Thursday 18 October 2012

Calgary at Victoria

The Calgary Hitmen play game two of a BC Division road trip tonight on Vancouver Island against the Victoria Royals.

Game time is 8:05 pm (MST) at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.  Husky Hitmen Hockey on Sportsnet 960 The Fan begins at 7:00 pm with a one hour pre-game show.  Guests include Hitmen Head Coach Mike Williamson, Hitmen defenceman Peter Kosterman and Royals Head Coach Dave Lowry.

Calgary is 7-1-1-1, tied for the Eastern Conference lead with the Prince Albert Raiders at 16 points.  They are coming off Tuesday's 53 shot 5-0 win in Prince George.  Both Cody Sylvester and Joey Kornelsen are expected back in the line-up after missing time with the flu.

Victoria is 7-4-0-0, second in the BC Division with 14 points.  The Royals haven't played since Saturday's 3-2 home ice win over the Kelowna Rockets.

Tonight's contest features a meeting of familiar faces as Hitmen forward Zane Jones (4g 5a) meets his former team for the first time since the September 15, 2012 trade that saw the Hitmen acquire Jones along with a conditional 6th round pick in 2013 in exchange for overage forward Alex Gogolev and a fourth round pick in 2013.  Gogolev currently leads the Royals in scoring with 13 points (3g 11a) in 11 games. 

It's also Calgary's first game against their former Head Coach in Dave Lowry.  Lowry spent four seasons on the Hitmen bench, the last as Head Coach from 2005-06 to 2008-09.

                                                Photo Credit: Jon Howe

STREAKIN':  Brooks Macek takes a career high 10 game point scoring streak into tonight's game for Calgary.  The 20-year-old has a point in ever game this season (6g 13a).  It's the second 10 game run of Macek's career also posting one with Tri-City in the 2009-10 season.  Cody Sylvester (3g), Brady Brassart (2g 2a) and Jayen Rissling (1g 1a) all have points in back-to-back games. 

LAST SEASON:  Calgary won both meetings with the Royals in 2011-12 outscoring Victoria by a combined 14-7.
-Jan. 3 in Victoria:  Hitmen 9 Royals 4.  Chase Clayton scored a hat trick while Cody Sylvester led the Hitmen with four points (1g 3a).
-Feb. 15 in Victoria:  Hitmen 5 Royals 3.  Brady Brassart and Joey Kornelsen both had 1g 1a.

TOP SCORERS:

Calgary
Brooks Macek 6g 13a 19pts, is also 3rd in WHL scoring race
Brady Brassart 8g 8a 14pts
Cody Sylvester 8g 2a 10pts

Victoria
Alex Gogolev 3g 10a 13pts, is also tied for 19th in WHL scoring race
Logan Nelson 3g 9a 12pts
Ben Walker 4g 4a 8pts

INJURY REPORT
Calgary
#19 Calder Brooks, F, upper body, 1 month
#12 Joey Kornelsen, F, illness, day-to-day

Victoria
#9 Mitch Deacon, F, upper body, 7-10 days
#2 Joe Hicketts, D, upper body, day-to-day
#11 Steven Hodges, F, lower body, day-to-day



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