Didn’t get a chance to see or listen to this one, so this is more of box-score embellishment than a blow by blow account. The Giants came out to an early lead, scoring three unanswered in the first and then allowed their lead to be whittled down. The visitors managed to hang on enough for a point out of the game, but it’s a very poor consolation prize for having that kind of lead and letting it dribble away. The home team scored twice in the second and once in the third before winning the game in OT, completing the come-back. The Rockets are often tough at home, but they were coming off of a bad loss in Tri-City and a long bus trip back to their home barn overnight and should have been ripe for the picking. They were in the first period, but then something woke them up and from what I have read it sounded like the Giants just stopped playing their kind of hockey. The Giants had the majority of shots in the third but could not solve Adam Brown who was between the pipes for Kelowna.

Milan Kytnar opened the scoring in the opening frame, on the PP, notching his first goal as a Giant in his second game. David Musil and Zach Hodder garnered the assists on the play. The G’s squandered a few man-advantages, before finding the twine again with time ticking down in the first. JT Barnett tallied his 10th of the season at 18:29, getting helpers from Lance Bouma and James Henry. Kennedy and Callahan tangled before the end of the frame and Mike Piluso got his 4th of the season with 39 seconds left to play in the first period. Craig Cunningham and Henry notched the assists. The Giants doubled up on shots versus the Rockets 12-6 as the home squad tried to shake the overnight bus trip out of their system.

It took ‘til past the mid-way mark of the second for the Rockets to find the scoresheet. Cody Chikie got the puck past back-up netminder Brendan Jensen, who by all accounts played a fairly solid game. Antoine Corbin scored a few minutes later on the Rockets only PP goal of the game. The Giants were not able to get their PP back on track, despite having a few stellar opportunities in the second to take back the momentum.

Stepan Novotny scored very early in the third to tie the game. From the sounds of it, both teams were tired and seemed to be playing the third for the tie and the points and not the win. I have to say that if the powers that be ever get their heads out of their butts, that three points would be awarded for a game, every game. With a regulation win worth three points, I expect that you would not be seeing teams play for a single point much longer. Mitch Callahan got the win at 1:29 of the OT period, earning his team a point they should never have had a chance to get.

The Giants went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Rockets were 1 for 4. The Giants out shot the Rockets 29-25. I must say I am impressed that the home barn gave the Giants two stars despite the home team winning, that for me shows a bunch of class as it truly recognizes the hardest workers out there and not necessarily home barn homerism. The Giants are currently battling the flu and I don’t expect the Rockets are faring much better, so we might be seeing two tired teams just trying to stay on their feet and not make too many mistakes. The two teams mix it up again in the back half of their home at home series on Sunday at the Coliseum. Puck drops at 5pm.

Three Stars

1. Cody Chikie
2. James Henry
3. Kevin Connauton