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A breakdown of the Victoria-Portland WHL semifinal series

A category-by-category breakdown of the Victoria-Portland Western Conference semifinal series: FORWARDS The Winterhawks forwards are small but crafty, potent and loaded.
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Victoria Royals coach Dave Lowry puts the players through drills at practice at the Q Centre in the West Shore.

A category-by-category breakdown of the Victoria-Portland Western Conference semifinal series:

FORWARDS

The Winterhawks forwards are small but crafty, potent and loaded. They scored by far the most goals in the WHL regular season, averaging more than 4.5 a game. They then put up 19 in a four-game sweep of the seventh-seed Vancouver Giants in the first round of the playoffs. The Winterhawks cast includes WHL second-leading scorer and second-round Winnipeg Jets draft pick Nic Petan, league third-leading scorer and Columbus Blue Jackets-signed Oliver Bjorkstrand, Flyers-prospect Taylor Leier, Nashville third-round pick Brendan Leipsic and the 2014 NHL draft-ranked trio of Chase De Leo, Alex Schoenborn, Keegan Iverson.

The top players are stepping up with Leipsic recording five goals and nine points against Vancouver in the opening round, Bjorkstrand four goals and eight points, and Leier and Petan four points each.

The Royals, meanwhile, score by committee with seven players recording four or more points in the first-round playoff sweep of Spokane. Ben Walker, Austin Carroll and Logan Nelson each had three goals against the Chiefs.

Advantage: Portland.

DEFENCE

The stingy Royals allowed the second-fewest goals in the WHL during the regular season and then held Spokane to seven in four games in the first round of the playoffs. Victoria has a useful unit that is balanced. They take care of the home end with Ryan Gagnon, Brett Cote and Flames-signed Keegan Kanzig, but can also move the puck up with Travis Brown, Joe Hicketts and Jordan Fransoo. Even the usually offensively-quiet Gagnon came up with two game-winning assists in the first-round sweep of Spokane as the Royals defence contributed 13 points in four games.

But Portland again shines bright — what’s new? — with two primo top-10 NHL draft pick blue-liners in Derrick Pouliot and Mathew Dumba. They are both quick on the rush and had six and four points, respectively, in the opening-round sweep of the Giants. Throw in Canucks-prospect Anton Cederholm and 20-year-old former Washington Capitals draft pick Garrett Haar.

Advantage: Even.

GOALTENDING

Goaltending is almost an afterthought with Portland, despite that Brendan Burke is a sixth-round draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Winterhawks acquired 20-year-old Corbin Boes mid-season from Lethbridge for veteran insurance.

The Royals had the best 1-2 tandem in the WHL during the regular season with Patrik Polivka (2.56 GAA) and Coleman Vollrath (2.29 GAA). The Czech-import Polivka was particularly sharp in the opening-round against Spokane, while Vollrath played all four regular-season games against Portland and was outstanding in holding the Winterhawks at bay with a 1.96 goals-against average. The odds are Royals head coach Dave Lowry continues tonight with Polivka’s winning hand to date in the post-season. Yet, Vollrath’s earlier performances against Portland give Lowry something intriguing to think about.

Advantage: Victoria.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Victoria’s power-play started slowly in the Spokane series but gained steam by the end with three goals on 18 chances. Portland, however, simply possesses far more high-end skill. The Winterhawks were only an OK six-of-27 against Vancouver in the first round but led the league in power-play goals in the regular season, connecting on 27.5 per cent of their opportunities.

Both penalty kill units are stellar as Victoria allowed Spokane just one goal in 15 power-play chances in the first round, while Portland allowed Vancouver one in 14.

Advantage: Portland.

INTANGIBLES

Portland has been to three consecutive WHL finals and knows this road well. Experience goes a long way.

On the Victoria side is that the Royals are hard to rattle on the road. They are an unflappable group, 28-9-1 including playoffs away from Blanshard Street, which blunts Portland’s large crowds and home-ice advantage.

Advantage: Even.