T- Birds toppled by The Callup
Fifteen- year- old goalie shines for Giants, again
At 15, Payton Lee is sometimes mentioned as the Vancouver Giants’ goalie of the future but he appears far ahead of schedule.
The baby- faced midget callup won his second start in two tries Sunday, a 3- 2 victory over the Seattle Thundebirds, and has become the goalie of the present with No. 1 man Adam Morrison sidelined by a head injury.
Morrison’s regular backup, Jackson Whistle, has struggled to get results, prompting coach Don Hay to give Lee an opportunity. The move turned out to be a mah- vellous one.
“Obviously I didn’t expect to win two games,” Lee said. “I just thought I was going to come here and back up Jackson, who is a great goalie. It’s been great to get some experience here.”
Lee, selected 28th in last May’s bantam draft, stopped 24 Seattle shots to accompany the 19 saves he had in his Friday debut against Everett. Both were one- goal games but Lee showed no panic in the dying minutes either night.
Hay, a hard man to please, was impressed.
“He had a good weekend,” said The Don. “To come in and get two wins for us at a real critical time was important. He plays with a lot of confidence and he doesn’t get rattled. Hopefully, he can continue to improve.”
Lee had an interesting night Sunday as the Giants held the T- Birds without a single shot during the first period. The shot total climbed to nine in the middle periood and 17 in the third when Seattle netted both of its goals, one on a scramble and the other on a power play.
The Giants didn’t ice their strongest lineup in front of Lee with top defenceman David Musil ( wrist) and top scorer Brendan Gallagher ( shoulder) still sidelined by injury.
“For a callup goalie, at age 15, it can be intimidating in any league,” noted Giants defenceman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen. “Payton played very well for us. He looked really confident back there and, whenever your goalie is playing confidently, it puts confidence in the whole team.”
The Giants had a near perfect weekend, collecting five of six points. They lost 4- 3 in a shootout Saturday in Kelowna with Whistle between the pipes.
Slovak winger Marek Tvrdon continued his strong offensive play in the absence of Gallagher and extended his points streak to eight games Sunday ( 4- 10- 14) with the game- winning goal and an assist. Tvrdon set up all three Vancouver goals in Kelowna.
“Marek has been working harder and it’s paying off,” Hay said. “He is being rewarded.”
A Detroit Red Wing draft pick last June, Tvrdon has 50 points in 41 games, just five behind Gallagher’s team- leading 55.
The news on the injury front was also encouraging as Hay said that Gallagher, Musil and Morrison are all on the threegame trip to Alberta that begins Wednesday in Red Deer. Their availability will be determined after Tuesday’s practice.