Adam Hall had two goals for the winners, while Justin Sourdif and Ty Thorpe each have one goal and two assists and rookie defender Mazden Leslie contributes three assists.
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The Vancouver Giants looked dangerous on offense for some stretches and sloppy in their own zone for others in their first home game on Friday.
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Vancouver (2-0-0-0) took a 6-4 win over the Prince George Cougars (0-2-0-0) at Langley Events Center before 50 percent of their capacity was depleted. 2,638. It was the Giants’ first game in the LEC since February 28, 2020. Due to COVID-19 concerns, last season was played in empty stadiums in Kamloops and Kelowna.
The Giants scored three goals at 5:06 in the first period after Prince George opened the scoring, and then scored three more in a row between the midpoint of the second leg and the later stages of the third after the Cougars scored the marker 3-3.
The Cougars got a goal with 40 seconds left in the game to cut the margin, but never really threatened to take control of second-half proceedings.
The showdown was a lot like the early season contest that it was, with a lack of fluidity and cohesion. There were points where Vancouver coughed up records in its own area and got caught running.
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All in all, it was still pretty easy for Vancouver fans to come home happily.
The four front lines had their moments. The trio of 17-year-old Julian Cull and 16-year-old Ty Halaburda and Ethan Semeniuk were particularly good in the second period and were rewarded with Semeniuk scoring his first career goal in the WHL at 12:31 p.m. that frame to put the 4-3 Vancouver.
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16-year-old defender Mazden Leslie had three assists. Front-line center Justin Sourdif and second-line center Ty Thorpe scored one goal and two assists. Frontline winger Adam Hall counted two goals. Sophomore winger Justin Lies had the other marker.
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“I thought there were a lot of moments where we reviewed really well,” Giants coach Michael Dyck said. “The second period we were not reviewing it. The second period we chased him. The first period and most of the third period we were alert and that was the game plan. “
The ice just hit the Langley Event Center this week and Dyck says there were some unusual bounces off the puck as a result. That may have influenced the neglected moments.
“I think when we kept it simple, we were fine,” he said.
Prince George forward Kyren Gronick had a goal and an assist in the lost cause. Cougars goalkeeper Taylor Gauthier made 29 saves. Vancouver’s Jesper Vikman parried 32 shots.
Vancouver winger Kaden Kohle had to be helped off the ice in the second period after undergoing heavy control on open ice. Dyck did not have an update after the game. Obviously, there are concerns about concussions.
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Vancouver played the game with 13 forwards and five defenders. Missing 18-year-old blue line player Brenden Pentecost (upper body injury), who was left out of the season opener last week against the Victoria Royals after injuring himself in the final preseason game against Prince George . Thursday so he can be back for his next game, which will be next Saturday when the Kamloops Blazers come to town. Surplus Blue Line player Cade McNelly has two more games than the five-game suspension he received last spring while playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Vancouver was also without forward Fabian Lysell (upper body injury) on Friday. The Boston Bruins first round didn’t practice with the team all week. He did not play in the closing minutes of the first game of the Vancouver season.
Reference-theprovince.com