Giants 5, Blazers 2: Vancouver storms back to keep the run alive

Article content

The Vancouver Giants’ unlikely run continues to show staying power.

Article content

The Giants beat the Kamloops Blazers 5-2 Friday night at the Sandman Center in Kamloops to cut the Blazers’ lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference seminars to 3-2.

Game 6 is Sunday at 4 pm at the Langley Events Centre. Game 7, if necessary, would be Tuesday in Kamloops.

The Giants (24-39-5-0) grabbed the eighth and final playoff spot in the West on the final night of the regular season, winding up one point ahead of the Victoria Royals (23-39-5-1). Vancouver beat the No. 1 seeded Everett Silvertips (45-13-5-5), who finished 47 points ahead of them in the regular season, in six games in the first round.

NEXT GAME

Sunday: Game 6

Kamloops Blazers vs. Vancouver Giants

(Kamloops leads best-of-seven series 3-2)

Article content

4pm, Langley Events Centre. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

Kamloops (48-17-3-0) was the No. 2 seed after coming in one point behind Everett.

“The group overall just didn’t quit. They want their season to continue on, to continue to push through the playoffs here,” associate coach Keith McCambridge said on the Sportsnet 650 post-game show.

Adam Hall had two goals for Vancouver Friday, including one into an empty net. He’s one of the Giants’ three overagers, meaning that Friday could have been his final WHL game for him. Hall is up to 10 goals in these playoffs.

Ty Thorpe and Zack Ostapchuk scored two goals 59 seconds apart early in the third period to turn a 2-1 Blazers lead into a 3-2 Vancouver advantage.

Kamloops has shown an ability to close out games this season. They were 38-1-2-0 when leading after two periods in the regular season.

Article content

Ostapchuk scored later into an empty net as well, giving him seven goals in the playoffs.

The Blazers’ comeback bid took a hit when they were assessed a too many men penalty at 17:53 of the third period. The Giants lost Game 4 by a 4-2 count on Thursday and their comeback bid was hampered by receiving too many players on the ice penalty at 18:09 of the third period.

Luke Toporowski and Matthew Seminoff scored for Kamloops.

Jesper Vikman made 35 saves for Vancouver. Dylan Garand made 21 for Kamloops.

The Giants are 3-4-0-0 in the playoffs when being outshot in the playoffs The Portland Winterhawks, who are 2-1-0-0 in that circumstance, are the only other team with more than one such win in these playoffs .

“He was so good. He’s so calm, cool, collected, to the point that we almost take it for granted with how he makes those saves look so easy,” McCambridge explained. “We’ve always said that if we can just get our foot in the door with this team, we know that Jesper VIkman’s goaltending gives us exactly what you need and that’s a chance to win every single game.”

Article content

The Giants did lose defenseman Alex Cotton to injury midway through the game. I have quarterbacks the power-play unit. He’s one of the three 20 year olds, along with Hall and defenseman Connor Horning All McCambridge said on the post-game show about Cotton was “we’re hoping he’s back sooner than later.”

unhappy anniversary

Friday was the three-year anniversary of the Giants losing 3-2 in overtime to the Prince Albert Raiders in Prince Albert in Game 7 of the 2019 WHL championship series. Dante Hannoun scored at 18:25 of the extra session for Prince Albert.

The Raiders lost all three of their games at the Memorial Cup national tournament in Halifax that followed.

That was the last WHL championship series, with COVID-19 pandemic calling off the 2020 playoffs and last season being played only in regional hubs.

Article content

Friday also marked the 50th birthday of Darryl Sydor, the former Blazers star defenseman and the father of 19-year-old Blazers forward Dylan Sydor.

Bochek’s grit

Vancouver winger Kyle Bochek, who left Game 4 Thursday in the first period with an undisclosed injury, didn’t dress Friday. Underage call-up winger Justin Ivanusec took his place in the lineup.

Vancouver has used 26 players in the playoffs. The Blazers, by contrast, have been called on 20.

Vancouver lost defenseman Mazden Leslie (lower body injury) and winger Colton Langkow (lower body injury) in this series. They lost winger Payton Mount (upper body injury) in the Everett series.

They did get winger Cole Shepard (lower body injury) back. He played in Game 4 Thursday, marking his first action of it since March 16. He also played Friday.

Article content

Bochek is among that group of Giants whose game stepped up dramatically in the playoffs, finding a niche as a gritty forward and capable penalty killer.

It’ll be interesting to see where he fits in Vancouver’s 19-year-old class next season. I have split this season between Vancouver and the Saskatchewan Junior A Melville Millionaires.

Sourdif vs. Brown

The Giants dealt center and team captain Justin Sourdif to the Edmonton Oil Kings and defenseman and alternate captain Tanner Brown to the Winnipeg Ice at the Jan. 17 trade deadline.

The top-seeded Ice will face the No. 2 Oil Kings in Eastern Conference final starting next Friday. Winnipeg beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 6-3 Friday in Winnipeg to win their best-of-seven semifinal in five games. Edmonton had finished off a sweep of the Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday.

Sourdif has two goals and seven points in eight playoff games. Brown has four assists in 10 playoff match-ups.

Article content

Article content

[email protected]

twitter.com/steveewen

More news, fewer ads, faster load time: Get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, the Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites for just $14/month or $140/year. Subscribe now through The Vancouver Sun or The Province.