Loaded up with turkey and all the fixings, and wearing their white jerseys for some reason, the Vancouver Giants were eager to slough off the holiday break and get back to work. They took the play to the Blazers early and gained an 2-0 advantage by the end of the first period. Milan Lucic tallied his second hat-trick of the season and was the only Giant player to score on the evening. The Giants dominated most of the play on the evening but had some very poor lapses in their own end which cost them. The G-Men gave up few chances on the night, but Sexsmith was unable to keep those offerings out of his net. The Blazers came back late in the second when JD Watt was assessed a 5min major for elbowing. The Kamloops team kept pressing in the Giants zone and capitalised on some home team lapses finding open ice and tying the game mid-way through the third. The Blazers scored twice in the shootout, to edge the home team 4-3.

The Giants opened the scoring 8:08 into the first on the PP. Milan Lucic was rewarded for going to the net. Tim Kraus got the puck to JD watt who got a short shot on goal. A massive scramble ensued and Lucic found the puck in the blue paint and slipped it past a sprawling Dustin Butler. Garet Hunt had been the quintessential pest from the drop of the puck, hitting everything that skated and about a minute after the goal was scored, tough guy Matt Kassian finally took him to task for it. Kassian quickly got the upper-hand tying up Garet and laying overhand bombs from above. Garet struggled to get loose but was only able to stay on his feet and deflect a few of the many blows. The linesmen finally stopped the fight when Hunt was bleeding from his brow and looked to be totally tied up. The crowd gave a massive applause to the feisty fireplug who took on the one of the toughest in the league and could still recall his own name and the current day and date. I suppose Garet now fully understands that it really is better to give than receive. The Giants went up by two late in the first off of a nifty back-hand spin feed by Spencer Machacek in the neutral zone to Milan Lucic. Lucic got on his horse and powered his way down the right slot snapping a seeing-eye rocket high glove side on Butler.

The Giants came out in the second much the same way they began the first taking the game to the Blazers. The second is also when the incompetence of referee Reagan Vetter came to the fore, calling dumb penalties, equally dumb and soft equalisers while fancying his own cheeky calls from centre-ice. Basically he was the very worst a ref could be, unpredictable and apt to punish players for invisible infractions, while allowing crosschecks to the back of the head go by. Oddly there was another referee on the ice, but the majority of poor judgments came from the whistle of Vetter. Late in the second JD Watt got tagged for a 5min major elbow penalty, as he caught the another player from behind when the player turned to face the boards as he saw the hit coming. Watt also received a game misconduct. The Blazers capitalised on the PP, when the Giants decided to allow them to move the puck freely with seconds ticking down. With 7 seconds left the Giants allowed a screen and a wide open shot for the point man who was not challenged in the least. Ryan White powered a shot from the point past a screened Tyson Sexsmith, giving the Blazers life going into the third.

The major penalty carried into the third where the home squad killed off the remainder in a rather haphazard manner. The Giants managed to right the ship though on the PP at 6:32 of the third. Milan Lucic scored his third of the game off of another goal mouth scramble. Roofing a back hand from the side of the net. The Blazers got that one back less than two minutes later when Nolan Toigo tripped in the neutral zone giving Terrance Delaronde a wide open odd man rush into the Giants zone. Delaronde cut across the goal mouth, flipped a short shot on Sexsmith, gathered his own rebound and lifted the puck past Sexsmith’s pad. The Blazers completed their come-back when the Giants broke down defensively in their own zone.

Kamloops had been pressuring the G-Men all night with an aggressive forecheck and it was beginning to pay off. Sniper Reid Jorgensen found some open ice and snapped the loose biscuit past Sexsmith to tie the game at threes. The Giants tried to come back, but squandered a late period PP chance with some sloppy puck handling and by waiting too long to take the shot or make the play. The G-Men had one shot in the OT and they wasted yet another PP opportunity in the over-time stanza, garnering only one shot in the whole OT. Once again the G-Men lacked the killer instinct and were too busy passing the puck around the perimeter to drive the net and create traffic. The Blazers got a very late 4 on 3 and then 5 on 3 (yes they added a player to the Blazer side when the Giants took a penalty down 4 on 3), but did not get a shot on net. OT solved nothing and it went to a shootout.

Juuso Puustinen and Brock Nixon scored for the Kamloops squad, while Kyle Lamb tallied the lone goal for home team. The shootout went to extra shooters, but it was Brock Nixon scoring while Mitch Czibere failed to get the puck behind Butler. The Giants had 25 shots on Butler, while holding the visitors to 15 shots. The home team went 2 for 9 on the PP, while holding the Blazers to 1 for 6. Although the Giants played a sound defensive game, limiting shots and mostly keeping the Blazers to the outside their break-downs allowed their opponent too many high quality shots and they paid for it. Kudos to Garet Hunt for his energetic play all night long and to Mitch Czibere for never giving up and working the puck hard in the opposing end all night long on a line with Hunt and Craig Cunningham. Brett Festerling was workhorse and deserved star honours for his smart play and tenacious back-check.

The Giants next tilt is a home at home versus the surging Chilliwack Bruins. Gaining some confidence and momentum off of their swing through the Central Division the Bruins are no longer the whipping boys they once were and could prove more of a challenge to the slumping Giants who are still missing four key players on their club to the World Junior Tournament. The puck drops at the Coliseum at 7pm PST on Saturday December 30th, and then head up the road for an early (5pm) New Years Eve tilt in Chilliwack, on the 31st.

Three Stars
1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Reid Jorgensen
3 – Victor Bartley