Rik Fedyck

Giants get past Broncos after lengthy shootout

The Vancouver Giants responded well on Saturday night after a disappointing 6-0 loss to Kamloops the night prior with a 4-3 shootout win over Swift Current.

After going 3-3-0-0 on their East Division trip, the Giants were surely happy to be home at the Langley Events Centre to face a Broncos team that has been having struggles of its own.

The contest did not have the best of starts for the home team, despite the Giants looking good offensively. Broncos leading scorer Ben King capitalized on a misplay with the puck from Trent Miner and was able to bank one in off of Miner from behind the goal line to make it 1-0 going into the second period.

Vancouver came out flying to start the middle frame as it only took 1:18 to even things up at one. Bowen Byram, who was dominant with the puck all night, was able to wrist a seeing-eye shot from the point that Broncos goaltender Reece Klassen lost in all the net-front traffic. The goal was Byram’s second of the season since being returned from the Colorado Avalanche two games into the Giants’ season.

“It was a good response from last night,” Giants head coach Michael Dyck said about his team’s game following a loss.

“It’s the kind of team (Broncos) that are capable of beating anyone. They did it with Calgary and they almost did it with Kelowna. We played well for the most part. We played on our toes. I thought we deserved the win.”

Newcomer Cole Shepard, who finally made his anticipated WHL debut after offseason hip surgery, gave the Giants their first lead of the hockey game with a highly skilled goal that was his first in the WHL.

The younger of the two Shepards exceeded expectations in his debut, including his own coach’s.

“I thought he was better than I thought he would be.” said Dyck. “I thought, with the amount of time that he’s had off, that he would have more rust.”

Shepard, of course, forwent a scholarship at Harvard to sign with the Giants this summer.

photo – Rik Fedyck

He is the extra bit of skill the Giants have been missing to start the year and looks to be in mid-season form already, despite having not played since last year’s BCHL playoffs.

“At the start, just kind of getting back into the groove and the pace of the Western league coming from Junior A, so I felt a little bit rusty but felt good after a couple of shifts,” Shepard said on playing for the first time since April.

He also added a goal in the shootout to cap off a memorable debut.

Vancouver’s lead lasted about five minutes before Swift Current had a first goal of their own when Finnish import defenceman Kasper Puutio potted the first of his young WHL career with 11.8 seconds left in the frame. He was the first overall pick in the 2019 CHL Import Draft.

The Giants had yet another fast start out of the gate when Tristen Nielsen scored a textbook Tristen Nielsen goal by driving hard to the dirty areas and scoring in tight for his seventh of the season.

“His energy, his physical play. He’s a dangerous guy around the net and he’s fast. I think if he hit the net about 70% more of the time, you’d probably see another five or six goals. He just creates so much with his energy and his speed,” Dyck said about Nielsen’s good start to the 2019-20 season.

Swift Current once again answered in a quick manner with a goal Miner surely would like to have back. Broncos captain Ethan Regnier snapped a shot off the rush from the top of the circle that beat Miner clean to even things back up at three and eventually sent the game to overtime.

Vancouver killed off a late Alex Kannok-Leipert penalty that carried over for a part of overtime.

The Giants’ first game of the season that needed extra time went even longer, as the shootout needed nine rounds to decide the game. Import forward Sergei Alkhimov scored the shootout winner and Trent Miner stood tall with the game on the line multiple times. The Giants improved to 7-6-0-0 on the season.

photo – Rik Fedyck

The three-in-three weekend concludes on Sunday afternoon at 4pm when the division rival Victoria Royals come to town for the teams’ first meeting of the season.

 

 

 

 

Giant Thoughts…Vancouver was without Justin Sourdif after he was injured on Friday in Kamloops. Coach Dyck had no update post game on the extent or timeline of the injury….Kaleb Bulych and his brother Aiden faced off for the first time in the WHL. The younger Aiden finished with a +2.