GIANTS versus SILVERTIPS

October 15, 2008
Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver BC
7 p.m.

Dave Sheldon - Vancouver Giants
Mike Piluso gets ready...(Chris Relke photo)

Vancouver BC – The Vancouver Giants conclude their early season five game home stand with a weeknight showdown against the Everett Silvertips. To say the Giants have had success on home ice this year would be an understatement. Currently, Vancouver is 4-0-0-1 at home, with 35 goals scored and 13 goals against, while on the power play, the Giants have clicked at almost a 40% clip (13/33 – 39.4%) at the Pacific Coliseum.

These two teams hooked up back on September 20th in Everett...Vancouver’s opening game and Everett’s home opener. With many regulars still at training camp, the Giants would shutdown the Tips 4-0. Making his WHL debut, Giants rookie net minder Jamie Tucker was sensational, turning aside thirty Everett shots for the victory. Tucker’s effort in goal that night was recognized by the entire CHL as Tucker was named ADT CHL Goaltender of the Week. Neil Manning, Evander Kane, Mike Piluso and Lance Bouma tallied for the Giants in the victory.
However, tonight is different for both clubs, as everybody away at NHL camp for the opener is now back. For the Giants, Brent Regner (Columbus), Jonathon Blum (Nashville) and Tyson Sexsmith (San Jose) are back for Vancouver while Taylor Ellington (Vancouver) and Kyle Beach (Chicago) return for Everett. Ellington, a Victoria BC resident, anchors the defence for the Tips and is always assigned to shutdown the opposition’s top line, so expect to see Ellington up against Evander Kane, Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Mike Piluso all evening whenever Everett Head coach John Becanic can line up big #3 against the PEZ line.

Beach is in a category all by himself. Here is a player who can easily be described as the best player in the WHL who is hated by nearly everybody...and that’s a compliment! A talented player from Kelowna BC, Beach can display all world skill at any given moment. A proto-typical power forward, he can skate and pass with anybody, has a rocket for a shot with a near perfect release and has the physical tools to punish defenders and forwards along the wall and out in front of the net almost at will...and that may be the problem. Beach is also without question the most abrasive player to play against in the WHL and this part of his game at times overwhelms the tools that are spoken of earlier in this paragraph. Beach’s career numbers back up this statement...131 games played, 60 career goals, 128 career points... with 433 penalty minutes. Here’s a compelling stat to ponder. Over the past two years, Everett as a TEAM has taken 3400 minutes in penalties...Beach has taken nearly 15% of all penalties for Everett. Arguably their best player over the last two seasons, Beach in penalty minutes alone has taken himself out of over seven games, just in sheer minutes. Beach can be one of the most valuable players in any league, only time will tell if he can harness his aggression, a la Cam Neely, and transform from a really good player into a Superstar.

The Vancouver Giants come out of the Thanksgiving weekend as the only team in the WHL yet to suffer a regulation defeat. With two more games played this past week, the Giants posted one win and one shootout loss to move their season record to 7-0-0-2 on the season.

On Friday night, the Giants played host to BC Division Rivals, the Kelowna Rockets. This game was much anticipated by both sides as each wanted to see just what the other team was made of and in the process, sees how their team stacked up against elite competition.

A very fast and competitive first period saw the Giants draw first blood. On a late period power play, Mike Piluso was able to scoop a loose puck past Rockets goalie Kris Lazaruk...1-0 Vancouver after one. The second period was more of the same, as both teams traded chances early before some great passing on another power play provided the game’s second goal. Evander Kane finished off some gorgeous passing from Casey Pierro-Zabotel and a deft behind the back pass by Mike Piluso. Kane down low out-waited Lazaruk and the Giants had a two goal lead. But with the Giants in the penalty box, the Rockets were looking to cut into the lead before the second period drew to a close. Instead it was the Giants applying a knockout punch of their own. Lance Bouma took a pass in top gear from Craig Cunningham, then punched it into overdrive, blowing around Buffalo Sabres first round draft pick Tyler Myers before roofing a beauty past a stunned Lazaruk to send the Pacific Coliseum crowd into a frenzy. At 19:07 of period two, the Giants extended their lead to three and headed to the second period intermission in command of the game.

Period three saw the Giants explode and count four more markers. Evander Kane completed his hat trick with two more goals, while Mike Piluso with his second of the game and Craig Schira rounded out the scoring for Vancouver in a 7-1 rout. Jesse Paradis was able to shovel a rebound past Giants rearguard Tyson Sexsmith to break the shutout. The line of Evander Kane (3G-2A), Mike Piluso (2G-2A) and Casey Pierro-Zabotel (4A) counted 13 points on the evening. The Rockets will have time to contemplate their revenge as the two teams will not meet again until a home and home series on November 12th in Kelowna, followed by a return visit to Vancouver on November 14th.

At 6-0-0-1, the Giants headed into Saturday’s game against the Prince Albert Raiders with confidence. What they ran into was a Raider team on a mission. In their past two games, the Raiders managed to turn victory into defeat, squandering third period leads and getting no points for their hard work. Raider GM/Coach Bruno Campese remarked in the pre-game show that his team was ‘damn close’ to making the next step. It was safe to say the next step occurred here in Vancouver on Saturday night...

Prince Albert erupted for three first period goals on just four shots as Ryan McDonald, Justin Bernhardt and Andy Smith scored in period one to chase starting goalie Jamie Tucker and go into the locker room with a shocking 3-0 lead. Up until this game, the Giants had never trailed in any game and also had outscored the opposition 13-2 in the first period...make that 13-5!

