Weekend Preview
The Vancouver Giants (36-23-1-3) head into the final month of the regular season in a battle for home ice advantage in the first round of the 2012 WHL Playoffs. With 9 games remaining in their regular season schedule the Giants currently sit in 4th place in the Western Conference with 76 points, 1 point up on the Spokane Chiefs who have played the same amount of games. In their final 9 games, the Giants will play the Victoria Royals three times, Kamloops and Kelowna twice each, Medicine Hat once, and Tri-City once. It all gets started this weekend with 3 games in 3 nights.
On Friday night the Giants welcome the Medicine Hat Tigers (39-21-2-3) to the Pacific Coliseum. Puck drop is 7:30 pm. The Tigers are 3rd in the Eastern Conference with 83 points on the year. They are 8 points back of 1st place Edmonton and 4 points in front of 4th place Calgary. The Tigers have 7 games remaining in their regular season schedule, 4 at home and 3 on road. Medicine Hat comes into the game having won 3 straight games, including back to back wins in Prince George on Tuesday and Wednesday night. The Tigers feature two of the best scorers in the league. Emerson Etem, a 1st round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, leads the WHL with 53 goals. He became the first player in over 10 years to score 50 goals in 50 games. In fact he had 51 goals in 50 games, but has just 2 goals in his last 8 games. 17 year old forward Hunter Shinkaruk, who isn’t eligible until the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, is 4th in the league with 45 goals. He had 5 goals in the 2 games vs. Prince George. If Shinkaruk can hit the 50 goal plateau, the Tigers will become the first team with two 50 goal scorers since the 1998-99 Calgary Hitmen. Pavel Brendl had 73 goals, while Brad Moran scored 60 goals. Medicine Hat also features one of the league’s best goaltenders in Tyler Bunz. An Edmonton Oilers draft pick, Bunz was named the WHL’s goalie of the month for February. He as 7-0-0-0 with 1.86 goals against average and a save percentage of .941.
Friday marks the second and final meeting of the season between the Giants and Tigers. Medicine Hat defeated Vancouver 5-4 in a shootout back on October 8, 2011 at the Pacific Coliseum. The Giants are 12-12-0-1 all-time vs. the Tigers during the regular season.
Saturday morning the Giants head to Vancouver Island for a pair of games vs. the Victoria Royals. Puck drop is 7:05 pm on Saturday and 1:05 pm Sunday afternoon. It is the first meeting between these division rivals since November 18, 2011. The Giants played the Royals 7 times in their first 23 games and 0 times in the next 40 games. Vancouver is 5-2-0-0 this season against Victoria. Brendan Gallagher and Marek Tvrdon each have 7 goals and 15 points vs. the Royals.
Victoria is in a battle for one of the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference. The Royals (20-38-2-4) are 7th in the Western Conference with 46 points, 2 points up on 8th place Seattle, 3 points ahead of 9th place Everett, and 6 points in front of 10th place Prince George. Victoria started the season with 11 wins in their first 23 games and just 9 wins in their next 41 games. They have given up a league worst 301 goals against this year and head into the weekend having just 3 wins in their last 12 games. The Royals are a different looking team since the Giants last saw them, having dealt away their leading scorer Kevin Sundher to the Brandon Wheat Kings at the 2012 WHL trade deadline. The Royals and Giants will meet one more time this season on Sunday March 11 at 5:00 pm at the Pacific Coliseum.
