert and Red Deer in 11th.
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We’re saddled up in Regina tonight in preparation for our final Canada West regular season game between the Saskatchewan Huskies and the Regina Rams. Hopefully we’ll take in the Edmonton Oil Kings and Regina Pats contest Friday night, two teams who have heated up in the last little while. Although the Pats lost Wednesday night to Prince Albert, that ended their six-game win streak and the Oil Kings are fresh off a win we had on Shaw in Moose Jaw Wednesday for their second straight victory and now they have points in five of their last six. And they did it without Griffin Reinhart, Cody Corbett and Victoria-product Dysin Mayo on their blue-line because of injuries. Calgary has really taken the reigns in the East with points in eight straight games and although they lost in overtime in Vancouver Wednesday, they roared back from a 3-0 deficit to get the point.

After a slow start to the season, the defending champs from Portland have started to get on a roll, now with six straight wins. But they have had to really out-score teams this season. Portland has the most goals with 67, but has allowed 47. That is the most in the Western Conference and tied for fifth-most in the league, a far cry from the top defensive mark a year ago. After the Winterhawks eight wins in their last 10 games, the Royals’ seven in that span is tied with Spokane for the most in their last 10 around the league.