Rik Fedyck

2019 Playoff Preview: 1BC) Vancouver Giants vs. 2BC) Victoria Royals

Article collaboration by Stephen Hawco (@stephenhawco7) and Ryan Sinclair (@RyanSinVic).
2017-18 Playoff Matchup

Last year’s first round playoff battle between the Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals was epic. The series featured star power the likes of Tyler Benson, Ty Ronning and Matthew Phillips. Victoria held off the Giants in an intense series that went the full seven games. Game 7 came down to a score of 4-3 for Victoria and true to the entire series, momentum swung back and forth in the game, with the result coming down to the final few seconds.

Bowen Byram (photo-Brian Liesse)
The two teams punched and counter-punched, alternating wins until the final two games where Victoria was able to steal the series win with back-to-back victories.
2018-19 Head-To-Head
Vancouver 6-2-1-1
Victoria 4-4-2-0
The season series between these two rivals was a very close one. Of the 10 matchups between them this season, six of those contests were decided by just one goal. As well, four of the contests had to go to extra time, with three games being decided in overtime and one in shootout. Home ice was definitely advantage this season as seven out of 10 games were won by the home team.
Notables in the season series:
Davis Koch: 3g, 11a in 10games
Milos Roman: 5g; 3a in 10games
Bowen Byram: 3g; 5a in 10games
D-Jay Jerome: 5g, 2a in 10games
1st Round Recap

Vancouver: The Vancouver Giants had to get through the Seattle Thunderbirds to get themselves in the position they are now in. The series lasted six games in which the Thunderbirds gave the Giants just about all they could handle. Vancouver’s skill ended up powering them past Seattle. The Giants ran into one of the hottest teams going into the playoffs, not making it your average first seed versus the second wild card match up. The Giants were led in scoring by overage forward Koch who has 10 points (1G, 9A) in the six games, which is tied for first in WHL playoff scoring. Byram (eight points in six games) and Dylan Plouffe (seven points in six games) sit second and third in WHL playoff scoring for defencemen, respectively. 19-year-old Jadon Joseph is also currently tied for first in goals in the playoffs with six in six games.

Dylan Plouffe (Andy Devlin)

Victoria: The Victoria Royals battled the Kamloops Blazers in the first round in a physical matchup. Kamloops came into the series after a three-week tear to just make the playoffs. Once there, Kamloops gave everything but came up a little short in a series that saw a little of everything. From big saves to overtime winners to suspensions, the divisional rivals played an intense series that ended with the Royals the winners in six games. Victoria was led offensively by import forward Phillip Schultz who had nine points (2g, 2a) over the six games. The performance by the Danish forward was enough to earn him a nod as second star honours for the first round of the 2019 WHL Playoffs. Special teams continued to be middle of the pack for Victoria, with their power play going 6-for-26 (23.1%) in the first round, while the club’s penalty killing was 76.5% with one short-handed goal.

Phillip Schultz (photo-Keith Dwiggins/Portland Winterhawks)
Storylines To Watch
Vancouver
-Whose crease is it?
Giants goaltenders David Tendeck and Trent Miner split the goaltending duties in round one with both earning two wins in three games against Seattle. Vancouver has been running a 1A and 1B style of rotation for the two netminders with Tendeck getting into 38 games, earning a 24-10-2-1 record with a 2.48 GAA, a .911 save percentage and four shutouts. Miner, 17-years-old, got into 32 games compiling a record of 24-5-1-1 with a 1.98 GAA, a .924 save percentage and three shutouts.
-Need the penalty kill back
The second ranked penalty kill in the regular season had a tough first round series, with a success rate of just 75%, which sits 12th out of the 16 playoff teams. The penalty kill sat at an 84.9% success rate over the 68 game season, only behind Prince Albert, who had exactly 2% success with 86.9%. The Giants’ penalty killing unit needs to get back where it was in the regular season against a Royals team that has had a hard time getting the power play to click all season, sitting in 21st out of 22 with a 15.9% to go with a slightly better 23.1% in playoffs, good enough for eighth in the playoffs.

Victoria

Trent Miner (photo – Rik Fedyck)
New Heroes
– In the absence of regular season leading scoring Kaid Oliver (injury) and later Kody McDonald (suspension), forwards the likes Schultz, Dino Kambeitz, Carson Miller and Brandon Culter filled the void in round one. Victoria needs these players to continue to provide timely goals to help power the offence.
Brickhouse
Griffen Outhouse played every minute of round one for Victoria and looks to be locked-in. While he made many game-saving stops in the opening round, the netminder was not called upon to stand on his head and steal a game. Outhouse is very capable on putting on an unreal performance at any time and may still have his best game to come in these playoffs.

Injuries-

Mitchell Prowse (photo-Chris Mast)
Royals fans know all to well how injuries can decimate a playoff run. Round one had it’s share of injuries, with Mitchell Prowse, Jameson Murray, Tarun Fizer, Jake Kustra, and Matthew Smith all missing some action. It was no coincidence that Victoria was finally able to win back-to-back games to end the series with
Kamloops once Prowse returned to duty for those games. The native of Kelowna BC was a plus-five in three games played in round one. Overall, Victoria looks to be healthy for round two, which is surprising after the physical battle versus Kamloops.
How They Match Up

Vancouver: The Giants have a very complete game as a team – a big part of their success this season. They sat top four in both special teams, as well as allowed the third least amount of goals in the WHL. Byram, Alex Kannok-Leipert, and Plouffe have led one of the best defences in the league and will be counted on to continue their success throughout this second round match up. The offense was buzzing the whole series against Seattle, only scoring less than three goals in a game once. The Giants will also be looking to get back one of the best freshmen in the WHL this past season in Justin Sourdif. The Surrey, B.C. native missed five of the six first round games due to an undisclosed injury as a result of a cross check from Jake Lee, who was suspended two games for the incident. Sourdif had 23 goals and 23 assists, the most out of all the 16-year-olds in the league.

Justin Sourdif (photo-Chris Relke)
Victoria: Victoria plays a fundamental game and when executed they have success. Playing smart with the puck, forcing turnovers and converting on the power play leads to positive results for the Royals. The club’s commitment is never in doubt and their coaching staff always have them ready to play a full 60 minutes. Head coach Dan Price tends to go with the hot hand, so any player contributing offensively while still
playing their defensive part will get the ice-time.

The Royals can offer many looks for their lineup and therefore can be hard to plan for. Focus on shutting down Schultz? Well here comes Kambeitz with five goals in round one. Put the attention on Kambeitz, Culter stepped up with three markers in the opening round. Schultz said it best after his four points in Game 5 of the first round, “It was not only me tonight, it was the whole team. It changes every game who will be the hero.”

Brandon Cutler (Photo: Jay Wallace)
In what is expected to be a close series, a key for Victoria will be to maximize on opportunities while being disciplined. “Special teams are very important,” said Price. “A series like this, that I think will be very hard fought, the more you can stay on the positive side of that ledger with power plays, the better off you are. That will be a big focus, not just the power play and penalty killing but also the discipline to try to stay five on five or better.”
Price added, “There isn’t going to be much ice. Every time we played Vancouver so far this year, it’s been very tight checking, very physical and very well structured. We know we’re going to have to claw and scratch and fight for every inch of ice.”
DUBNetwork Prediction: Vancouver in six games.