The Giants took advantage of a tired team which beat Kamloops last night at Prospera Place 4-2. The Vancouver squad’s last meeting with the Rockets ended with Kelowna shutting out the Giants 2-0. Tonight the Giants returned the favour as Tyson Sexsmith earned the goose-egg, tying himself with Leland Irving and Dustin Butler for the most shutouts this season, with 8. Sexsmith did not see too many shots, but had to make a few solid saves to preserve the shutout, including a third period penalty shot off of the stick of Evan Bloodoff. Brendan Mikkelson opened the scoring, sneaking one past Torrie Jung early in the first. The Giants scored two more in the opening stanza, as Repik and Lucic both notched counters on the PP. The Giants scored three more in the second with Mike Wuchterl starting them off with a nice backhand goal 5:01 into the middle frame. Repik and Lucic both got their second goals of the game to round out the period. Wacey Rabbit got a short-handed unassisted tally early in the third to put the game completely out of reach. The Giants held the Rockets to 11 shots on goal for the game and played a solid defensive game which lead to them capitalising on their chances, drawing penalties in the process. The Rockets were not awful, but the Giants managed to out-play them at all ends of the ice to claim the over-whelming victory.

Coming off of an uplifting win over the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night, who the Giants finally beat for the first time this season, the Vancouver team carried that momentum into Sunday evening’s game versus the Rockets. Brendan Mikkelson opened the scoring when Wacey Rabbit was pushed into Kelowna goalie Torrie Jung. Rabbit scrambled out of the crease just as the puck crossed the line. Rabbit was pushed into the net and was not interfering with Jung when the puck entered the net. Repik and Lucic got the assists on what would be a three point night for both of them. The forecheck of the Giants caused the Rockets to take some penalties and the Vancouver squad made them pay.

Michal Repik scored a sweet goal storming in from the right side and flipping the puck short-side high on Jung, at the side of the net. It almost looked like he had run out of room, but at the last second lifted the puck through the eye of the needle to get the goal. It was PP goal with Rabbit and Franson garnering the assists. The Giants got their second PP goal with 1:32 to go in the first. Craig Cunningham fed Franson at the point who rifled it at the net. James Wright tipped it as it was going past handcuffing Jung who got a piece but saw it squeeze by and trickle toward the goal. Lucic assisted its progress across the goal-line behind Jung, before the ‘tender could react. The Giants out-shot the Rockets 13-3 in the first and took the lead convincingly.

Early in the second the grinders got into the act as Wuchterl prove himself to be more than just a checker. Mitch Czibere got the puck to Wuchterl on the left side and Mike cruised through the slot and lifted a sweet backhand past Jung for what looked like a goal-scorer’s goal, as there was definitely some skill required to get the tally. Three minutes later AJ Thelen stripped the puck off of a Rocket defender leaving the zone. Thelen cut down the slot and drifted the puck to Repik who wired it past Jung putting the Giants up by five. Milan Lucic rounded out the scoring in the second delighting the 9,000 plus fans with a sixth goal white spot appetiser coupon bonus. The bonus is given to the fans as they leave the buidling whenever the Giants score six or more goals in a home game. Brett Festerling and Jonathon Blum set-up Lucic on the PP.

The Rockets replaced Jung with call-up Daniel Salamandyk, who was so new he did not have a name sewn onto the back of the number 1 jersey he was wearing. Usual starting goalie for the Rockets, Kristofer Westblom, went down with a sprained knee when JD Watt was pushed on top of him in the 2-0 loss at Prospera Place. Jung and Westblom shared the shutout in that game. The Rockets woes continued though as they coughed up the puck in the neutral zone on their PP, and Wacey Rabbit took the puck down the ice toward the young goalie on a semi-breakaway. Rabbit took the shot and although Salamandyk got a piece of the puck it squeaked between the blocker and his body to give the Giants a 7 goal lead, and ending his own eight game goal-less streak. The young ‘tender played well though turning away 10 of 11 shots in the final stanza. Salamandyk is considered a 16yr old for this season, but turned 17 this past January 17th. The Giants continued their patient play, and Don Hay was able to play his 16 yr olds for the majority of shifts in the third, giving them PP time and solid minutes with the game out of reach.

James McEwan was looking for a fight partner late in the game, but both Lucic and Watt declined the invitation not wanting to chance getting hurt for nothing. Tim Kraus however, did get hurt and as of yet the extent of his injury is unknown. After going down with what looked like a tweak to his knee Kraus crawled toward the bench to try to get a change for his team. The linesman was a bit late on the whistle once the Giants gained the puck, but the fans let him know what was going on. Here’s hoping that Kraus just tweaked a muscle and is not badly injured, for with Bliznak out until mid-March the Giants can ill-afford to lose another centre and they will have to have APs in the line-up when our 16yr olds go to the under seventeen tournament.

The Giants out-shot the Rockets 47-11, pounding 23 shots on Jung in the second period alone. The Vancouver squad went 3 for 7 on their revitalized PP, while keeping their opponents to 0 for 3. The reffing was excellent, and mostly invisible. The pairing of Reagan Vetter and Carl Poole called a balanced game, with very little for either team to complain about and did it while still allowing some flow and physical elements in the game . They also did not fall into the trap of calling unnecessary penalties and turned up opportunities to make any statements with their calls. They did not call cheap equalisation penalties and were not goaded into altering their consistency. It was the best reffed game, which I have seen all season and was almost unnoticeable due to its parity. The Giants played a solid if uninspired game and scored some nice goals getting in-behind the Rockets young defense and really not giving the goalies much of a chance to make the save. They brought a balanced physical game, and clean forecheck and cut down on errors in their own end, keeping most of the shots to the outside.

The Giants next go out on an extended road trip opening in Tri-City on Valentines Day, before heading up North for two back to back games in Prince George, after-which they have an extended break leading up to a home game versus the Everett Silvertips. The ‘Tips are on the Giants radar, as the Vancouver squad has suffered a single regulation loss and a few OT and SO losses and have yet to beat the US Division squad this season. The puck drops in Kennewick Washington on Valentines Day at 7:05 local time.

Three Stars

1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Michal Repik
3 - Wacey Rabbit