Giants give Rockets all they can handle
Vancouver puts in stellar effort in 3-1 loss to the nation’s No. 1-ranked team
It was a loss with loads to like for the Vancouver Giants Saturday night.
The Giants dropped a 3-1 decision to the Kelowna Rockets at the Pacific Coliseum, despite having the run of the play for massive stretches against the No. 1 team in the WHL standings and the national poll.
It was an intense, uptempo tilt before an announced crowd of 7,121, and one of the more entertaining games at the Pacific Coliseum this season. It was a contrast to Friday, when Kelowna handled Vancouver easily at home, winning 6-0.
Vancouver, which remains seventh in the Western Conference, played the game a skater under the 18-man maximum on Saturday.
And they were missing key players: The feisty, weighty trio of defencemen Dalton Thrower (ankle) and Arvin Atwal (suspension) and forward Tim Traber (ill), as well as crafty Euro forward Dominik Volek (upper body injury). You can argue that they deserved a better fate on night.
Kelowna netminder Jordon Cooke was superb throughout and wound up with 32 saves.
“There are nights when your team isn’t quite up to its energy level and you need your goalie to be your best player,” said Kelowna coach Ryan Huska.
He got some help, too. With Kelowna leading 3-1 with 3:12 remaining in the game, a Carter Popoff shot from in tight popped up over Cooke, hit the crossbar and then pinballed around the crease until it was cleared.
With the Rockets up 2-1 at 15:40 of the second period, Ty Ronning clinked one off the far post after former Giant Marek Tvrdon skated over a loose puck in the Kelowna slot.
A Tvrdon miscue in his own zone wasn’t anything new to Giants fans.
They saw them in his parts of three years with the club.
Defence still isn’t his forte. He remains dynamic offensively and he showed that Saturday, bagging the winner in highlight fashion.
The left-handed shooting winger came around net on his forehand and picked the smallest of shortside holes over Jared Rathjen’s glove at 6:19 of the second.
You can argue that Rathjen should have taken that away.
You can also argue that there are maybe two or three other players in the WHL right now who could score such a goal.
“I think he’s feeling like he finally belongs with us,” said Huska, whose team picked up Tvrdon’s rights from Vancouver for a 2014 second-round bantam pick Jan. 8 and then had the Detroit Red Wings prospect reassign to junior from the ECHL.
“He’s no longer an outsider. He’s part of the group.”
Kelowna (52-9-0-4), which was playing its fourth game in five nights, also got goals from Rourke Chartier and Cole Linaker.
Cain Franson opened the scoring for Vancouver (30-26-7-3). Rathjen made 25 saves.
The Giants, who are home Wednesday to the Kamloops Blazers, are three points behind the Everett Silvertips (32-23-7-2) for sixth spot.
Everett had two games in hand. Vancouver has six games left in league play.