Tanner Brown has had a rather unorthodox road to his first WHL goal scored during this past Friday’s 3-1 Giants victory over the Portland Winterhawks, the club’s first since the 2017-18 season.
Originally drafted by Vancouver 24th overall in the second round of the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft as a hard-nosed defenceman, Brown scored his first Western Hockey League goal playing forward.
The 2002-born rover snapped a hard wrist shot high glove past St. Louis Blues prospect Joel Hofer. Thanks to a late goal by Portland, it was the game winner as well.
“Pretty happy I got my first goal but more happy on the outcome of the game,” Brown had to say postgame on Friday.
◾️◾️KEEP THE PUCK @browninator24 ◾️◾️ pic.twitter.com/ixgPeFGIp2
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 9, 2019
Currently in the midst of his first full WHL season, the Kelowna, BC, native also helped the Giants last season during injury struggles. He did not look out of place while skating in eight games, recording two assists while also being a “Black Ace” during Vancouver’s run to the WHL Final.
Giants head coach Michael Dyck has taken notice.
“He played well for us last year as a forward,” he added.
Brown joined the Giants after completing his midget season with the Okanagan Rockets of the BCMML where he had 21 points (6G, 15A) in 29 games to go along with 56 penalty minutes.
“We used him at times when we had some injuries; he’s versatile. For a young guy, that’s key because he can play both positions and it keeps him in the lineup,” Dyck finished, regarding the recently-turned 17-year-old.
The versatility has paid off so far in this 2019-20 season. Brown has appeared in all but one of the Giants’ 20 games this year, where he has an assist to go with his goal.
Brown plays a heavy game with a splash of skill that has been displayed, a lot of the time, on a line with fellow defenceman/forward Nic Draffin.
The main reason guys like Draffin and Brown are having to wait their turn on the blueline is because of the scouting successes of the Giants organization. Players like Bowen Byram, Dylan Plouffe, Kaleb Bulych, and current captain Alex Kannok Leipert are all homegrown and were big contributors on last year’s conference championship team.
Byram (COL) and Kannok Leipert (WSH) have of course been drafted. Meanwhile, Plouffe and Bulych have had their own invites to NHL camps.
Team captain Alex Kannok Leipert was nothing short of ecstatic for the young Brown.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” the Washington Capitals draft pick said about his teammate’s first goal. “To see one of your boys get their first one out of the way, it’s pretty exciting. Especially when you see his face, can just tell he’s lit up with joy, and everyone deserves that.”
His teammates all understand that the road to getting your first goal can be a frustrating, but Tanner Brown was all smiles after the game and summed up the night as a whole in a few words, which say it all for the youngster.
“It was awesome, I love it.”
Giant Thoughts….
Newly-acquired import forward Joona Kiviniemi has left the club for personal reasons and flew back to Finland on Sunday. After being acquired from Swift Current for Sergei Alkhimov and a sixth-round pick, he practiced on Wednesday and Thursday but did not suit up on Friday or Saturday….Giants goaltender Trent Miner was named WHL Goaltender of the Week after going 1-0-0-1 with a 0.96 goals against average and a .964 save percentage in two games against Portland….
What’s Next?
Vancouver (10-8-1-1) has home games on back-to-back nights this weekend when they first host the Prince George Cougars (4-13-0-2) on Saturday then take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes (13-5-0-3) in the two teams’ only matchup of the season on Sunday evening.
