WHL Vancouver Giants

Giants Wrap up Weekend with a 3-2 Shootout Loss to Tri-City

Published on September 2, 2018 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver, B.C. - Sunday afternoon in Everett, WA the Vancouver Giants dropped a hard-fought, feisty 3-2 shootout decision to the Tri-City Americans. Davis Koch and Brayden Watts had goals in regulation for the Giants while David Tendeck turned aside 34 of the 36 shots fired his way in his first pre-season appearance. Issac Johnson had both goals for the Americans in regulation while Connor Bouchard had the lone shootout tally in Round 4 to clinch the win for the Ams. The game featured multiple fights and subsequent ejections. The two teams combined for 142 penalty minutes.

Isaac Johnson opened the scoring for Tri-City at the 16:52 mark of the first period. His first of two on the night came on the power play and was assisted by both Kyle Olson and Tom Cadieux. Despite outshooting the Ams 10-8 in the first period the Giants went into the first intermission trailing 1-0.

The two teams would trade goals, and many punches in the middle period. First it was Isaac Johnson who increased the Tri-City lead to 2-0 just 26 seconds in. Davis Koch quickly countered with his first of the pre-season at 3:14 to put the Giants on the board. Koch's marker came via the power play which finished one-for-three.

The final minutes of the second period were aggressive and fight-filled. Giants defenceman Bailey Dhaliwal squared off with Jarod Newell who took exception to an open ice hit that Dhaliwal had executed seconds beforehand. Both players got tossed.

One shift later a collision in the Tri-City zone resulted in multiple fights. When all was said and done, Davis Koch, Owen Hardy and Kaleb Bullych were kicked out of the game for Vancouver while Riley Bruce, Brett Clayton and Mitchell Brown got shown the door for Tri-City. Shots were 19-19 through two but the G-Men trailed 2-1.

David Tendeck did his part to keep the Giants within one goal. He stopped all 14 shots fired his way in the final period. Vancouver countered with only seven shots of their own, but one of them managed to sneak past Tri-City netminder Talyn Boyko.

For a third time in two games, Brayden Watts came through with a goal for the Giants. This one came from the right-wing half boards and was assisted by Tanner Brown.

Overtime would be needed for a second straight game, only this time the extra five minutes did not yield a winner. That meant shootout.

Neither team scored in the first three rounds as Brayden Watts, Dylan Plouffe and Jared Dmytriw were stopped for the Giants while Isaac Johnson, Kyle Olson and Krystof Hrabik came up empty for Tri-City.

Following a Dawson Holt miss, Tri-City forward Connor Bouchard ended the game when his attempt deflected off the post, off David Tendeck and across the line to improve Tri-City's pre-season record to 2-1.

Final shots were 36-27 for Tri-City. The Giants power play went one-for-three and went four-for-14 through three games this weekend. Tri-City went one-for-three on their man advantage opportunities. Through three games the Giants have only allowed one power play goal and are 12-for-13 on the penalty kill.

Up next for the Giants: A home pre-season matchup with the Victoria Royals on Friday night at 7:00 PM. That marks the first of a four-team, five-game pre-season showcase tournament taking place at the Langley Events Centre.

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Western Hockey League Stories from September 2, 2018


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