Giants Return Home After Successful Road Trip
The Vancouver Giants will return to the Pacific Coliseum this week to host the Everett Silvertips on Friday and the Prince George Cougars on Saturday. The G-Men are coming of their most successful road trip of the season after winning four of five games on their second longest trip of the WHL campaign.
The Giants began their road stretch with back-to-back wins over the Prince George Cougars in Northern BC. The Vancouver squad was without Captain Tyler Benson for the entire road trip because of an injury, and 20-year-old forward Trevor Cox was knocked out of the lineup by a high hit from Cougars forward Colby McAuley in the first game in PG. McAuley was suspended three games for the hit. In spite of that, the Giants became the only visiting team to win back-to-back games at the CN Centre in Prince George this season.
After a loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings, the G-Men continued their winning ways by defeating former Giants Jackson Houck, Jakob Stukel, Cody Porter and the rest of the Calgary Hitmen 5-2. Porter, who started for the Hitmen, was chased from the goal after allowing four goals on 20 shots while former Hitmen forward Chase Lang tallied a goal and an assist against his former team. Ty Ronning had two goals as well.
The Giants wrapped up the trip with a thrilling 6-5 overtime win over the MasterCard Memorial Cup host Red Deer Rebels. The Rebels were very active on the trade market over the last few weeks, acquiring high powered forwards Adam Helewka, Jake DeBrusk and Luke Philp in separate deals. However, the Giants got two goals from both Ronning and Lang to take two points from the second best team in the WHL.
Ronning scored four goals and two assists on the trip. The 18-year-old is tied for eighth in the WHL in goal scoring with 25 markers on the year. Lang netted three goals and four assists over the five games away from home. The Nanaimo product has points in 12 straight games which is tied for the second longest point streak in the WHL this year.
Ryan Kubic put up sparkling numbers for the G-Men on the trip. The St. Andrews, Manitoba native posted a 2.79 goals against average and a 0.928 save percentage over the five games on the road. In addition, Kubic’s 2.99 goals against average and 0.909 save percentage on the season are both tops in the league among rookie goaltenders.
The Giants will look to continue their winning ways when they host Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick Noah Juulsen and the US Division leading Everett Silvertips on Friday night. The G-Men have won their last two meeting with the ‘Tips. Puck drop on Friday goes at 7:30pm at the Pacific Coliseum. For tickets, click here.
The Vancouver club will then welcome the Prince George Cougars to the Rink on Renfrew on Saturday for a huge divisional matchup between two teams that have played some high intensity, physical and entertaining hockey in the season series thus far. The puck drops at 5:00pm. Click here for tickets.
For more information, or to purchase tickets over the phone, call the Giants’ Ticket Office at 604.4.GIANTS (604.444.2687).
(Photo credit: Candice Ward/Calgary Hitmen)
