#WHLChampionship Feature: Local products Koch, Sourdif hope to help Giants extend series

 

When the Vancouver Giants step on the ice for Game 5 of the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship on Friday evening, they’re going to look to a pair of local products for a boost as they aim to stave off elimination.

Trailing the Prince Albert Raiders by a 3-1 margin in the best-of-seven series, the Giants will look to lean on 20-year-old right winger Davis Koch and 17-year-old rookie Justin Sourdif in hopes of extending their season.

Koch, a native of nearby White Rock, enjoyed a career year in 2018-19, leading the Giants in regular season scoring with 78 points (28G-50A) in 67 games played. At the other end of the spectrum and hailing from nearby Surrey, Sourdif enjoyed an outstanding rookie campaign, registering 46 points (23G-23A) in 64 games and garnering himself a place in the WHL’s Rookie of the Year conversation.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Sourdif said. “I have family and friends who come out to watch, and I get to talk to them after games. Vancouver is an unbelievable spot, it’s obviously a great place to play. Being from here, it’s even better.”

Selected by the Edmonton Oil Kings in the second round (42^nd) of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft, Koch has quietly gone about his business over the course of a five-year WHL career. He skated in 320 career WHL regular season games and collected 255 points (91G-164A) along the way. Soft spoken, but well thought through, Koch has put together a quality performance to this point in the 2019 WHL Playoffs, tallying 18 points (2G-16A) in 19 games.

“He has put up some pretty good numbers in the playoffs,” said Giants head coach Michael Dyck. “For our 20-year-olds, none of them have had a lot of playoff experience and made a run like this, so obviously we’re real excited for them.”

After starting his WHL career with the Oil Kings, January 10, 2018 saw the 6-foot forward dealt to his hometown team in exchange for forward Brendan Semchuk (1999), goaltender Todd Scott (2000) and a third-round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft. For Koch, coming home has been fantastic and the only better way to finish off his WHL career would be to claim a championship.

“It was obviously really exciting to be able to come home and play here, play in the rink I played midget in,” said Koch, who spent the 2013-14 campaign with the Valley West Hawks of the BC Major Midget League. “Just to be home by family and friends is really exciting.”

With four games in the books against the Prince Albert Raiders, Koch has managed one assist and the Giants find themselves backed up against the wall. Now, Koch isn’t the only Giant to have been held off the scoresheet – and credit for that largely goes to Raiders goaltender Ian Scott, who has pitched two shutouts and only allowed seven goals in four games. But if the Giants are to survive to see Game 6, there’s no question Koch, the locally-produced veteran, will need to break through and help create some chances.

For Sourdif, a 5-foot-11 right winger, he couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his WHL career. Taken by the Giants with the third-overall pick at the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, he excelled in the regular season and has contributed admirably with six points (2G-4A) in 14 post-season contests.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of pressure on [Sourdif] being 16,” Dyck said. “There’s going to be more pressure as he gets older and the expectations go up.

“He’s had a huge impact… It’s how he plays. He plays a physical game and he plays in your face. At 16, it’s not easy to do, but he was able to do it.”

While Sourdif finds himself playing oh so close to home with the Giants, he is still living life just the way any other WHL player would when moving away from home to pursue his hockey. When Dyck joined the Giants as head coach this past off-season, there was a need for culture change.

“Even though [Sourdif] is a hometown guy, he is still with billets,” Dyck said. “We changed that [from years previous] and I think it’s really helped us in the sense that we had a lot of guys living at home in different parts of the Lower Mainland and it is really hard to build a cohesive unit when you’ve got separation like that. We’ve really tried to bring everyone together in the community of Delta and I think it’s helped us.”

It certainly seems to have helped. You consider the Giants claimed the B.C. Division crown with a 101-point regular season before winning the Western Conference Championship to advance to the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship, most people will tell you that represents change for the positive.

When it comes to Sourdif’s individual success, he has tried to soak up as much as he can from veteran linemates Milos Roman and Brayden Watts, and that’s exactly where he points when talking about what’s helped him find such success in the rookie campaign. He also highlights captain Jared Dymtriw, his roommate on the road, as a major influence.

“They’re two really good players,” Sourdif said of Roman and Watts. “I feed them and they put the puck in the back of the net. They find me wherever I am and they make it easy for me to contribute.

“[Dmytriw] has shown me the ropes. He’s been a tremendous role model for me this season. He has taught me the things I need to do and things that I can use to help younger guys when I’m an older guy in the league. I can’t thank him enough for what he has done for me this year.”

Playing at home can be a bit of a double-edged sword for a young hockey player. On one hand, you may have family to cook your meals and provide you with a familiar living space. On the other hand, you’ve got more people you know sitting in the stands and the pressure to perform for them can sometimes build.

“People are coming and want to see you play, and you’ve grown up with them,” Koch said. “You want to do well [in front of them].

“I just focus on what I know I can do. At the end of the day, whether I make a mistake or not, I know people are always going to be on my side. I just go out there, play and have fun – that’s the key for me.”

Koch has worked to pass along as much knowledge as he possibly can to young Sourdif. But given what the rookie has shown both his teammates and fans in his first year, it looks like he is doing just fine.

“He has looked comfortable at home and flourished,” Koch said. “He’s really done awesome this year.”

One way or the other, the year is quickly coming to a close. At most, three games remain in the WHL Championship, with a trip to the Memorial Cup presented by Kia also up for grabs. No matter what, this season’s final WHL game at the Langley Events Centre goes Friday evening. For Koch, that means the end of his WHL playing days are upon him as he ages out. For Sourdif, it means a wrap on a promising start to what people hope is just the first of many great seasons to come.

Despite the challenges in Games 3 and 4, the Langley Events Centre has remained raucous. If the Giants are to push through to send this series back to Prince Albert for Game 6, Sourdif knows that hometown crowd will help inject some valuable energy one last time Friday night.

“The LEC has been pretty loud, the loudest I’ve ever heard it, in the past two series,” Sourdif said. “We’re going to be looking towards them for a bit of an extra boost here and we’re going to stick to our game plan.”

Game 5 of the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship Series is scheduled for Friday, May 10 (7:30 p.m. PT) at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The winner of the 2019 #WHLChampionship Series will go on to represent the WHL at the 2019 Memorial Cup presented by Kia in Halifax, N.S, from May 17 to 26.