Americans @ Giants

Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver BC
Game Time - 7 pm
SUPERHITS 650 CISL

Dave Sheldon – Vancouver Giants
October 29, 2008

Vancouver BC – The Vancouver Giants, 10-0-0-3 on the season, will take on the defending WHL and Western Conference regular season Champions, the Tri City Americans (10-3-0-0) in a WHL showdown at the Pacific Coliseum.

Vancouver returns to home ice after a successful three game road trip through Alberta that saw the G-Men win all three games and out score the oppostion 16-4. The Giants are currently first place in the BC Division and the Western Conference with 23 points.

Tri City arrives in Vancouver on a 5 game win streak, pending their Tuesday night game versus Everett. With eight wins in their past ten games, this game will feature the two hottest teams in the West as Vancouver is 8-0-0-2 in their last ten as well.

Last season, these two clubs met four times. Vancouver won the first matchup 4-1 in Vancouver, but then Tri City swept the last three games, outscoring the Giants 15-5, including an 8-2 pasting in Kennewick, the Giants most lopsided loss in the Don Hay era.

Notes:

• Tyson Sexsmith is now at 21 career WHL shutouts and needs just one more to pass the all time shutout record set by Brian Bridges of the Seattle Thunderbirds and Leyland Irving of the Everett Silvertips.

• The Giants are now the only team left in the WHL without a regulation loss. With seventy goals so far this season, the Giants lead the league in goals scored…by four over the Calgary Hitmen, and the Hitmen have played three more games. Vancouver is also tied for the fewest goals allowed with just twenty five against through thirteen games. The Spokane Chiefs are at twenty five goals against through their first fourteen games.

• Evander Kane and Casey Pierro-Zabotel sit 1-2 atop the WHL leading scorers list. Kane (10G-15A) and Pierro-Zabotel (3G-21A) along with Mike Piluso (7G-5A) have recorded 61 points so far this season and are the top producing line in the WHL. Kane has extended his points streak to a WHL best 13 games, while Pierro-Zabotel saw his streak snapped at 12 games after being held off the score sheet in Lethbridge.

• Captain Jonathon Blum is off to a fast start...the pride of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA has played in nine games since his return from the NHL’s Nashville Predators pre-season camp and has scored thirteen points (5G-8A) and is now fifth in team scoring despite missing the Giants first four games. 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 in the WHL leader in plus/minus...Blum is at an astonishing +19. To put that in perspective, only 50 players out of over 450 in the league had +19 or better for the ENTIRE season. At this pace, Blum would finish at +125 for the season, and that includes the 10 games he would MISS if and when he is selected to play for TEAM USA at the upcoming World Juniors.

• The Vancouver Giants power play continues to be on fire! Twenty-five of the Giants seventy goals have been with the man advantage. The Giants are currently operating at an incredible 32.1%, (25 goals on 78 opportunities). 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 Giants are currently on pace for 138 PP goals.

• The Vancouver Giants are currently ranked #7 in the CHL rankings...that was before the three game sweep in Alberta. The Giants .885 winning percentage is best in the WHL and only the Windsor Spitfires at 15-1 have a better winning percentage. The Giants average of 5.38 goals scored per game is the best in the CHL. Two teams in the QMHJL have scored more goals than Vancouver, but have played at least four more games than the Giants.

What the score sheet isn’t telling you…

Don Hay has officially won 398 games in the WHL and is two games away from 400 wins in his WHL career. Hay has coached 661 WHL regular season games and has a career winning percentage of .641, which is 6th best all time and currently is the highest active winning percentage. Hay has posted 81 WHL playoff coaching victories and has a career winning percentage of .648 in the playoffs.

You can catch all the action of Giants hockey on SUPERHITS 650 CISL. Dave Sheldon will have the call of all Giants games and will have guest analysts join him this week. Jay Janower of GLOBAL TV will join Dave rink-side on Wednesday while Bill Wilms of SHAW TV will rejoin Dave for Saturday’s broadcast.

Giants forward James Wright will be the feature guest on THE GIANT HOCKEY HOUR this Thursday night on CISL. James will be taking calls and talking about the Giants season so far from 7 to 8 pm. Your calls will be welcome at 604-280-0650.