Giants Defeat Victoria 5-1
Less than 24 hours after losing in overtime to the Victoria Royals, the Vancouver Giants and their division rivals were back at it Saturday afternoon at the Cam Neely Arena in Maple Ridge. On this day the Giants would get the better of the Royals winning 5-1 in convincing fashion.
Just like Friday night the Giants got on the board first. 7:58 in Jacob ‘Reggie’ Dunlop scored his first career WHL pre-season goal. Dalton Sward and Michael Burns picked up helpers. That is how things would stand through 20 minutes. Shots were 11-9 in favour of the Giants.
Payton Lee got the start in net for Vancouver and saw a flurry of chances early in the second period, making a number of key saves. His teammates responded with another goal, as Teal Burns found the back of the net to make it 2-0. Dunlop had an assist for his 2nd point of the night. Lee’s night was over after 32:33 of action. He stopped all 14 shots he face and was replaced by Jackson Whistle. Teal Burns extended the Giants lead to 3-0 with his 2nd goal of the game. Dalton Sward had the lone assist for his second point of the night. That is how things stood after two periods.
Victoria got on the board early in the third period on the power play. Steven Hodges beat Whistle to cut the lead to two goals. Cain Franson would restore their 3 goal advantage with a power play goal of his own to give the Giants a 4-1 lead. Jordan Martinook rounded out the scoring less then a minute later with his 2nd of the pre-season. 5-1 was the final. With the win the Giants improve to 2-0-2-0 in the pre-season. Final shots were 35-27 in favour of Victoria. The Giants were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Royals were 1-for-5. Jackson Whistle stopped 20 of 21 shots he faced in just over 28 minutes of action.
The Giants finish up their pre-season schedule next weekend with a pair of games. Friday night they are in Everett to take on the Silvertips and Saturday September 17 they play host to the Kelowna Rockets at the Ladner Leisure Centre. Game time is 7:00pm. Doors open at 6:00pm. Tickets can be bought at the door. $10 for adults. $8 for seniors and kids 12 and under. Cash only.