Period number two saw the Giants take control of the flow of the game, but not enough to make much headway on the Prince Albert lead. Brent Regner tallied his first goal of the season to cut the lead to two midway through the stanza, but penalty trouble led to a five on three for Prince Albert and Matt Robertson scoring on a laser from the point to regain the Raiders three goal lead, 4-1, heading to the final period.

The final period started as though the Giants had been shot from a cannon. Defenseman Jonathon Blum would lead wave after wave of Giant attackers into the Prince Albert zone. Blum’s point shot five minutes into period three was neatly deflected by James Wright past a screened Garrett Zemlak to cut the lead to 4-2. The Giants made things even more interesting on the power play just four minutes later. After a flurry of activity, another point shot, this time by Craig Schira, had eyes and found the back of the net to cut the lead to one, 4-3. Just over a minute later, the comeback was complete. Again from the point, Mike Berube fired a shot from the point. Berube seeing that the net was cluttered with sprawled defenders, intentionally shot the puck just wide. The quick carom of the back boards landed on the stick of Wright once again, and he made no mistake, beating Zemlak at 10:14 of period three and sending the Rink on Renfrew into an uproar! The last half of the period saw the G-Men throw the world on Prince Albert net minder Zemlak, only to be thwarted at every turn. Regulation time sees the teams tied up at 4-4, with Vancouver outshooting Prince Albert 21-0 in the process.

However, the Giants, even with chances in overtime and the shootout, could not find a way to get the winner. Dustin Cameron of the Raiders scored in Round Five of the shootout to hand the Giants a 5-4 shootout defeat. Final shots on goal were 44-10 favouring Vancouver. As expected in a game like this, Raiders goalie Garrett Zemlak was named the first star of the game, stopping 40 of 44 shots for the win.

Giant Facts:

• Even though Rookie goaltender Jamie Tucker was chased from the game on Saturday versus Prince Albert, his numbers remain impressive. Tucker is 3-0-0-1 on the season. His goals against average of 1.42 is second best in the WHL, while his save percentage of .936 also lands him at #2 in the WHL. The Victoria, B.C. resident has stopped 88 of 94 shots faced so far this season.

• Evander Kane and Casey Pierro-Zabotel sit 1-2 atop the WHL leading scorers list. Kane (9G-11A) and Pierro-Zabotel (3G-15A) have recorded a point in every game so far this season, (The Giants have played nine games). James Wright also appears in the WHL TOP 10, as his 12 points, (5G-7A), find Wright tied for fifth.

• Defenseman Craig Schira continues his impressive start to the season. The Spiritwood, SK resident has already scored five times this season, just three away from his career high of eight goals last season. At his current pace, Schira would have no problem doubling his career total of seventeen goals.

• Captain Jonathon Blum is off to a fast start...the pride of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA has played in five games since his return from the NHL’s Nashville Predators pre-season camp and has scored seven points (2G-5A). Blum had 63 points last season (18G-45A) and could reach those numbers again, even though he may miss a month or so of game action if the expected occurs and Blum is called up to represent Team USA at the World Juniors. Blum is currently tied for the team lead with Casey Pierro-Zabotel in plus/minus...each player at +12.

• Name that line...Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Evander Kane and Mike Piluso have been dynamite in the early going, combining for 49 points in just nine games. Maybe the PEZ line, because they dispense points as easily as the candy maker dispenses PEZ...also because each would have their name (Piluso-Evander-Zabotel) involved. Send your line name ideas to radio@vancouvergiants.com . If we choose your line name, we’ll give you credit!

• Seventeen of the Giants twenty-two skaters have notched at least three points this season, and all seventeen of the players have scored a goal as well. Of the five skaters currently held without a point, one (Kulchar) has yet to play a game due to injury, while two others (Kennedy and Maschmeyer) have been slowed by injuries. JT Barnett and Simon Witt have also been platooned in and out of the line-up and have seen limited game action thus far.

• The Giants are now the only team left in the WHL and CHL without a regulation loss. With fifty-one goals so far this season, the Giants lead the league in goals scored…by FOURTEEN over the Kelowna Rockets, and the Rockets have played one more game. Vancouver is also second for fewest goals allowed with just seventeen against through nine games, an average of fewer than two per game. The Spokane Chiefs are at fourteen goals against through their first nine games.

• The Vancouver Giants power play has been on fire! Eighteen of the Giants fifty-one goals have been with the man advantage. If the Giants were to maintain this torrid pace on the power play, they would end up scoring 144 goals with the extra man! The record is 180 by the 88-89 Swift Current Broncos...back when teams were scoring 400+ goals. Last season, the Giants led the league with 85 Power Play goals. In the past fifteen seasons, the 02-03 Kelowna Rockets have scored the most goals, as they had 117 that season.

• The Vancouver Giants are currently ranked #5 in the CHL rankings. The Giants .889 winning percentage is tied with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL for 2nd best in the CHL. The Quebec Remparts 9-1 record to start the season has them at .900. Vancouver is the CHL’s only undefeated team in regulation.

• Evander Kane has been named the BOSTON PIZZA WHL Player of the Week. Kane becomes the second consecutive Giants player to earn the weekly honour, following line-mate Casey Pierro-Zabotel from a week earlier.

What the score sheet isn’t telling you…

In the Giants Memorial Cup Winning Season of 06-07, Vancouver started out 10-0 and outscored their opponents 51-16. In nine games this year, the Giants have outscored the opposition 51-17, and sit at 7-0-0-2. The Giants first regulation loss in 06-07 wasn’t until November 1st, which was game 17, against the Red Deer Rebels, by a score of 4-1. The Giants will visit the Rebels on October 24th, (Game 12). If the Giants want to eclipse the team record of seventeen games to start the season without a regulation loss, they would have to maintain this streak of play until November 11th. Game 18 would be against the Chilliwack Bruins in the Fraser Valley...