A Win! In Calgary! What?

Giants Snipe Hitmen
Vancouver 6 Calgary 3 (EN)

The Giants needed some puck luck. Got it. The Giants needed some goals. Got 6. The Giants needed to build off of last night’s momentum. Got that too. The Giants needed to not give up a quick goal. Check. The Giants needed their goalie to steal a game and hold them in there until they gained some momentum. Check-a-roony. The Giants also needed some of their young guys to step it up and contribute. They even got that. The Gs played a convincing tilt in Calgary, a place they usually struggle but after an almost forgettable Central Division road trip the Giants get the kind of game they can grow from and build on. They even got their special teams working for them. Part of me is not surprised at the win for when the situation looks lost that’s when the hockey gods reward good work. So – where was this team hiding? This is the squad that started the season. There were a few nice changes in this one as well – like putting Geertsen on the doorstep during the PP, um d’uh! Screening goalie with big guy is kind of S.O.P. Why we didn’t do that before now is beyond me.

Calgary opened the scoring in the last minute of the first period after Payton Lee held the fort for the majority of the opening frame. A really nice wrap-around goal from a very skilled player who will have the Canucks and the World Junior Canadian contingent drooling. Recent history would mean that the Giants would sag, drop off and the more skilled team would roll over them, but the hockey gods had a different idea. Matt Bellerive working below the goal-line threw the puck out front and off a player past Calgary’s back-up ‘tender with a mere 4 seconds left in the period. Dalton Sward had the only assist on the play. Effort. Check. Puck Luck. Check.

The Giants took the lead in the second, yes the lead. Jesse Roach scored his very first WHL goal in his brother’s old stomping grounds. Tyler Benson and Bellerive had the helpers. Jackson Houck followed that up with a PP marker about four minutes later. Carter Popoff and Mason Geertsen got the other points. Calgary bounced back off of Lee’s only poor play of the night, going out to play a puck and coughing it up in the process. The Gs took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission with a carryover penalty still in force. Josh Thrower scored his first goal of the season and first as a Giant since coming over from Tri-Cities early in the third on the PP. Benson made a great pass and as Thrower was being checked the puck went in off of him and past the Hitmen’s starter who came in after the Giants third goal. A young player contributing and puck luck in one play checks a few more boxes. Thomas Foster got the other helper. Cue Gage Ramsey who strips a Hitmen player of the puck, goes in all alone and scores his first WHL goal. Thank you hockey gods. Not taking anything away from the effort of the boys, but fortune was definitely smiling on them in this game after frowning for so long. That 6th overall Canucks draft pick found twine again as he was rolling hard tonight, but the Giants weathered the late onslaught and scored an empty netter to salt away the victory in the final minute. Bellerive gets his second of the night, assisted by Thomas Foster.

Team Notes: McKinstry, Ronning still out with injury. Kirichenko also injured currently. Holterhus, Baer and Bobylev scratched and Stukel and Roach back in. Giants break their 6 game losing streak. Three of their players score their first goals of the season and two of those score their very first Dub goals.

Fight Night: nada

Zebra Cage: Sean Raphael and Chris Schlenker … maybe I’m just happy about the win, but the reffing seemed to me to be consistent and balanced. So kudos.

The Giants were out shot 35-29, but Lee shut the door when he needed to and got his 7th win of the season. The Giants were good on both aspects of their special teams. The Gs went 2 for 3 on the PP and held the skilled Hitmen to 0 for 4. Some nice jump from the vets tonight with some good work from Bellerive, Sward and Houck, with an additional nod to Popoff. For those of us who were wondering where Benson had gone, like Waldo tonight he was found busily feeding the puck. His speed and passing tonight was notable. Geertsen in front of the net on the PP. Hands up all of you who didn’t think of that. Yeah I thought as much. Roach was playing a good power-forward kind of game tonight. Maybe he just needs minutes and opportunity to step up a level or two. If he can be dangerous it would help, as he is the kind of player we lack in the top six.

I was so happy to see Lee get the start and even happier to see him earn the first star, the reason his team was in this game and for him to get the win. Nothing against Porter, but Lee really needed this kind of start. I have to say that I am liking some of the small changes that Matt Erhart has made. The steps in Edmonton and then building on that effort for a convincing win tonight is a very positive move forward. The guys seem to be happy to refocus on driving the offensive zone and going to the net with the puck. In this one at least, gone was the fragility and the lack of confidence.

The boys have almost a full week to practice and for management to find a head coach before the team takes on the Winterhawks at the Coliseum on Friday. I’m looking forward to an exciting tilt, honours to Pat Quinn and a possibly rejuvenated squad with a positive outlook. Kudos goes to Bonner for not dragging his heels and pulling off the Band-Aid quickly. The puck drops at the Rink on Renfrew at 7:30pm PST as it usually does on Friday’s games.

Three Stars

1. Payton Lee
2. Jake Virtanen
3. Mason Geertsen

Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Lee for a bounce-back game, hanging in there and giving his team a chance to curry favour from the hockey gods, with hard work and great effort.