Game: Victoria Grizzles vs Powell River Kings
Arena: Hap Parker Arena
Puck Drop: 7:30pm
Broadcast: Starts at 7:10pm
95.7 SunFM Free Audio
FastHockey PPV Video
Kings This Season vs Grizzlies: 1-1-0-0
Last Meeting: Kings won 6-2 (October 6th)
Kings 2012/2013 Record: 14-13-0-3
Kings at home: 9-4-0-2
Kings Last 10: 7-2-0-1
Kings vs Island: 9-6-0-2
Grizzlies 2012/2013 Record: 17-8-0-2 (1st Island)
Grizzlies on the road: 10-5-0-1
Grizzlies Last 10: 6-3-0-1
It’s TEDDY BEAR TOSS NIGHT. To get you in the spirit, check out this video from the Calgary Hitmen’s Teddy Bear Toss game earlier this year:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN5iZVxnSr8]
A little over 21,000 teddy bears…the challenge has been put forth Powell River. This will actually be the 3rd Teddy Bear Toss game between the Kings and Grizzlies in the past 2 seasons. The team’s met twice last year on Teddy Bear Toss nights, with the Kings winning both by scores of 4-0 in Victoria and 5-2 in Powell River. Craig Dalrymple had ‘the’ goal for the Kings, on the powerplay early in the 1st period.
In speaking with a few of the guys, there doesn’t seem to be much focus on ‘that’ goal…which is a good thing. Sometimes there’s those additional pressured to score, and when things might not be as automatic as you’d like, it can hurt a team. The Kings have been far from ‘automatic’ this year, but things are trending in the right direction and I think and hope it’s safe to say the worst is over. The Kings are above 500, and don’t intend to let that go.
A win in tonight’s game won’t vault the Kings into a higher place in the standings. They are 3 points behind Alberni for 2nd in the Coast, and 5 behind Victoria. A win will a) close that gap, and b) give some cushion against the Clippers. Nanaimo plays once this weekend too (Sunday vs Surrey), so a win will keep the Kings in 3rd place, regardless of other results. A loss, and they could drop to 4th come Monday morning.
To the best of my knowledge, changes will be minimal. I’d expect to see Matt Dupont back in the lineup after his injury. Kent Lewis categorised him as ‘day-to-day’ last weekend. Jordan Paddock is hovering around a return, as is Teagan Waugh. Assuming Paddock is healthy, the Kings will have to make a choice on defence, to either play 6 and sit 1, or play 7 and sit a forward.
You know they’ve probably talked about it. The shutout by the Kings on their home ice last season on their teddy bear toss game. A little bit of a miscommunication after the game lead to the Kings helping clean up the bears. It earned them a nice round of applause from the fans who had stayed to the end of the game. Opposing teams always get up for these sorts of games, and with the recent history between the two teams, you know that’s the case here.
Victoria is 1-1 in December, with a loss to Langley last weekend, following a win in Cowichan. The triplets were held off the scoresheet in the loss to Langley, and that seems to be the key. So much of their powerplay and general offence runs through three of the smaller players in the league. The book on playing them should be simple, big body vs small body = physical hits. But give them credit, they’re excellent players who continually put up point per game seasons against guys much bigger than them. They’re not 1-2-3 in team scoring for no reason!
In net, two very good goaltenders. Michael Stiliadis and Brady Rouleau have been sharing duties this year with Victoria. Rouleau, the former Capital, has started both games this year. He won on their home opener, and then got pulled in October after giving up 2 on 7 shots (both to Stephen Hiff), and Michael Stiliadis played the rest of the game.
On the show this week, we’ll take a straw poll with some of the players and fans on who might score the Teddy Bear Toss goal, as well as speak with Teagan Waugh on his injury, and Stephen Hiff on his hot form. In the 2nd intermission, the BCHL This Week features Dan Marshall talking with Hadi Abassi, the new part-owner of the Clippers, and Noah Henry again on his commitment to Union College.
Derek Bachynski and a player will join us after 60 or so minutes as well to breakdown the game, and preview the Kings mainland road trip to Surrey/Coquitlam/Langley next weekend.
