PREVIEW: Vancouver Giants vs. Everett Silvertips (Game #56)
Tonight at the Langley Events Centre the Vancouver Giants kick off a home-and-home weekend with the Everett Silvertips when they take to their home ice at 7:30 PM. The G-Men have earned points in each of their past three games and enter the weekend with a five-point lead on both Spokane and Prince George for sixth place in the Western Conference standings. On the flip side, the Everett Silvertips have the record in the Western Conference standings and have won three straight games.
EVERETT SILVERTIPS
OVERVIEW
Record: 39-9-3-5
Road Record: 18-5-3-2
Last Game: A 3-0 road victory Tuesday in Spokane
Last 10: 6-3-1-1
Record vs. VAN: 1-1
Goals For/Goals Against: 236 GF/151 GA (+85)
Power Play: 26.2% (4th)
Penalty Kill: 78.8% (12th)
Leading Scorers: Alex Swetlikoff (26-41-67), Jackson Berezowski (38-26-64), Niko Huuhtanen (30-32-62)
GOALIN ‘OLEN’
Heading into the weekend, 2003-born defenceman Olen Zellweger (Fort Saskatchewan, AB) sits second among all WHL defenceman in league scoring with 59 points (12G, 47A). The 5’10”, 175-pound left-shot defenceman was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft and was one of two Everett defencemen to represent Canada during the 2022 World Juniors in Edmonton. In 115 career games with the Everett Silvertips, Zellweger has notched 16 goals and 68 assists for 84 points with a +64 rating. He sits just three points shy of Portland defenceman Clay Hanus for the league lead. His 47 assists also rank him second among all defencemen.
THE STREAKING SWETLIKOFF
Coming into tonight’s game, over-age forward Alex Swetlikoff is riding an 11-game point streak. In that span the 6’3″ forward has notched five goals and 11 assists for 16 points. It’s the second longest point-streak from any Silvertip this season behind Jackson Berezowski’s 13-game streak which went from December 8th – January 30th. Swetlikoff leads all Everett skaters with 67 points (26G, 41A) and his 67 points rank him sixth among all Western Conference skaters. In two games so far against Vancouver, Swetlikoff has three assists for three points.
EVERETT NOTES
- Jackson Berezowski, Alex Swetlkioff and Niko Huuhtanen have all recorded three points against Vancouver.
- Everett’s power play is 0/5 against Vancouver this season.
- The Silvertips have won their previous four visits to the Langley Events Centre dating back to December 14, 2018.
- Everett has surrendered the fourth fewest goals against (151) in the entire WHL.
- Olen Zellweger and Ronan Seeley have combined for 100 points from the back-end putting both of them in the top 12 of WHL scoring for defencemen.
VANCOUVER GIANTS
OVERVIEW
Record: 22-29-4-0
Home Record: 9-14-3-0
Last Game: A 2-1 overtime loss at home on Wednesday against the Tri-City Americans.
Last 10: 3-5-2-0
Record vs. EVT: 1-1
Goals For/Goals Against: 154 GF/190 GA (-36)
Power Play: 18.7% (17th)
Penalty Kill: 77.3% (16th)
Leading Scorers: Fabian Lysell (20-27-47), Ty Thorpe (14-26-40), Alex Cotton (14-20-34)
100 PERCENT COTTON
2001-born defenceman Alex Cotton is enjoying yet another fine offensive season in the Western Hockey League. The 2020 fifth-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings comes into tonight’s game with 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points which is tops among Giants blueliners. The most recent goal for Cotton came two nights ago at home against Tri-City, marking his first home goal of the season. The Langley, B.C. native has registered goals in each of his past two games. In his only previous meetings this season against the Everett Silvertips, Alex Cotton registered one goal and two assists for three points in what proved to be a 6-5 come-from-behind victory for the G-Men in Everett.
MARTIN RETURNS
The Vancouver Giants will welcome Connor Martin back to the lineup tonight and he’ll get the start to kick off the weekend. Back in December, Martin started two games for the Giants and went 0-2 – But since then he performed very well for the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks. In 13 regular season games he went 7-5 with a 3.22 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. He then started all six playoff games for Calgary and played very well in a six-game series with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. A strong outing from Martin would be a big boost tonight for the Giants who are looking to extend their regulation unbeaten streak to four straight games.
GIANT NOTES
- Nine of Alex Cotton’s 10 goals with the Giants have been scored on the road.
- When leading after two periods, the Giants are 17-1-2-0.
- Jaden Lipinski recorded his first career multi-point game with two goals on Friday against Tri-City. He’s recorded points in each of his past three games.
- Jaden Lipinski is the only Giant to have appeared in all 55 games that they’ve played so far this season.
- Wednesday against Tri-City was Connor Horning’s 250th career WHL game.
- With a goal on March 6th against Kelowna, Connor Horning set a new season high for goals in a season (9).
