October 14 Game Preview & October 13 Game Recap

[Hunt24]

Vancouver Giants look to continue winning ways in Emerald City
Giants start home-and-home series with 3-0 win

At a perfect 10-0 the Vancouver Giants are easily off to the start in franchise history. Friday night the Giants got a shutout from Tyson Sexsmith as they dispatched the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0.

Dustin Slade (5-0-0, 1.20) will get the start in goal tonight for Vancouver. The overage netminder is coming off his worst start of the season against the Chilliwack Bruins where he allowed four goals.

The Thunderbirds are struggling this season and have only scored 13 goals in seven games, but they have suffered three shootout losses, including one to Vancouver earlier this season.

Cody Franson continues to lead the way for the Giants offensively. The 19-year old defenseman added his third goal of the season last night bringing his point total to 17 for the season. J.D. Watt has eight goals to lead the Giants.

Aaron Gagnon has three goals and three assists to lead the team in scoring. The other player to watch is draft eligible defenseman Thomas Hickey. Considered by some to be the top-rated WHL defenseman in this year’s NHL draft, Hickey struggled Friday night in Vancouver.

The Giants have their own draft eligible defenseman in Jonathon Blum. The California native seems to play his best when he knows the scouts are watching the head-to-head battles with Hickey. So far this season Blum has put up 11 points in ten games.

Seattle will start Derek Yeomans (1-2-0-2, 2.53) in goal tonight. The former Kelowna Rocket was expected to start last night in Vancouver but Seattle Head Coach Rob Sumner started youngster Jacob DeSerres (0-1-0-1, 2.88) who was peppered with 40 shots.

Friday Night’s Three Stars

1. Lance Bouma. The rookie forward was given ice time in critical situations last night and showed the promise he did last season in limited games. Playing on a line with two other rookies last night (Craig Cunningham, James Wright) Bouma was good at both end of the ice and picked up an assist on the third goal.
2. Jacob DeSerres. Playing only his second game of the year the 16-year old faced the usual 40 shots from the Vancouver Giants and held his own. Without his steady play the score would have been much worse. Seattle may have found a long term solution in goal.
3. Tyson Sexsmith. After putting up with rumours all summer long about his expected departure in a trade, Sexsmith showed last night he was capable of being a regular goalie in the WHL. Normally prone to one or two weak goals per night, Sexsmith wasn’t flashy, but was consistent.

Top Scorers

Vancouver Giants GP G A PTS
Cody Franson 10 3 14 17
J.D. Watt 10 8 5 13
Tim Kraus 10 5 8 13

Seattle Thunderbirds GP G A PTS
Aaron Gagnon 7 3 3 6
Bretton Stamler 7 2 3 5
Thomas Hickey 7 1 4 5

Our Prediction: Vancouver Giants 4 Seattle Thunderbirds 2

[Kassian]

0-0 after one. The Seattle webcast was fine for most of the 1st period. Then around the 15:00 mark it got real blurry with those wonderful green and purple colors once again. Still like that for the 2nd period as well. To make matters worse now it's skipping like it was last game in Seattle. :burningma

It seems like it's only the Seattle webcasts that I have problems with. Most other teams have been pretty good so far.

[dondo]

working tonight so I can only listen to parts of the game.. soundedly like a pretty damn boring first though

Nice to see how Wright's doing though, and Garet with the young guys. Slade playing a good game as well. FLurry for the PK Slade standing on his head and stoning the TBirds.. woo!!

[Kassian]

Somehow I managed to see the Giants goal despite all the different colored lines everywhere and it looked like a nice move by Reese. Both Reese and Machacek were skating into the Seattle zone on a two on one while Yeomans was caught deep in the net. Reese was able to take advantage of that and put the puck in the net.

[Section_Z]

Somehow I managed to see the Giants goal despite all the different colored lines everywhere and it looked like a nice move by Reese. Both Reese and Machacek were skating into the Seattle zone on a two on one while Yeomans was caught deep in the net. Reese was able to take advantage of that and put the puck in the net.

Yeah. That goal sounded sweet...
Mikkelson just got nailed...ouch!

[Kassian]

Now THAT is a ****ty way to lose a game. It was difficult to see for obvious reasons but talk about a fluke goal. Very lucky bounce for Seattle. :mad:

[Carebear]

***.
I need to see this

But by the sounds of it, goals like that shouldn't even ****in count. :mad: :mad: :burningma

[Big Daddy]

Brutal, absolutely brutal. Well, if the Giants would have worked harder in the first 45 minutes we never would have got to this point. We needed this loss as we've looked sloppy for the last 3 games. WAKE UP GUYS!

On a bright note, thanks Dustin for saving our *** for as long as you did.

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Bones just said it best: You can't take winning for granted. Seems like that has been creeping in a little lately. The boys just have to refocus and not be looking to take the easy way out.