2005 – Playoffs kick off
The 2004-05 WHL season saw an abundance of next level skill due to the NHL going through a season-long lockout. Vancouver came into the playoffs as the third seed in the division with 76 points and were matched up against a Kelowna Rockets team that tied the top of the division with 104 points.
The Giants jumped out to a good start to the series, earning a 2-0 lead with second period goals from Triston Grant and Gilbert Brule. Later in the period, after the Rockets cut the lead in half, Vancouver took back their two-goal lead as Giants great Adam Courchaine scored his first of the postseason with three minutes remaining in the middle frame.
Kelowna fought their way back to even early on into the third but ultimately the Giants would hang on for the surprising Game 1 win off a goal from Conlan Seder 12:18 into the third period.
Marek Schwarz made 27 saves for the Giants in his WHL playoff debut while Kelowna’s Derek Yeomans stopped 20-of-24 shots he faced.
2006 – Cougars get a shutout of their own
After being blanked the night before by a score of 3-0, the Cougars came into Game 2 looking to bounce back.
Despite being doubled in shots by the Giants, Prince George found themselves on the right end of a shutout, winning 2-0 and taking a split back up north. Kalvin Sagert and Eric Hunter scored the goals for the Cougars.
Scott Bowles stood on his head for Prince George with a 39 save shutout while Dustin Slade stopped 18-of-20 shots for Vancouver.
2008 – Triple overtime thriller
Games 1 and 2 of this series both went in Vancouver’s favour with each game being decided by one goal.
Game 3 was no different…
The Giants started off strong, going up 2-0 with goals from Jonathan Blum and James Wright. The Bruins answered back just under three minutes later with a power-play marker from Brandon Campos eight minutes into the second period.
It wouldn’t be until the third period for the game to see its next goal, coming off the stick of Michal Repik to make it 3-1 Giants.
Chilliwack continued to show their lack of quit as they did throughout the series, scoring two goals of their own 2:24 apart to send this game to overtime…..s…
After over 59 minutes of extra hockey solved nothing, Craig Cunningham called game with 47 seconds remaining in the game’s sixth period to give his team a 3-0 series lead.
Giants goaltender Tyson Sexsmith stopped 49-of-52 shots while Chilliwack’s Mark Friesen stopped an impressive 61 shots.
2009 – Giants sweep Cougars
The Giants hung on the night prior in overtime to take a 3-0 series lead over Prince George so in Game 4, they were looking to close things out.
Four out of the five goals in this game came in the opening 20 minutes but it was the Cougars striking first.
Two minutes later Lance Bouma evened things up with his third goal in as many games.
This time it was the Cougars answering two minutes later off a goal from Marek Viedensky to give his team their second lead of the game.
Vancouver’s power play took over from that point, starting with the tying goal coming off the stick of Jonathan Blum in the last handful of minutes in the first period.
The eventual series winning goal came from Lance Bouma for his second of the night, sending the Giants to the second round.
Tyson Sexsmith stopped 26 shots for the Giants while Kevin Armstrong stopped 45-of-48 shots to end his season.
2011 – Giants drop playoff opener
The Giants met the Tri-City Americans in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, who finished 17 points ahead of Vancouver in the regular season standings.
In what was a low scoring affair to start the series, the Americans took Game 1 in overtime by a score of 2-1.
The lone Giants goal came from Brendan Rowinski while Tri-City got their goals from David Conrad and Carter Ashton.
Mark Segal had 44 saves for the Giants and Drew Owsley had a much lighter workload with 25 saves.
2014 – Winterhawks take series stranglehold
With Portland taking both games at home, the Giants were looking to find some momentum of their own as the series shifted to Vancouver for two games.
The powerhouse Winterhawks took a 4-0 lead before the game was even half over with, putting the underdog Giants seriously behind the 8-ball.
Vancouver got their first goal with 4:31 remaining in the second period off the stick of Alec Baer, his first career playoff goal.
The teams tied the third period 2-2 with Giants goals coming from Joel Hamilton and Trent Lofthouse but it was too little too late as Portland took Game 3 by a score of 6-3 and put Vancouver on the brink of elimination.
Brendan Burke stopped 25 shots for the Winterhawks while Payton Lee had 28 saves in the losing effort.
