(Langley, BC) The Vancouver Giants (44-14-2-2) took on the BC Division rival Kamloops Blazers (23-31-5-2) for the second of three straight meetings between the two clubs, with the final meeting being in Kamloops on Wednesday. The Giants grabbed a weekend sweep after victories over Kelowna and Kamloops in three days.
Vancouver head coach Michael Dyck was overall happy with how they went into these three divisional games despite having the BC Division locked up.
“It’s three tough games against teams that are competing for a playoff spot, it would have been easy to look past these games with a lock on the division and not be ready to play but I thought we were ready for all three,” said Dyck.
Giants star Bowen Byram also liked how the team came out of this weekend.
“Three in threes aren’t easy especially with a little travel mixed in but I don’t think we played our best hockey this weekend so there’s areas to improve.” 2019 NHL top prospect Byram said about their three games in three days.
“They’re both real good hockey clubs (Kelowna and Kamloops), maybe a bit underrated throughout the league. Their records don’t show don’t quite show how actually good they are. They’re not easy to play against and I think we did a pretty good job this weekend but there can still be improvement,” Byram continued.
Despite both teams on the tail end of a three-in-three weekend, the pace of play was still at a high level, in part to Owen Hardy’s and Jadon Joseph’s physical play in the opening frame.
The Giants opened the scoring just before the half way point of the period with great break out pass up the middle from Bowen Byram up to Milos Roman who finished off a quick give and go play with rookie Justin Sourdif for the Calgary Flames prospect’s 26th of the season.
The visiting Blazers did not waste any time evening the game back up when rookie forward Jerzy Orchard snapped one glove side that seemed to handcuff David Tendeck to give himself his first career goal in the WHL.
Vancouver ran into a bit of penalty trouble in the last few minutes of the opening period, taking two minor penalties in thirty seconds. The Blazers made them pay for that when Brodi Stuart was able to wrist the puck into the back of the net as the last minute of play was being announced to give the Blazers the 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Tristen Nielsen and the Giants showed major push back after surrendering the lead in the final minutes of the first, when two minutes in, Nielsen found a gap between the two Blazer defenders and was able to beat Dylan Garand over his glove to tie the game at two, which stood until the third period.
Nielsen is currently on a three-game point streak and has been a big factor since being picked up from Calgary.
“He’s been very good for us, he plays in all situations, he scores some big goals and makes some big hits for us and creates a lot of energy, he’s a lightning in a bottle kinda guy,” Dyck said about the 18-year-old forward.
The power play was prominent for both teams in the final period with three of four goals coming on the man advantage. Things got started with Dylan Plouffe potting his sixth of the year off a Justin Sourdif feed to give the Giants their first lead of the night.
Sourdif had two assists tonight to give him six assists in three games this weekend and points in nine of his last ten games.
“Sometimes you forget he’s 16 years old the way he plays, he’s not only a good young player for us but he’s one of our top right wingers,” Dyck said when asked about what it’s like to have such a productive 16-year-old.
The lead only lasted about four minutes for the Giants when Brodi Stuart scored his second power-play goal of the night to knot things back up at three.
At the 17:02 mark, with Vancouver on the power play, Milos Roman took a Davis Koch feed in the slot to give him his second of the night to give the Giants the lead yet again.
The Calgary Flames prospect after tonight, had nine points in three games this weekend, including two four point games.
The leads for the home team seemed to get shorter and shorter with this one lasting 59 seconds before Blazers captain Jermaine Loewen tapped in a feed from Connor Zary with two minutes left in regulation to send this game off to overtime.
This Giants team showed why they are one of the best overtime teams in the league, taking just 29 seconds to put this game away when Byram sneaked in his fifth overtime winner of the season past Garand off the left wing to give Vancouver the weekend sweep.
Byram’s goal ties him with Kevin Connauton for the franchise record for goals in a season by a defenceman with 24.
“I think it’d be pretty cool, but i’m not too worried about the record, I just want to keep winning games.” Byram said when asked if goal number 25 will mean something.
Tonight’s win ties the Giants with the Everett Silvertips for first place in the Western Conference with six games remaining on the schedule and will be on the road for the next four games before coming back home for their last game at the LEC before playoffs on March 15 against Kelowna.
Giant Thoughts
- Bowen Byram has scored the winner in five out of the team’s seven overtime wins this season.
- Owen Hardy left the game in the third period and did not return after being on the receiving end of a big open ice hit. Coach Michael Dyck said “He took a heavy check, it’s more or less how things shake out in the next 24 hours.”
- Milos Roman is riding a nine-game point streak where he has 16 points (7G, 9A) in that span.
- Davis Koch has a 10-game point streak where he also has 16 points (5G, 11A).
- Forwards Evan Patrician and Brayden Watts are still out of the lineup but are expected to join the team for their upcoming three game swing in the US Division.
