The start of the preseason for the Western Conference of the WHL got going this morning with the Vancouver Giants battling the Seattle Thunderbirds.
As is often the case for the preseason, there were many familiar faces missing from both teams.
Vancouver scratched forwards James Malm, Owen Hardy, Yannik Valenti, Aidan Barfoot and Brayden Watts, defensemen Jacob Gendron, Dylan Plouffe, Kaleb Bulych and Browen Byram and goalies David Tendeck and Braedy Euerby.
Seattle sat forwards Conner Roulette, Noah Philp, Payton Mount, Matthew Wedman, Dillon Hamaliuk, Nolan Volcan, defensemen Simon Kubicek (still not officially signed), Tyrel Bauer, Reece Harsch and Jake Lee and goalie Liam Hughes.
Those in the lineup felt each other out with the end result being a 4-2 Vancouver Giants win, thanks to two goals each from forwards Milos Roman and Cyle McNabb. Two of Vancouver’s goals were on the power play, another was scored a single second after one had expired and the last one was pushed into an empty net.
Penalty trouble cost Seattle all game with Vancouver cashing in on two of their six power plays.
Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette lamented some of the decision making by his team.
“Obviously penalties didn’t help us. That’s something we are used to and we have to be better at that. Especially early in the game, we can’t have four kills in the first. It’s tough to get going.”
O’Dette was proud of his group as a whole though as they weather some injuries to their blue line. They dressed just five defensemen in the preseason game and those five committed a lot of the team’s penalties, further depleting the blue line at times.
“I thought the guys hung in there. We were already short staffed at the back end and we lost a couple forwards. Our guys battled back once we got out of penalty trouble.”
Graeme Bryks got things going for Seattle as he found some room and snapped a shot that Vancouver goalie Trent Miner stopped. Miner could not stop his second attempt though and it was swiftly 1-0 Seattle in the early going.
After Payton McIssac checked a Vancouver forward over his goalie and got mixed up with another Giant, he went off for a double minor and a two-minute power play for the Giants.
Milos Roman cashed in on the advantage, putting a rebound by Seattle goalie Cole Schwebius.
Seattle continued to get into penalty trouble in the first with most of them coming at the hands of their five dressed d-men. The Giants made them pay for that as Matt Barberis found Cyle McNabb in the slot and the 2000-born forward sniped a shot over Schwebius’ right shoulder.
That trouble continued in the second for Seattle and it cost them again. Just as a penalty on overage forward Mike MacLean expired, McNabb buried a shot off a diving and sliding pass from behind the net by Justin Sourdif. The goal was McNabb’s second of the game.
Vancouver head coach Michael Dyck obviously liked the goals McNabb provided, but feels there are other aspects of the game the 2000-born forward needs to work on.
“Cyle created some offense. If he wants to play here – continue to play – he can do that. As good as he was offensively, defensively he was on the end of a few plays that either ended up in our net or were good scoring opportunities,” Dyck said.
Midway through the game, Drew Sim came in for Miner. Miner stopped 13 of 14 before he was pulled. Sim went on to turn away 10 of 11.
The Thunderbirds slowly evened the shot total and applied some pressure on the Giants as the third period wore on.
They finally got something out of that pressure when Zack Andrusiak found Cade McNelly and the 2001-born defenseman powered a shot by Sim to cut the Giants lead to one at 3-2.
More pressure by Seattle created some stress for Vancouver, but ultimately Roman iced the game with a long empty-net goal.
Dyck liked the fact that his older guys were throwing their bodies on the line, blocking shots late to keep the pressure off their goalies.
“Those are good indicators of where we are going as a team. They are not doing that for themselves. Nobody likes blocking shots so they are doing it for the team. It’s a great message for those guys to send to our younger guys. That’s the way we want to play,” Dyck said.
Cole Schwebius stopped 21 of 24 in the Seattle loss.
The preseason is also an opportunity for teams to take a close look at their younger players and O’Dette and Dyck both walked away impressed by their young 15 and 16-year-olds.
O’Dette liked how both 2003-born dressed forwards Lucas Ciona and Kai Uchacz played.
“They were really good. They are mature kids for their age. The speed and size of this level did not seem to bother them. It shows out there that they are comfortable in traffic and different situations. These games are valuable for these guys to get their feet wet. Next time around when they are able to play in the regular season, they will be that much more ready.”
Dyck meanwhile liked what his young players did out there.
“I thought they played very well. I thought Justin (Sourdif) had a pretty strong game. I thought our 15-year-olds played well too. (Zack) Ostapchuk had a great game Sim had a great game, (Krz) Plummer had a great third period and was very physical. Joel Sexsmith had some good shifts (Tanner) Brown had some good shifts. On the back end it’s a much bigger transition than at forward and it was a good start for them.”
Both Vancouver and Seattle play again tomorrow with the Thunderbirds taking on the Everett Silvertips at 7pm and the Giants playing Spokane at 3pm.
