Hockey is all about bounces. Over the course of a 72 game season, mistakes are bound to happen, and the good teams find a way to make you pay when they are made. That, in essence is what happened last night to the Prince George Cougars. For the most part they played a strong, hard-nosed game, but when they did make mistakes, the Victoria Royals made them pay. Now tonight, in the rematch at CN Centre the Cougars will look to minimize their mistakes and inch closer to eighth with a bounce-back victory.

OVERVIEW:

Dave Lowry’s Victoria Royals showed last night just why they are among the elite and feared teams in the Western Conference. They waited in the weeds and took advantage of the Cougars mistakes when they were made. Overall the Royals are 9-1 in their last 10 games and are still comfortably in third place in the West with a record of 44-17-1-3.

WHO’S UP FRONT:

When you think about the elite goal-scorers in the WHL it’s quite possible that Victoria’s Austin Carroll goes largely ignored in those discussions. You know what? Much like the entire Royals team, I’m sure that Carroll almost prefers to fly under the radar without detection. Carroll leads the Royals with 33 goals, and once again converted for his club in last night’s game off a two-on-zero rush with Logan Nelson. Carroll has more than doubled his goal total from a season ago, and could reach the 40-goal plateau this season with a few more big games.

WHO’S ON D:

Since joining the Victoria Royals at the WHL trade deadline, 19-year-old defenceman Travis Brown has not disappointed. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect has 13 points in 21 games, and has four goals in that span. His biggest goal may have come last night during a 3-3 tie late in the third period. Brown is a great two-way defenceman with an offensive knack. He and Joe Hicketts were a strong pairing for Dave Lowry, and look for them to put forth another strong effort here tonight.

WHO’S IN GOAL:

With the win last night, Patrik Polivka improved his career record to 9-0 against the Prince George Cougars. Does that warrant another start for him tonight? Or does Coleman Vollrath get the nod in the second-half of the double header. Vollrath leads the WHL with a .930 save percentage and is 20-6-1-1 this season.

X-FACTOR:

With the Royals position in the standings all but sealed up, their biggest hurdle right now is finding the necessary motivation. The Royals have already earned a split this weekend in Prince George, and most teams this season would walk away content with that fact. Tonight it will be important for the Royals to keep their intensity up, and not settle for just a split.

OVERVIEW:

Mark Holick’s Prince George Cougars come into tonight’s game still trailing the eighth placed Tri-City Americans by two points in the Western Conference playoff race. With a record of 2-7-1-0 in their last 10 games, the Cougars have hit a bit of a rough patch. Granted their schedule hasn’t exactly been favorable, but if the Cougars wish to earn a birth into the post-season, they are going to have to string together some wins here in their final five games of the season. Tonight ‘s game is as close to a ‘must-win’ as they will ever have this season.

WHO’S UP FRONT:

With two goals in last night’s game, 20-year-old forward Todd Fiddler surpassed his previous season high for goals in a season (which was 42). Now with 44 goals and five games remaining, it’s certainly a legitimate possibility that Fiddler could get 50 goals or more, depending on how things shake up over the final five games. Fiddler did all he could to get the Cougars the win last night, and look for him to put forth a similar effort here tonight.

WHO’S ON D:

Last night was an emphatic reminder about how quickly the tide of a game can change. No defenceman felt that more than Cougars second-year defenceman Joe Carvalho. Through 55 minutes, Carvalho was undoubtedly the Cougars top performing defenceman. He was aggressive, quick, and put himself in the right position almost always. Unfortunately it was a Carvalho miscue late in the third that resulted in the Travis Brown scoring chance, and eventual winning goal. The important thing here is for Carvalho to shrug it off and continue developing the positives in his game. If he can do that, he is more than capable of having another notably positive impact on his team’s performance here tonight.

WHO’S IN GOAL:

With five games left, the time is now for one of the three eligible Cougars goaltenders to deliver a first-star performance. Say what you will about defensive miscues in last night’s game, sometimes the goaltender needs to bail out his defencemen, and last night Polivka did that for Victoria, and Beukeboom did not do that for Prince George. Tonight it’s likely that Ty Edmonds will get the nod in the rematch. Edmonds has shown this season a number of times that he is capable of delivering that type of outing. Never have the Cougars needed their goaltender more than they do tonight.

X-FACTOR:

See above.