The Vancouver Giants were carrying a 9 game winning streak into their home tilt versus the T-Birds, with 20 yr old Dustin Slade winning 5 and 17 yr old Tyson Sexsmith notching 4 in their first 9 games . They came in the only team in the CHL to be undefeated and were hoping to continue their streak. Tyson turned away 12 shots for the shut-out win, most them of the scoring chance variety to earn first star honours. Usually a goalie turning away that few of shots would not even get star consideration, but Tyson had to be good and at times great to preserve the goose egg – er.. thunderbird egg.

The game itself was not as fast as both teams were capable of playing, as it seemed to be more of a chess match kind of tilt than and end-to-end rushing affair. Both squads sacrificed their bodies blocking shots, but also played a patient tight checking game as opposed to rock the body forecheck game, much to the crowd’s disappointment. The Thunderbirds 16 yr old netminder, Jacob DeSerres, was the reason the score wasn’t completely out of reach for the Seattle team by the end of the first period. He kept his eye on the puck and was in position for almost all of the Giants 15 first period shots, save one. The Giants opened the scoring on their first PP of the game, when Milan Lucic pulled the loose puck out from under DeSerres pad and snapped it into the net, for his second of the young season. Tim Kraus and Jonothan Blum got the assists and it was some great puck-handling and tenacious work by Kraus which got the puck to the net in first place. The G-men peppered the net for the rest of the period, out-shooting the Thunderbirds 15 to 4 and trading penalties with the Seattle squad throughout the first stanza.

The second started out the same type of game as the visiting T-Birds seemed to have no interest in playing a speed game, which is a strength of theirs, but rather to slow down the game to a walking pace. Not terrifically entertaining for the home crowd as there was not even heavy physical play to balance out the pace of this snorer of a text book game. The Giants managed to notch another one late in the second though to increase their lead to two. After spending the period being thwarted by shot blockers and stifling collapsing D in front of the T-Bird net the Giants managed to get the puck moving around on yet another man-advantage. John Flatters dug the puck out and drifted it to Mario Bliznak, who fed Cody Franson at the point. Franson finally found some room and threaded a rocket of a rising slapper into the top corner past DeSerres. I don’t think DeSerres saw it until it was in the back of his net as the traffic in front of the net was grid-locked.

The third had a bit more flow to it as the Seattle squad opened up their play and got a couple of short-handed chances most of which were thwarted by hustling forwards and defenseman rushing back into their zone to cut off angles and clear the pucks off sticks. Mario Bliznak made one brilliant come-back move as he swept the puck off a T-Bird’s stick in the slot with a diving slide. Jonothan Blum had been caught and was gamely covering the pass but it was Bliznak’s effort which took away the scoring chance. The Giants put the game away with about five minutes to go in the game. Don Hay had been playing some of the younger players when he noticed the effort dropping on some of the regulars, and it helped get the third goal of the game for the G-Men. Michal Repik who had been working hard all night long got the puck down low to 16yr old Lance Bouma. Bouma worked the puck hard along the back-boards maintaining possession until he found a seam out front. Bouma would thread Tim Kraus lurking in the slot just to the right of T-Bird net and Kraus would power the pass past DeSerres, for his second point of the game. The period ended with the ubiquitous “warm up the bus” chant only this time being sung in a ‘row, row, row your boat’ style as the fans couldn’t manage to get their rhythms synchronized, but that didn’t stop Tyson Sexsmith from getting his shut-out or cause un-due grief on the ice.

The Giants went 2 for 11 on the PP, while stoning the T-Birds for all six of their PP chances. The shots were 40 –12 in favour of the Giants by the final buzzer. The game itself was a patient style of play with few fireworks and not too many big hits, except one early on by JD Watt who stapled a player to the boards which though clean had a head of steam which could and should have garnered a charging penalty, but there were so few hits that letting that one go and actually elevate the 6800 in the building was probably more of a small mercy than a game turning event. Both ‘tenders earned starts for their work as they were both pressed upon to make timely stops throughout the game with the bulk of the action tilted toward the Seattle net.

The Giants travel down the road for the second in two night versus their southern neighbour, as the teams will face-off at the Key Arena for their re-match. Seattle, hungry for a win at home, will be putting former Kelowna goaltender Derek Yeomans between the pipes and will be expected to play a more up-tempo style of hockey. The T-Birds have lost both of their home games in a shoot-out and it was Tyson Sexsmith who victimized them last time the G-Men were down the road, in a barn-burner of a tilt. Dustin Slade will most likely get the nod for tonight’s (Oct 14th) game as coach Hay seems to be giving both of his ‘tenders equal playing time early in this season. Puck drops at 7:05pm.

Three Stars
1 – Tyson Sexsmith
2 – Jacob DeSerres
3 – Brett Festerling