Gigantic upset victory within reach
Up 3-2 in series, Vancouver has two shots at knocking off first-place Everett Silvertips
The Vancouver Giants have one of the greatest playoff upsets in Western Hockey League history within their grasp.
The Giants, who took the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference, carry a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven quarterfinal against the firstplace Everett Silvertips with Game 6 today at the Langley Events Centre.
Since the junior league went to a 16-team post-season split between two conferences in 2002, a No. 8 seed has never beaten a No. 1 in the first round of the playoffs, according to the league offices.
A Game 7 between the Giants and Silvertips, if necessary, would be Wednesday in Everett.
Vancouver (24-39-5-0) finished 47 points back of Everett (45-13-5-5) in the regular season.
“I think the key for us, very simply, is understanding that we’re going to have to play our best game of the series to close this out,” Giants coach Michael Dyck said Sunday. “The fourth win is always the hardest. And Everett is a very good team. It’s not a fluke that they had 100 points in the regular season.
“This series is not over.” Everett’s regular season performance won them the U.S. Division title, along with that Western Conference banner. The last time a division champion was ousted in the first round was 2018, when the Kelowna Rockets were swept by the Tri-City Americans.
The Western playoffs then featured the top three teams from both the U.S. and B.C. divisions, plus two wild cards. Kelowna was the No. 2 seed as B.C. champion, while Tri-City was the No. 7 team as the first wild card. The Rockets and Americans were separated by only eight points in league play, though.
The Kamloops Blazers were the No. 1 team in the West in 2002 and were swept in the first round by Kelowna. Those playoffs stayed divisional in the first round. Kelowna was the fourth-place team in B.C. but the No. 6 seed in the West, ahead of two U.S. teams.
There were eight points between those Blazers and Rockets that year.
A complete list of first round upsets by point differential is more difficult to track down. One of best known upsets in league history came in 1997, when the Prince George Cougars (28-36-3) beat out the Portland Winterhawks (46-20-1) in six games, ousting a team that was 36 points in front of them in league play.
Portland and Prince George were both a part of a seven-team West Division then and the sixth-place Cougars landed the final playoff spot out of the loop.
Vancouver did come into this season with heightened expectations. That started out with four NHL draft picks in centres Justin Sourdif (3rd rd., 2020, Florida Panthers) and Zack Ostapchuk (2nd rd., 2021, Ottawa Senators), winger Fabian Lysell (1st rd., 2021, Boston Bruins) and goaltender Jesper Vikman (5th rd., 2020, Vegas Golden Knights). They added another a via trade in defenceman Alex Cotton (5th rd., 2020, Detroit Red Wings).
They were built for a playoff run, featuring 10 players in their 19-year-old seasons on the roster much of the year.
They never seemed to stay in sync for long, though. They would get out of their systems and far too individual, far too quickly. They were sellers at the Jan. 17 trade deadline, moving out Sourdif and veteran defenceman Tanner Brown, and they struggled mightily down the stretch, losing 11 of their final 12 games (1-10-1-0).
Maybe the pressure being scaled back has helped. The Giants have played much more connected in these playoffs so far. They seemed more relaxed, more poised. It’s been particularly prevalent on the power play. Vancouver has had the makings of a top-five power play unit with the likes of Lysell and Cotton in tow, but they placed 18th in the 22-team league in the regular season with a 17.7 per cent success rate (43-of243).
Through five games against Everett, they’re at 37.9 per cent (11-of-29).
The expectations, one could argue, are starting to rise, with the possibility of advancing.
Dyck says he’s not concerned about that.
“We haven’t focused on winning as much as we’ve focused on playing the right way,” said Dyck.
Vancouver won Game 5 Saturday in Everett by a 3-0 count, led by a 50-save effort from Vikman.
Vancouver rested him Game 2 of this series and he’s played the remainder of the series so far.
Everett winger Niko Huuhtanen, who is leading his team in scoring in this series with five goals and 10 points, had to be helped off the ice in the second period on Saturday with what looked like a leg injury and there’s no word when he might be ready to return to action.