Giants make fans sweat on Teddy Bear Toss night

Vancouver Giants fans had to wait 58 minutes and 41 seconds to let the teddies fly at the Pacific Coliseum Saturday night, as the Giants (21-6-2-0) defeated the Royals (13-12-1-0) 2-1 in overtime.

The Giants would have a slow start to the game being outshot 14-4 by the Royals after the first period. David Tendeck was the only bright spot in the period making some big saves to keep the game scoreless after one.

The second period would be all Giants as they spent most of the twenty minutes in Victoria’s end recording 17 shots to Victoria’s five. The Royals were able to survive two Giants power plays in the frame, with a big reason being Royals’ goaltender Griffen Outhouse who was easily the best player of the game Saturday.

The third period would finally see some offence. At the 13:29 mark, Royals forward Tarun Fizer one timed a puck past Tendeck to give the game its first goal.

A bit of a funny moment occurred after the goal as some fans seemed to think they were supposed to throw their bears after the first goal of the hockey game. This caused a bit of a delay as the arena staff got a small warm up for the real deal that later ensued.

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Note the “Hold the bears” on the jumbotron as fans threw their bears for a Victoria goal

At the 18:41 mark of the third period Bowen Byram, for the second straight year, gave the 9300+ fans what they had been waiting for all night:

Byram took a Jared Dmytriw feed from behind the net to finally beat Griffen Outhouse to make the teddies fly, becoming the first in Giants history to score multiple teddy bear goals. More importantly it tied the game up for the Giants late and helped send it into overtime.

Two minutes into the extra frame Dmytriw would take a breakaway feed from Kaleb Bulych and snap the game winner over Outhouse’s glove to give the Giants their seventh straight victory.

Three Stars

1st Star: Recording 36 saves in a losing effort, Victoria’s Griffen Outhouse.

2nd Star: With his second straight Teddy Bear Toss goal, Vancouver’s Bowen Byram.

3rd Star: With 25 saves and improving his record to 11-5-1, Vancouver’s David Tendeck.

News and Notes

  • Davis Koch extends his point streak to ten games with an assist on Byram’s tying goal. He now has 17 points in that span.
  • Bowen Byram extends his point streak to seven games with his Teddy Bear Toss goal and is now tied for the WHL lead in goals by a defenseman with Moose Jaw’s Josh Brook with nine on the year. He has ten points during those seven games.
  • Saturday night marks the Giants’ first overtime win of the season.