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.
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.
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.
Victoria
Injuries-
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.
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.”