B.C. Division, Game Recap

Giants Split Weekday Back to Back Versus Cougars

Written by Adam Kierszenblat on

The Vancouver Giants split their weekday back to back versus the Prince George Cougars. Overall, the Giants did hold the scoreboard advantage outscoring the Cougars five to four over the two games. Here is a breakdown from the back to back.

Giants- 0 versus Cougars- 1

On Tuesday night, The Giants fell 1-0 to the Cougars in a game overshadowed by injuries. Vancouver was missing Justin Sourdif, Zack Ostapchuck, and Justin Lies. Despite losing three of their top forwards, the Giants fought hard to the end but came up just short.

The game was a goaltending battle as Will Gurski, and Tyler Brennan battled it out. Unfortunately for Gurski, Connor Bowie was able to beat him with a power-play goal in the second. Regardless, his 23 save effort needs to be commended as he kept the Giants in the game, especially in the first period.

This was also the first game for newly acquired Evan Toth and Alex Cotton. Both played well, and each registered at least one shot on goal. It will take some time to get fully integrated into the system, but their first game review was positive.

Overall, the Giants did play well. They were the better team in the faceoff dot and got better as the game wore on. Sometimes, teams run into hot goalies, and that is exactly what happened on Tuesday night. Regardless, they should be proud of the way they played.

Three Stars for the Giants

Will Gurski- 23 saves on 24 shots

Tanner Brown- 4 shots

Ty Thorpe- 3 shots, 15/31 on faceoffs

Giants- 5 versus Cougars- 3

The Giants got a little bit of a boost as Justin Sourdif returned for game two of the back-to-back. His three-assist helped lead Vancouver to a 5-3 victory and improve their record versus Prince George to three and one. The power play was clicking, the penalty kill was great, and Jesper Vikman held down the fort as the Giants captured their seventh win of the season.

The Giants got three goals on the power play, with two coming from Adam Hall. Hall has been a critical part of Vancouver’s offence and leads the team with seven goals. The Giants also got goals from Ty Halaburda, Alex Cotton and Connor Horning. This was Cotton’s first goal with the Giants in just his second game since being acquired.

This was a nice bounce-back game for the Giants. They played hard, and their top players came through in the end. More importantly, the power play is starting to get hot and produced three of the five goals tonight. Vancouver is finally finding their rhythm, which is bad news for the rest of the Western Conference.

Three Stars for the Giants

Adam Hall- 2 goals, 1 assist, +1, 5 shots

Justin Sourdif- 3 assists, +2, 2 shots, 8/17 on faceoffs

Alex Cotton- 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 6 shots, 1/1 on faceoffs

Next Game

The Giants continue their busy schedule with a stop in Kamloops on Friday night. The Blazers are one of the hottest teams in the WHL, so Vancouver will need to find a way to slow down their offence. It will be a tough test but should be exciting as the top two teams in the BC Division do battle.