The G-Men were eager to bounce back from a poor loss in Spokane on Wednesday night, and re-establish their dominance over the US division. Tri-City had won a hard fought game versus Calgary the night before at home and were on a four game home winning streak. Don Hay lambasted his forwards for lack of effort in Spokane and had his players watch the Tri-City/Hitmen game with a bit of homework to follow. Hay wanted to give his guys the chance to watch some of their competitors play from a spectators point of view and it looked liked the Giants players were paying close attention as they brought a hard nosed close-checking game tonight at the Toyota Centre in Kennewick Washington.

Timmy Kraus opened the scoring just over six minutes in assisted by Kyle Lamb and Brendan Mikkelson, who both had two point nights. The Giants came out flying and were out-shooting the Ams and frustrating the home team with their oppressive play. Late in the first the Giants went up by two as the curtain was raised on the Milan Lucic show, demonstrating a true scorers touch notching his first hat-trick in the WHL and making it a natural in the process. On the PP, Johnny Blum fed the puck down the boards to Cody Franson who threw it at the net and found Lucic waiting at the top of crease. The G-Men out shot the Americans 10-3 in the first and dominated the play.

Just after spending two in the box for an interference penalty, Milan Lucic decided to make up for the gaffe by scoring a highlight reel goal. Lucic gathered the puck in his own and stormed down the ice. As he beared down on the Carey Price between the pipes he made a beautiful deke and lifted it past the ‘tender for his second of the night and second in a row, putting his team up by three. Lucic would round out the natural hat about eight minutes later as he tallied his third of the night and second PP goal. Mario Bliznak playing with Michal Repik and Milan Lucic on the first PP unit, got the puck behind the net to Michal Repik. Repik spun and flicked the puck out into the slot and Lucic snapped home a beauty on the doorstep. The Giants were up by four and completely dominating the home team in their own building. Tyson Sexsmith was solid if not terribly busy but he had to be sharp late in the second when Repik was tagged for a too many men penalty. With seconds left in the middle frame the Americans were keeping the puck in the Giants zone and working it around. As the time ticked down the home squad found some open ice and snapped the puck on Sexsmith who had to be quick with his glove to snatch it from getting to the twine, stopping the Americans from gaining momentum going into the break.

The Americans would not be denied in the third though and would ruin Tyson’s shutout bid with some excellent work around the Giants net. Still on the PP carried over from the second the Tri-City squad just 34 seconds into the final stanza. Erik Felde threw the puck on net and Sexsmith had to make a solid quick pad stop. Tyson had to be quick to turn away one more shot before Alex Aldred gathered the loose biscuit and flicked it across to Ams sniper Colton Yellow Horn, who made no mistake tallying his fourteenth goal of the season. The Giants team then calmly shut down the Americans and salted away the game just 5 minutes later when some great forechecking by JD watt popped the puck loose to Brendan Mikkelson at the point. Mikkelson snapped what looked like a wide far-side shot when Kyle Lamb swooped in out of nowhere to tap the puck past Price to regain the G-Men’s four goal lead. Watt wouldn’t get the assist but it was his work which got the puck to Mikkelson. The Giants then shut down the Ams for the rest of the period frustrating the home squad to take a few penalties and further diminish their chances of a come-back.

The Giants played text-book hockey and brought their physical game to the fore while demonstrating, as radio colour guy Bill Wilms put it, excellent gap control. Tyson Sexsmith was good when he had to be and probably would have had the shut out except for a minor defensive breakdown on the edge of the crease. Sexsmith is now the number one goalie for the Vancouver squad, since Dustin Slade’s sudden departure which remains couched in a bit of a mystery as a definitive answer for the desertion is still to be determined. Garet Hunt would get third star honours for being, well Garet Hunt and all that that entails. Odd for a bona fide pest like Hunt to get the nod in an opposing arena – he really must have turned some heads there.

The Giants out shot the Ams 27-16 and went 2 for 9 on the PP, while holding their opponent to 1 for 6. The Giants head down to Portland tomorrow night for a tilt against the Winterhawks. The last time the two met this season was when the G-Men pounded the Portland team 9-0 in the Giants home season opener, where doomed goalie Dustin Butler was left in for all nine goals. Butler has since been dealt to the Blazers and has resurrected their season and his career with the move. The puck drops at 7:30 PST in Portland.

Three Stars
1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Kyle Lamb
3 – Garet Hunt