Three things to keep an eye on
Goalie Tendeck, experience among keys to Giants-Royals playoff series
The Vancouver Giants are back in the Western Hockey League playoffs for the first time in four springs.
Here are three things to watch in their best-of-seven opening-round series against the Victoria Royals, which opens Friday on Vancouver Island:
Finding patience
Tyler Benson, James Malm, Dylan Plouffe, Bowen Byram and David Tendeck are among the notable names with this year’s Giants. Byram is up for the WHL’s rookie of the year award. They have something else in common. They haven’t played a WHL playoff game yet between them.
Vancouver has 76 combined WHL playoff games on their roster, much of it coming from trade additions Jared Dmytriw (26 games) and Brennan Riddle (22). Victoria counters with 317 games of post-season experience.
How will Vancouver handle the pressure of the post-season? How will they handle the adversity that comes in the playoffs? Maybe they’ll crumble. Or maybe they’re too young to worry. History suggests it won’t be easy. The 1992-93 Brandon Wheat Kings made a 62-point improvement in a single year, riding a 43-25-4 record to their first playoff appearance in five springs. They lost in the first round. They made the league final in 1994-95 and then won the WHL banner in 1995-96.
Finding health
Benson and Ty Ronning ended up sharing the Giants’ team most valuable player award, but Tendeck undoubtedly received consideration for the honour from team officials after his 25-16-3-2 campaign, which featured a 3.02 goals against average and .912 save percentage.
Tendeck’s numbers are all the more impressive when you factor in that Vancouver is young and likes to push offensively, and can leave their goalie under siege. Tendeck (upper body injury) missed the final three regular-season games and he continued to miss regular team practices on Wednesday, so there’s question about whether he’ll be ready for Friday.
Tendeck has skated this week in goalie-on sessions, though. Vancouver will practise Thursday in Victoria. Trent Miner, who joined Vancouver at the trade deadline from the Brandon midget ranks, is a highly touted youngster, but he has just nine WHL appearances under his belt. If you’re a Giants fan, you’re more comfortable with Tendeck being available at this point.
Finding momentum
It’ll be interesting to see how Vancouver draws for Games 3 (Tuesday) and 4 (Thursday) at the Langley Events Centre. There’s been a noticeable increase in energy in the LEC down the stretch, and Vancouver attracted a crowd of 4,624 for their home finale on Friday against the Kelowna Rockets.
Giants fans haven’t seen their team in playoff hockey the past three springs. The Vancouver Canucks aren’t going to the post-season. What will it mean for attendance in this series? For those keeping score at home, Vancouver averaged crowd of 3,383 in their 36 home regular-season games.