PREVIEW: Giants Host Cougars to Kick Off White Spot Legends Weekend
PHOTO BY: JAMES DOYLE
Langley B.C. – The Vancouver Giants (8-11-1-0) battle the Prince George Cougars (14-6-0-0) tonight for the third consecutive time, following a split up in Northern B.C. earlier this week.
The Giants lost the first of those road contests 5-0 on Tuesday, but rebounded well with a 6-1 victory on Wednesday, breaking a three-game slide and tying a season-high for goals in a game with six.
The Cougars are the No. 2 ranked team in the CHL, and will be playing their first road game since their five-game Eastern Division road trip, where they went 3-2.
Vancouver is 5-5 over their last 10, while Prince George, who only have a three-point cushion on Victoria for first in the B.C. Division, is 7-3 in their last 10 contests.
HOW TO TUNE IN
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LAST TIME OUT
The Vancouver Giants got three goals from Jaden Lipinski and 38 saves from Brett Mirwald in a 6-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday night at the CN Centre.
Scoring for Vancouver was Lipinski (5th, 6th, 7th), Ty Halaburda (6th), Jakob Oreskovic (2nd) and Adam Titlbach (4th). Other noteworthy storylines from Wednesday was a penalty kill that went 9-for-9 and a pair of assists from Mazden Leslie.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Tonight is the third of eight meetings between Vancouver and Prince George this season.
In the nine-game season series in 2022-23, Vancouver went 3-4-1-1. Vancouver reversed the script after Tuesday’s 5-0 loss to win 6-1 on Wednesday and even the 2023-24 season series 1-1.
On home ice, Vancouver brings in a strong 6-3-1 record at the LEC, while the Cougars are 5-3 on the road.
Prince George is led offensively by a strong top-six that includes Zac Funk (35 points), Ondrej Becher (32 points), Riley Heidt (32 points), Terik Parascak (30 points) and Koehn Ziemmer (24 points), but they were shut down for the most part on Wednesday. While they don’t have the same firepower, Vancouver’s top guns showed up Wednesday, with a hat-trick from leading scoring Lipinski (15 points), and multi-point games from Halaburda and Leslie (12 points each).
The Giants will be looking to be more disciplined tonight, as they gave the Cougars nine power plays on Wednesday, including two 5-on-3s in the third period. Vancouver’s penalty kill has been incredibly consistent as of late, going 33-for-37 in their last seven games (89.2%).
TALE OF THE TAPE
| 8-11-1-0 (17 Pts) | RECORD | 14-6-0-0 (28 Pts) |
| 3rd | DIV. RANK | 1st |
| 8th | CONF. RANK | 1st |
| 5-5-0-0 | PAST 10 | 7-3-0-0 |
| 1W | STREAK | 1L |
| 6-3-1-0 | HOME | 9-3-0-0 |
| 2-8-0-0 | AWAY | 5-3-0-0 |
| 56 (2.80 – 20th) | GF (/G) | 95 (4.75 – 2nd) |
| 73 (3.65 – 14th) | GA (/G) | 57 (2.85 – 5th) |
| 14-for-83 (16.9%) | PP% | 32-for-105 (30.5%) |
| 84-for-100 (84.0%) | PK% | 81-for-93 (87.1%) |
| Lipinski (7-8-15)
Roberts (5-8-13) 2 Tied w/ 12 |
LEADERS | Funk (16-19-35)
Becher (13-19-32) Heidt (11-21-32) |
ONES TO WATCH
WHAT ARE WE WEARING
The Giants will be wearing their home whites tonight.
SEASON SERIES VS. PRINCE GEORGE (1-1-0; 8 H2H)
| DATE | LOCATION | RESULT/TIME |
| Nov. 14, 2023 | CN Centre | 5-0 L |
| Nov. 15, 2023 | CN Centre | 6-1 W |
| Nov. 17, 2023 | LEC | 7:00 pm PST |
| Dec. 16, 2023 | LEC | 7:00 pm PST |
| Feb. 2, 2024 | LEC | 7:00 pm PST |
| March 8, 2024 | CN Centre | 7:00 pm PST |
| March 9, 2024 | CN Centre | 6:00 pm PST |
| March 17, 2024 | LEC | 4:00 pm PST |
NEXT 5 GAMES
| DATE | OPPONENT | LOCATION | TIME |
| Nov. 18, 2023 | vs. Lethbridge | LEC | 7:00 pm PST |
| Nov. 22, 2023 | at Spokane | Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena | 7:05 pm PST |
| Nov. 24, 2023 | at Kamloops | Sandman Centre | 7:00 pm PST |
| Nov. 25, 2023 | vs. Tri-City | LEC | 7:00 pm PST |
| Dec. 1, 2023 | vs. Kelowna | LEC | 7:00 pm PST |
