Giancarlo Nadeau
B.C. Division, WHL Playoffs

Giants break hearts and records in six-game playoff triumph over Everett

Written by Giancarlo Nadeau on

The Vancouver Giants are moving on to the second round of the WHL playoffs thanks to a 6-3 triumph over the Everett Silvertips. Vancouver picked up victories in Games 1,4,5 and 6 to advance to the second round and beat the Silvertips in the playoffs for the second time in franchise history. 

Michael Dyck (VAN) and Dennis Williams (EVT) commend one another for a tremendous series. Photo: Robert Jay

The G-men have playoff experience with Everett dating back to the 2004 WHL Playoffs when the two clubs met in the second round. Vancouver beat Kamloops in five games to get to the second round but would end up losing in six games to Everett. That Giants’ team featured players like Mark Fistric (D), J.D Watt (F), Mitch Bartley (F), Gilbert Brule (F), Triston Grant (F), and Adam Courchaine (F). The two cross-border teams would go on to meet once more in the post-season in the third round of the 2006 WHL playoffs. Vancouver would advance to the fourth round with players like Milan Lucic (F), Tyson Sexsmith (G), and Brett Festerling (D) after a four-game sweep of the Silvertips. Vancouver’s most recent playoff round is the first round Vancouver has been part of since the 2018-19 WHL Championship series against the Prince Albert Raiders. That championship series is the most recent one to take place.

Vancouver’s (24-39-5-0, 53PTS) takedown over the Silvertips (45-13-5-5, 100PTS) is the first time in WHL history that an eighth seed has defeated a top seed in a first-round playoff series. A total of 47 points separated these two teams during the regular season. Many other records were set and broken throughout this series.

Game 1: Fabian Lysell picked up five assists on five goals in a 5-4 overtime defeat. The five assists were a new franchise single-game record.

Game 4: An 11-6 victory for Vancouver was supported by Giants Captain Zack Ostapchuk who matched a single-game franchise record with a 6-point performance (2 goals, 4 assists). 

Six points were last produced in a playoff game from a G-man on May 6, 2006, when Gilbert Brule scored three goals and snagged three assists against the Moose Jaw Warriors. 

Five points from those 11 goals were produced by Giants defenceman Alex Cotton who set a franchise record for Giants defencemen in a single game in the playoffs.

The eleven goals were last scored by a WHL team on March 29, 2013, when Portland took down Everett in Game 4 in the first round.

Game 5: Jesper Vikman stunned the Silvertips by stopping all 50 shots that were fired his way in a 3-0 victory for Vancouver. His shutout beat the previous record by a Giants goaltender of 32 saves and is also a WHL playoff record since the WHL first began tracking post-season stats in 1996. The previous playoff record held by a goaltender, not on the Giants was 45 and was set in 2002 by Nick Pannoni (Seattle) and matched in 2006 by Chet Pickard (Tri-City). Before Vikman’s shutout, Trent Miner was the most recent Giants goaltender to record a shutout stopping 15 shots in an April 5, 2019 meeting against Victoria.

Game 6: Vancouver wins 6-3 to advance to the second round and becomes the first-ever team to defeat a top seed in a first-round playoff series. This is the second time in franchise history that the Giants have knocked out Everett and the first time that they have done it in the first round and in six games.

Vancouver will now get ready to face the Kamloops Blazers who finished the regular season with a record of 48-17-3-0 and 99 points before knocking out Spokane in four games.

Game 1 of the second-round series is set for Friday in Kamloops at 7:00 p.m.