By Chester

Time to get out the brooms; the Salmon Kings are a sweeping machine.  The Fish, who returned home last week for a 3-game set with Phoenix, swept a dramatic and heated series against a very pesky Roadrunners team.  It took the Salmon Kings three straight overtime victories led by five goals from the Goldie brothers to get their third consecutive series sweep on home ice, and improve their home record to an ECHL leading 10-1-0. The series wrapped up on Friday night with a character win; the Salmon scored two goals in the final four minutes of the third period to erase a 2-goal deficit and went on to win 5-4 in OT in front of the largest crowd of the season (5,810).  Ash Goldie scored both the tying and game-winning goal.

With the three wins, the Salmon Kings improve their overall record to 14-5-0 and increase their West Division lead over the 2nd place Alaska Aces (10-7-1) to seven points.  Phoenix dropped to 6-9-3 on the season.

After a heated and emotional series against Phoenix in Victoria where the ‘blood flowed line wine’ in game-1, the Salmon Kings will see the Roadrunners yet again this week for a 2-game set in Phoenix on Friday and Saturday.  The Salmon, who are .500 on the road (4-4-0), will be in for a tough ride against a Phoenix team that refuses to go away.  Expect to see a 1-1 split in Phoenix.

Who to watch for this week:

When the entire team is hot and everybody is pulling their weight, it’s hard to single anybody out.  Behind the Goldie brothers, the scoring has been extremely balanced throughout the lineup.  Aside from the Goldie’s, expect some more scoring from the other Salmon Kings brother tandem of Jordan and Derek Krestanovich, who have heated up in the last five games after a slow start.  After a (rare) shaky start from Ellis in game-3 against Phoenix (3 goals on 9 shots), expect him to bounce back on Friday and shut down the Roadrunners offense.

Notes:

-Salmon Kings goaltender Julien Ellis left in the first period of game-3 with an apparent right wrist injury, but has since been cleared by doctors and will be available this week.
-In their first three seasons, the Salmon Kings swept a total of two series; so far this season (4th) they have swept three.
-Last season, their best so far, it took the Salmon Kings until December 30th to tally their 10th win of the season; by December 1st this season they already have 14 wins.

Transactions:

Dec. 1 – Forward Ryan Wade was placed on the 3-day IR, but is expected to be available for Friday’s game in Phoenix.

Nov. 28 – Defensemen Matt Kelly and Daniel Rahimi were sent to Victoria from the Manitoba Moose to bolster the Salmon Kings blue-line.

Discuss it Down On The Farm!