Goaltender Tendeck ready to return
GIANTS: But defenceman Skeoch out after three-game suspension for checking-to-the-head major
David Tendeck’s return to the Vancouver Giants’ lineup appears imminent. Darian Skeoch is a different story.
Tendeck (upper-body injury) was a full participant at practice Monday, suggesting that Vancouver’s No. 1 goalie could be ready Tuesday for Game 3 of their best-of-seven WHL opening-round playoff series against the Victoria Royals at the Langley Events Centre (7 p.m., TSN 1040).
The series, which marks the Giants’ first playoff appearance in four seasons, is knotted at 1-1. Trent Miner has sparkled in the Vancouver goal so far, including making 40 stops in a 2-1 win Friday in Game 1 on Vancouver Island.
Giants general manager Glen Hanlon said that the team will make a
decision on who gets the call in goal Tuesday, which is exactly what you’d expect someone in Hanlon’s spot to say at this secretive time of year.
Meanwhile, the WHL head office announced Monday that the Giants won’t have Skeoch’s services Tuesday. The defenceman was given a three-game suspension for the checking-to-the-head major he received Friday for a hit on Victoria winger Dino Kambeitz.
Skeoch sat out Saturday’s 5-4 loss in Victoria, meaning that he’ll also miss Game 4 Thursday (7 p.m., TSN 1040) at the LEC before he’s eligible to return to the lineup. Game 5 is Saturday at the Royals’ Save-OnFoods Memorial Centre (7:05 p.m., TSN 1040).
Kambeitz didn’t return Friday after the Skeoch hit and didn’t play Saturday. Victoria GM Cameron Hope explained via text message Monday that he had no injury updates.
Hanlon admitted that Vancouver had asked the league to review Chaz Reddekopp’s hit on Giants winger Brayden Watts on Saturday, but the league opted to not give the Victoria defenceman a suspension. The referees didn’t have their arms in the air immediately after the Reddekopp hit. He received a minor penalty, but there was also a scrum after the check.
Watts left the game and didn’t return; he looked woozy and disoriented, much like Kambeitz did Friday.
Watts wasn’t skating with the Giants on Monday.
Skeoch had been suspended three times over his WHL career before this current forced absence. Reddekopp has been suspended three times as well.
Besides Kambeitz, there are questions about the status of Victoria centres Tyler Soy and Tanner Kaspick. Soy, the Royals’ second-leading scorer, left Victoria’s regular-season finale early and didn’t play in either of the first two games of this series. Kaspick, who was a key Victoria trade acquisition from the Brandon Wheat Kings, left Saturday in the third period after a check by Vancouver forward Justin Sourdif. He didn’t return to the game.
The Royals have also been without veteran defenceman Scott Walford.
Tendeck, 18, made the WHL’s Western Conference second allstar team after fashioning a 25-163-2 record, a 3.02 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in his second season with the Giants. He also sat out Vancouver’s final three regular-season games. He went the distance in his last start, a 4-3 loss on the road to the Tri-City Americans on March 11.
Miner, who turned 17 in February, had just nine games of WHL experience under his belt before the playoffs started. He joined Vancouver from the Brandon, Man., midget ranks after the Jan. 10 trade deadline, due to Vancouver dealing away Todd Scott to the Edmonton Oil Kings as part of the swap that brought forward Davis Koch to Vancouver.
The Giants (36-27-6-3) finished third in the B.C. Division, three points behind Victoria (39-27-4-2).