The Vancouver Giants made the trip down the road an hour out of town to take on the newest WHL franchise, the Chilliwack Bruins. They were expected to win vs the division bottom feeder, but were not expecting how tenacious the Bruins would be on this day. Pundits had the Giants winning in a landslide but the Bruins were not ready to lay down without a fight in front of their fans packing a sold out Prospera Centre that was down to standing room only one-half hour prior to the drop of the puck.

The Bruins opened the scoring off of a breakaway shot which handcuffed Dustin Slade, and put the home team up by one to raucous applause by the home town faithful. Ken Petkau scored the goal, on the PP, off of a feed from Stephane Lenoski and Craig Lineker just over half-way into the first period. The score remained that way through the rest of period, but Bruins netminder Alex Archibald had to make a few good stops to preserve that score. The Bruins out shot the Giants in the first 9-7, but it would be the last time that would happen as the sleepy Giants had yet to wake-up.

Once again in the second, the period rolled back and forth until the middle of the stanza when a fight would break out at centre ice. Nolan Toigo was all ready to go when Garet Hunt stepped in to take on Myles Stoesz. Stoesz got in some early shot but Garet managed to get in under and pop a few of his own, however Stoesz got a few back and got the takedown to win the fight. A couple of minutes later Petkau again put his team up by two, this time from Nick Holden and Cody Smuk (who was the Giants prospect who the team traded to Chilliwack in order to avoid them picking an unprotected player from the Giants during their expansion draft). The Giants would wake up around this time as Michal Repik scored on a breakaway of his own flicking the puck past Archibald from close in. Jonny Blum and Tim Kraus would get the assists. The Giants weren’t done in the period as Jason Reese would pot a PP marker a few minutes later. Wheeling and snapping home a doorstep tally, off of a nice feed from Kraus and Franson.

The Giants got another one with the man-advantage about five minutes after that when Milan Lucic would notch his first of the season and release the monkey which was hanging off his back. Lucic would find a loose puck on the doorstep and power it past Archibald to put the Giants up by one, cementing the lead for the rest of the period. Lamb and Franson would get the assists. Off the ensuing face-off while the Giants were putting pressure in the Bruins end, Donnie Glennie would hang out a knee and take-down young up and comer Kenton Dulle, who had just recovered from a serious car accident over the summer months. Glennie would deservedly get a five minute major and game misconduct for that deliberate intent to injure. The crowd was all over the referees, but it was the right call to make in my mind as it happened right in front of me and was wholly deliberate. The referees, who called a fairly consistent game, were their busiest in the middle stanza.

Once again it took ‘til mid-way through the period, the third this time, for either net to be breached. Mark Santorelli drew the Bruins to even, with helpers from Matt Cline, and Petkau at 11:35 of the final period. Kyle Lamb and Colby Kulhanek would face off for a tilt about 13 minutes into the period with Lamb getting in a few good shots and eventually the take-down for the marginal win. The Giants took back the lead with about four minutes left in the period when JD Watt would put one past the Chilliwack ‘tender, assisted by Mario Bliznak and Reese. The pesky Bruins did not lay down at that point though and instead pressed the attack until Santorelli chipped home a weak one, his second of the period and the night, on Dustin to tie the game at fours. The tenacious Giants would not be out-done at this point though and would battle back, ending up scoring the game winner at 18:48 of the third. Mitch Czibere would notch his third of the season to put the Giants up by one in the dying minutes of the third. Mikkelson and Lamb would get the assists. The Bruins pulled their goalie at that time and although they pressed in the Giants end they did not garner a decent scoring chance for the rest of the stanza, much to the disappointment of the fans who were forced to swallow a sixth straight loss in their inaugural season.

The Giants would end up peppering the Chilliwack net with 44 shots while Bruins managed 21 shots on Slade. The G-Men went 2 for 9 on the PP, and Bruins would score 1 for 4 on their man advantages. Ken Petkau was absolutely robbed of star recognition as he had 2 goals and 2 helpers on the night and most definitely should have been recognized in his home arena, neither Watt nor Repik were worthy of a star more than Petkau. I believe Petkau should have got the nod over his own goaltender who though good did not do as much as Petkau did for his team in the losing cause. The Giants next game is back at home on Friday October 13th (ooo.. scary) vs the Seattle Thunderbirds, where they hope to continue their unbeaten streak and stretch it to ten games. The puck drops at 7:30pm.

Three Stars
1 – Alex Archibald
2 – JD Watt
3 – Michal Repik

I never do this but …

My Three Stars
1 – Ken Petkau
2 - Alex Archibald
3 – JD Watt

* honourable mention to Mark Santorelli who notched two for Chilliwack.