Photo Credit D. Laird Allan/Sportswave
Locally the Vancouver Giants continue to impress hockey fans in the area given the talent the Giants GM Barclay Parneta has managed to get on the roster coming out of training camp.
True not every game will see the home team manage a win but there is more to winning than putting points in the “W” column.
The Giants have over the past years acquired several quality draft selections along with various trades from season to season.
Last season the talk was about the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game January 25th at the Langley Events Centre.
The game puts on display top NHL Draft eligible talent from the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and Western Hockey League all putting their talent on display in front of NHL scouts from all NHL clubs.
The CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game was last held in Kitchener in March 2022 where Team White defeated Team Red 3-1.
Jagger Firkus (Team White/Moose Jaw Warriors) and Shane Wright (Team Red/Kingston Frontenacs) were named Players of the Game and were both later selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2022 NHL Draft.
In all, 38 players who competed in the 2022 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game were chosen in the 2022 NHL Draft headlined by Wright at fourth overall.
Last season it was all about Connor Bedard, the North Vancouver product who put his talents to the test in front of a sellout crowd to which he never disappointed.
Fast forward to this season the Giants wrapped up training camp in early September with a press conference announcing Manny Viveiros as their new coach as well as introducing Nathan Kanter as their new play-by-play person working with Bill Wilms.
Everyone knows that not all teams can win every game but having the overall support of a solid fan base is worth its weight in gold.
Wednesday saw the G-men host the Medicine Hat Tigers who are coached by Willie Desjardins – yes the former Canucks coach from 2014-15 to 2016-17 then moved on to LA as their Head Coach.
It was great to be able to catch up with him and chat with his son who attended St. Georges while they were living in Vancouver at the Olympic Village.
Medicine Hat came out hard and dominated the first period, out shooting the Giants 14-6 and scoring a shorthanded goal to go into the room up 1 -0.
The second period was a strange one. The Tigers outshot the Giants 19-11 but the Giants scored the two goals to the Tigers one to end the period 2-2.
The third was even with the Giants outshooting the Tigers 11-8 but nothing was decided so into OT they went.
Despite the weather there were 2720 fans who braved the elements to catch the action that were entertained to a game that saw the eventual winner in an O/T contest with the Tigers pulling out the win.
On another note it was a highlight for yours truly as I was privileged to watch my Grandson officiate his first WHL game in Vancouver along with my Daughter taking in the action.
With the overtime setback, the Giants are now 2-3-1-0 this season while the Tigers improve to 6-3-1 this season.
The Giants got goals from Jakob Oreskovic and Skyler Bruce while Brett Mirwald pulled out a 45-save performance only to have Oasiz Wiesblatt score the O/T winner while Brayden Boehm and Tomas Mrsic got the other goals.
As if I can take the credit there are so many who have helped grow Bradley to enable him to reach this level of the game while adding that his Mom, my Daughter Annette also came up through the system and helped out at various clinics.
In 3 on 3 OT, the Giants took a penalty but killed it off but at 2:36’ the Tigers scored the winner in a game that saw Mirwald stop 45/48 and was clearly the game’s 1st Star.
Next up for a home game for the Giants will see them host a Referee Appreciation Game that will see them wear sweaters that are black and white.
Interesting!!!!!!
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