Game Day Preview: Royals @ Americans
Friday October 18, 2013
Victoria Royals (8-5-0-0 16 pts.) At Tri-City Americans (4-7-0-1 9 pts.)
Toyota Center, Kennewick, WA; 7:05 p.m.
Listen: NewsTalk 870; 6:45p.m.
Watch: WHL Live
Previous Game
Tri-City: 10/16/13 at Portland (1-4, Loss)
Victoria: 10/16/13 vs. Prince George (5-4, Win)
2013/14 Point Leaders
Victoria: Logan Nelson 8G-8A-16PT, Austin Carroll 7G-4A-11PT, Joe Hicketts 4G-5A-9PT, Brandon Magee 1G-8A-9PT
Tri-City: Brian Williams 8G-5A-13PT, Connor Rankin 5G-8A-13PT, Lucas Nickles 2G-4A-6PT, Phil Tot 3G-3A-6PT
Notes
After spending the bulk the 2013-14 season on the road, the Tri-City Americans open up a five-game homstand against the red hot Victoria Royals tonight at the Toyota Center. The Americans are looking to put a stop to Victoria’s current five-game winning streak that has vaulted them up the Western Conference standings. Historically the Americans have the upper hand on the Royals with a 20-9-0-1 record all-time including a 10-4-0-1 record on home ice against Victoria. This is the second meeting between these two teams in the 2013-14 season with the Royals picking up the 2-1 Victory against the Americans earlier this month on the Island.
Players to Watch
Victoria:
Logan Nelson: Coming into this game red hot is Logan Nelson, currently riding a six-game goal scoring streak. In these six games, Nelson has registered seven goals while adding four assists. Part of this six-game streak was October 6 against the Americans where he scored one goal to tie the game in the third period.
Brandon Fushimi: Fushimi is off to a great start in the 2013-14 season. After scoring just six goals in 61 games last year, the Thornton CO native is just one goal shy last years season total through 13 games. In the first matchup against the Tri-City Americans Fushimi tallied the winning goal in a 2-1 victory.
Patrik Polivka: Tonight’s game features a great goaltending matchup between two of the league’s top net minders. The first half of this battle is Polivka who has been the anchor in the team’s current five-game winning streak. In those games Polivka has allowed just eight goals including two shutouts.
Tri-City:
Eric Comrie: The second half of the goaltending duel is Eric Comrie who has not disappointed early in the season. On Wednesday, Comrie set a new career-high with 44 saves on the night keeping the Americans in it the entire game. The Tri-City net minder leads the league with 350 saves and also ranks in the top ten league wide in save percentage and goals against average ranking seventh and tenth respectively.
Phil Tot: Tot comes into tonight’s game on a current five-game point streak where he has tallied two goals and three assists. In Wednesday’s loss to the Winterhawks the Calgary, Alberta native produced the Americans only goal on a great individual effort, getting the Americans within a goal of Portland.
Beau McCue: McCue has been steady for the Americans this season currently tied for second on the team with five goals. When the Americans met Victoria earlier in the month the Colorado native was the only one to solve Polivka giving the Americans an early lead in the first period.
Game Notes
Wednesday Night Recap: The Americans suffered a 4-1 loss to the Portland Wintherhawks on the final game of the Americans two-game road swing. Tri-City got to within a goal of tying the Winterhawks in the third period but a late even strength goal followed by an empty netter gave Portland the 4-1 victory.
Home Sweet Home: After playing eight of its last ten games on the road, the Tri-City Americans are returning to the Toyota Center to open up a five-game home stand. The Americans are 2-2-0-0 on home ice this season and are currently riding a two-game winning streak in front of its home crowd.
Flying Out of the Gates: One of the biggest keys for the Americans this season has been the quality of its start. All-four of the team’s victories have come when registering the game’s first goal of the game. Tri-City is 0-5-0-1 in games it has trailed after either the first or second period.
The Puck Stops Here: This past Wednesday, Eric Comrie turned in a career-high 44 save effort on Wednesday night, keeping his team alive the entire game. The performance topped his previous career-high set on 11/17/12 where he made 42 saves against the Kelowna Rockets.
Against the BC Division: Tonight will be the Americans fifth matchup against a BC Division opponent. So far this season Tri-City has gone 2-2-0-0 against the division losing games to Prince George and Victoria before earning back-to-back victories against the Kamloops Blazers.
Next Game
Tri-City: vs. Portland 10/19/13
Victoria: at Spokane 10/19/13
