Brett Cullen

Giants hold off Cougars to win season opener

For the second consecutive year, the Vancouver Giants start their season 1-0.

The 2019-20 season got off to a fast-paced start for both the Cougars and Giants.

The Cougars, who were clearly motivated and buzzing during their home opener, held sustained pressure for the first few minutes while the Giants kept pace.

“I thought we came out with a really good start,” said Giants associate coach Jamie Heward following the win. “That was probably the best indication that we were ready to play. I thought our first ten minutes were very good, very dominating.”

The game did not see its first whistle until 4:48 into the period when Tristen Nielsen scored the Giants’ first goal of the new season from behind the goal line, thanks to a friendly bounce off of Cougars goaltender Taylor Gauthier’s skate.

Owen Hardy drew the primary assist as a result of his patented strong forecheck, having been the first man on the puck.

Seth Bafaro tallied the Giants’ first power-play goal of the season at the 15:20 mark off of a pass from Dylan Plouffe — his second point of the period — and extended Vancouver’s lead to two.

photo – Brett Cullen

Prince George earned the first goal of their campaign in a rather unorthodox fashion.

With Giants defenceman Kaleb Bulych off for cross-checking, the Cougars iced three defencemen for their powerplay, whereas teams usually go with a forward-heavy unit for the man advantage.

The bold strategy paid off when Chicago Blackhawks prospect Cole Moberg took a beautiful no-look backhand pass from Josh Maser and made no mistake, cutting the lead in half heading into the middle frame.

“It depends on how offensive your guys are….we could do it,” Heward said jokingly, regarding the three defencemen power-play set up. “It depends on what you have up front, and if you’re a young and inexperienced team and you have a veteran guy back there that can handle it, then it’s not a bad thing.”

In the second period, Vancouver came out to a decent start that saw them open the scoring around the halfway point thanks to a goal from sophomore forward Lukas Svejkovsky.

photo – Brett Cullen

The last ten or so minutes were not the usual successful Giants hockey, in part due to penalty trouble that included four of their seven minors on the night. The Giants gave up two quick goals in the closing minutes of the period. Both came off the stick of 2001-born Tyson Upper who had a nose for the net on this night.

On the special teams side, the Giants won the battle despite the penalties, having had a hard time staying out of the penalty box in the preseason as well.

But as per usual, Vancouver was successful in not letting it change their game.

“They’re big in this league,” Heward said regarding special teams, after Vancouver went 2-for-3 on the powerplay and 6-for-7 on the penalty kill. “You need to have special teams on your side if you’re going to be successful. It was a big reason we were successful last year. They’ll win or lose you hockey games and win or lose you series in the playoffs.”

The eventual game-winning goal came off the stick of 2020 NHL Entry Draft prospect Justin Sourdif who made a great individual effort from behind his own net, going end-to-end for a highlight reel marker. Goaltender Trent Miner had the lone assist on the goal.

Newcomer Jackson Shepard also scored his first goal as a Vancouver Giant into an empty net to seal the team’s first win of the 2019-20 season.

Giant Thoughts…Vancouver’s fourth line consisted of two defensemen in Nic Draffin and Tanner Brown with 16-year-old Zack Ostapchuk between them. The trio played very well for the ice they were given and even had a shift in the final two minutes of a one-goal game…Friday night marked just the sixth time in the 19 year history of the franchise that the Giants started their WHL season on the road…These two teams reacquaint themselves on Saturday for the back end of this weekend’s back-to-back at 7 pm.