The Vancouver Giants came into their one and only meeting with the Kootenay Ice this season on Saturday night on a high note. They defeated high flying Portland Winterhawks twice in four days, including a stunning 1-0 shut out on Friday night against one of the leagues best offences.
They kept the good times going with a 4-3 overtime win over the Ice Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.
As mentioned, the Giants only play Kootenay once a year, with them hosting the game every second year. Unlike the Giants, the Ice come in on a low note, losing their past two games by a combined score of 14-4. Last night was not a good night for the Ice as they were defeated 10-3 by the high flying Victoria Royals.
1st Period
David Tendeck started his 3rd straight game in goal for the G-Men while 17-year-old Duncan McGovern started for the Ice. There were a couple good first chances for either team in the first five minutes of the game. Kootenay’s Cameron Hausinger had the best chance as he could not convert into a gaping net early on. Kootenay took the lead just over ten minutes into the first period. Marcus Kitchton of the Giants intercepted an attempted Ice pass in front, but that drew him away from the front of the net. That allowed Jonathan Smart to find Sebatian Streu out of the corner for a one timer that went past Tendeck’s pad. That was Streu’s fourth goal of the season, at 10:05, assists to Loschiavo and Smart. Then just over two minutes later, Kootenay doubled their advantage. The GMen turned over the puck in front and former prospect of the home team Kaeden Taphorn converted. It was Taphorn’s third of the season, unassisted at 11:21. It was 2-0 for the away team after 20 minutes at the LEC with goals from Hausinger and Kaeden Taphorn. Shots were 9-5 in favourite of the Giants after 1.
2nd Period
The second period started with the Giants needing a pick me up, down a pair to a team that lost to Victoria last night in the 10-3 score line. Just after the second powerplay of the period for the Giants expired, Kootenay brought the puck up the ice, and put an awkward fluttering puck on Tendeck. The Giants netminder mishandled it, and it went over his helmet and in. Cameron Hausinger got his 7th of the season on that tough play, assists went to Streu. Kootenay’s 3rd goal was scored at 6:50 of the second period. After a quiet break for both sides, Tyler Benson fired home a wrister from the left circle to make it a two-goal game. Ronning and Roman found Benson for his 12thth of the season at 13:12. Unlike the game so far, the Giants were in control of the shots with them leading 18-15.
3rd Period
Vancouver started the third with lots of urgency, getting a golden chance through Ronning five minutes in but McGovern made the tough save off a rebound. After the first half of the 3rd period, the Giants were still needing a goal to get back into it but could not buy one. With 6:56 to go in the third period, the Giants got one back through Brad Morrison. The puck went off an Ice defenceman behind the goal line and fell kindly to Morrison who patiently outwaited McGovern to score. It was his 10th of the season from Ronning and Milos Roman. Then with 4:02 to go, and a hardworking shift from Ty Ronning, the Giants tied the game at three. Kaleb Bulych collected the puck at centre and played it to Alex Kannok Leipert. Kannok Leipert skated into the Ice zone and found Ronning who faked the slapshot and sniped it home. This was Ronning’s 28th goal of the season in 31 games. At the end of 60, it was 3-3 and the game was headed to overtime. Shots were 33-18 in favour of Vancouver.
Overtime
There was only one stoppage in overtime, and that was a penalty to Kootenay. After a Giants timeout, a rebound from a Benson shot fell to Ronning who got his second of the game on the powerplay to win the game. The goal was at 4:42 of overtime, from Benson and Barberis, it was also Ronning’s 29th of the season.
Wrap up
The game finished 4-3 in overtime for the home team. Shots were 38-18 at the end for the hosts. Vancouver swept the 3 stars, Milos Roman was the third star, Benson was the second. Finally, the man with 2 goals and 2 assists on the night in Ty Ronning unanimously got the first star. David Tendeck stopped 15 of the 18 shots he faced in the win. While Duncan McGovern stopped 34 of 38 in the loss. Vancouver (15-13-2-2) host the Royals next Friday, while the Ice (13-17-2-0) host Calgary next Saturday.
