Going into the break, the Vancouver Giants have had their best start in years putting together a record of 22-8-2-0 and a convincing lead in the B.C. Division. 20-year-old forward Davis Koch led the team with 31 points in 32 games and 2019 NHL Draft prospect Bowen Byram being third on the team with 27 points in 32 games.
The Giants entered the second half of the WHL season on a six-game road trip through the Central Division as a result of the World Juniors being hosted by Vancouver and Victoria.
Vancouver also added 20-year-old forward Jared Legien from Yorkton of the SJHL, having previously made stops in Kootenay, Regina, and Victoria.
.@WHLGiants bringing in overage F Jared Legien. Vancouver has been playing one 20-year-old short, with D Matt Barberis (undisclosed injury) sidelined the past 10 games. Vancouver would have a period to decide on which three 20s to keep if a Barberis return gave them four.
— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) December 27, 2018
The road trip started strong in Red Deer with a 6-0 win against the Rebels (20-10-2-0) in their first match up of the season. After a scoreless first period, Alex Kannok-Leipert opened the scoring with Legien getting his first of three points in his first game as a Giant. Davis Koch potted his tenth of the year to give them a 2-0 lead after two. The G-Men then exploded for four goals in the third from Jared Legien (1), Jared Dmytriw (8), Justin Sourdif (7), Tristen Nielsen (4). David Tendeck made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season and fifth of his WHL career.
Two days later the Giants travelled to Calgary for an afternoon game against the Hitmen (14-16-3-1) in a game that featured former Giant James Malm playing his first game against his old club. The Giants didn’t fare as well dropping a 4-0 decision where a clearly motivated James Malm put up four assists and Vancouver’s David Tendeck stopping 39 shots with no offensive help from his team.
In the team’s first game of 2019, Vancouver dropped their second straight in a 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings (20-12-4-3) to reach the half way point of their road swing. After being down 2-0 going into the second, the Giants cut the lead in half with the goal coming courtesy of Brayden Watts (8) from Bowen Byram and Dylan Plouffe. Edmonton added their insurance goal just 18 seconds later to solidify the win.
Tomorrow the Giants (23-10-2-0) look to get back on track as they take on the Medicine Hat Tigers (20-15-1-2) who they have been successful against in past years going 5-1-0-0 in their last six matchups. The Tigers are on a three game win streak after sweeping last weekend with wins over Kootenay, Victoria, and Lethbridge as well as having won eight of eleven games in the month of December.
