Giants teammate made the right call on Hall
Zack Ostapchuk called Adam Hall's shots.
Hall is in the conversation for the best Vancouver Giant so far in this opening-round playoff series against the Everett Silvertips, and linemate Ostapchuk predicted just such a thing, listing Hall as the Giant to watch ahead of the series in an interview with play-by-play man Dan O'Connor.
Everett carries a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference series into Game 4 on Friday at the Langley Events Centre, and Hall has a team-best four goals. The left winger has also been physical all over the ice. And he's played in all situations a ton. The WHL doesn't publish ice time statistics, but it certainly feels like Hall, Ostapchuk and fellow first-liner Fabian Lysell are out there 25 minutes a game for Vancouver.
“I noticed in the last couple of games of the regular season how his game had taken yet another step and he had dialed it in,” Ostapchuk, a centre who's the Giants' team captain, said of why he cited Hall. “He's always seemed like a guy who rises to the occasion.”
The Giants are the underdogs. Vancouver (24-39-5-0) finished eighth in the West, 47 points in back of front-running Everett (45-13-5-5). The Giants split the opening two games of the series on the road. They won 5-4 in overtime in Game 1, behind three goals by Hall, including the winner. Vancouver dropped Game 2 by a 7-3 count.
The series moved to the LEC on Wednesday and the Giants lost 6-2, though they did outshoot Everett 34-24 and had the run of the play for stretches.
“We definitely made some good adjustments last game and we probably deserved a better fate,” Hall said Thursday before stepping into a team meeting at their Ladner Leisure Centre practice digs. “We have to stay on our toes, be physical and keep winning battles.”
Hall, Ostapchuk and Lysell have been crucial to Vancouver so far and will continue to be so. The Giants have 10 goals in the series and Lysell has had a direct hand in eight of them, with one goal and seven assists. Ostapchuk's stats feature four assists.
Lysell and Ostapchuk come with marquee pedigrees. Lysell, who turned 19 in January, was a first-round pick of the Boston Bruins in last summer's NHL draft.
Ostapchuk, 18, was a second-round selection of the Ottawa Senators.
Hall, who turned 21 a month ago, is one of Vancouver's three overagers. He's playing the final games of his WHL career and what comes next is to be determined.
He finished fifth in Giants scoring in the regular season, with 37 points, including 17 goals, in 60 games. Lysell had 62 points, featuring 22 goals, to pace Vancouver, while Ostapchuk's 26 goals led in that category and he was third in points with 43.
The Giants landed Hall in a trade before the abbreviated B.C. hub season last spring, sending a conditional seventh-round 2022 WHL draft pick to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for his rights.
“I know the team needs me to be at my best (in the playoffs) and that's just what I'm trying to do,” Hall, a 6-foot-2, 208-pound, left-handed shot from Edmonton, said. “We need everyone to be at their best.”
He says the fact that his junior career is winding down hasn't set in just yet.
“When I play my last game, it will,” said Hall.
“Right now, I'm just focusing on Game 4.”
Ostapchuk admits that extending the junior careers of Hall and fellow overagers Connor Horning and Alex Cotton — both defenceman — is among the rallying cries.
“We try to play for our 20s. We know those guys really care and they've been through the league and this is their first playoffs in years and that's not been fair to them,” Ostapchuk said, pointing to COVID-19 issues that have wiped out the past two post-seasons. “I think right now we just want to play for them.”