After being named the top team from last week in the CHL, the Giants took their unbeaten streak of this young season up to Prince George. The Vancouver squad handily defeated the re-vamped PG squad at the Coliseum this past Sunday 4-1 and they knew they were in for a harder time of it at the CN Centre tonight. They were right as the PG squad came out to an early lead which they held and then padded in the third period before the Giants made an amazing come-back in the final five minutes of the game to force OT. A nail biter of a shoot-out made the come-back complete as Cody Franson and JD Watt scored in sudden death shooters to edge the Prince George squad, give Don Hay his 300th WHL career head coach victory and extend their winning streak to 6 games.

The Prince George team is looking more like contenders after picking up Devin Setogutchi from the Saskatoon Blades. A first round pick of the San Jose Sharks, Setogutchi was acquired for the rights to PG’s first round bantam pick this past draft, and PG’s 2008 first round pick. Setogutchi will not be in the Cougar line-up until at least Friday and possibly not until Tuesday the 10th.

The game opened with a fight between Garet Hunt and Dana Tyrell off the drop of the puck 2 seconds into the game. Hunt was held at bay for the first part of the battle but managed to get inside and get a few good shots in before both players went to the ice. Call it a draw. The Cougars opened the scoring not long after that (21secs later in fact) when Jared Walker fed, CHL player of the week last week, Brett Robertson who got the puck past Tyson Sexsmith. The PG squad padded their lead on their first PP of the game at 7:13 as Kalvin Sagert fed, Nick Drazenovic, who took a quick shot on Sexsmith who kicked the rebound to the open where a wily Eric Hunter was waiting to pounce and buried the puck into the open net. The Giants out-shot the Cougars in the first but Real Cyr was showing why he deserved to start for the Cats this season, robbing a couple of G-Men on the doorstep and preserving his team’s two goal advantage.

Although the Giants lacked their trade-mark tenacity in the second period they did not lack for shots on Cyr. Neither team were able to maintain a sustained forecheck in the second period, but each had decent forays into the opposing zone. The Giants out-shot the Cougars 18 – 5 in the middle stanza, but Real Cyr stood tall and turned away all 18 shots. The Giants began to play a bit more of their game later in the second but Cyr turned away a flurry of PP opportunities to keep his team up in the game. However, the Giants finally broke the ice at 16:29 of the second, when Cody Franson managed to sneak through a short-side shot on Cyr.

The Giants opened the third with intensity and were skating hard in the period but Cyr continued to stymie the G- Men thwarting more than few odd man rushes. It felt like the Giants were slowing losing some of that momentum as the Prince George goaltender seemed almost impenetrable. As often happens when a goalie stands on his head the ice started to slide the other way. Taking advantage of a PP opportunity Lance Redden tallied his first of the season and first in the WHL (I believe), off a nice feed from behind the blue-line. The Cats put what should have been the final nail of the coffin in the game 1:20 later, when Kalvin Sagert bounced a puck off a Giant body in front of Sexsmith putting the Cougars up by three with 7:34 to go in the game. The Giants did not sag and did not give up and took their best game into the Cougar zone drawing a series of penalties upon which they capitalised. At 16:06 Kyle Lamb started the come-back, and then at 17:57 Tim Kraus re-deflected a Cody Franson shot past Cyr to draw the G-Men within one. Then at 18:43, with a 6 on 4 advantage due to Sexsmith sitting on the bench, Mario Bliznak capped the come-back scoring the tying goal and knotting up the game at fours. The Giants even looked dangerous in those final seconds but the game went to OT.

In OT the Giants continued to press and it was only Real Cyr who kept the Vancouver team from scoring in the extra stanza. The G-men out-shot the Cougar team 5-1 in bonus time, but the game went to a shoot-out in the end. The Giants began with a hot hand of late Jason Reese who missed the net with the back-hand. Dana Tyrell missed for the Cougs. Michal Repik made a nice fore to back only to have the puck roll off his stick. Nick Drazenovic made it interesting slipping the puck past Sexsmith. Cody Franson then opted to shoot instead of deke and beat Cyr high glove-side to keep the G-Men in the game. Jonothan Blum missed a high shot. Eric Hunter and Brett Robertson both missed their shots to keep the shootout tied. JD Watt got the puck past Cyr, and Jared Walker was stoned by Sexsmith for the win, capping a crazy come-back and sending dejected Prince George fans to the streets . Out of three starts Sexsmith has won two of them in shootouts, and now has a 3-0 record.

The Giants out shot the Cougars 53 - 17, and tallied 3 for 10 on the PP to the Cats 2 for 6. The Giants showed huge heart and determination to come-back in tonight’s game which is an object lesson that it truly is never over until the final buzzer. The Giants seemed to have served notice that they intend to be a Don Hay team to the end, that they are going to earn their way into the Memorial Cup and any team who wants to take them down have got to be at the top of their game. The two teams meet again back on the ice at the CN Centre on Friday night. Puck drops at 7 pm and it should be a good one as the Cougars will be very eager to prove to their fans that they are contenders.

Three Stars
1 – Real Cyr
2 – Nick Drazenovic
3 – Cody Franson