Overtime penalty costly for Giants
Winnipeg Jets winger Evander Kane was known for offence when he played for the Vancouver Giants but even he could appreciate the titanic, playoff- type defensive battle that unfolded Wednesday on Evander Kane Bobblehead Night at Pacific Coliseum.
The Giants and Tri- City Americans kept goals to a minimum and needed overtime before the Americans finally emerged with a 2- 1 victory on Justin Feser’s power- play goal at 2: 09 of the extra period. Grinding hockey it was. Pretty hockey it wasn’t.
“I thought we played well and played hard and did a lot of good things,” commented Giants head coach Don Hay, “Unfortunately we took the penalty in overtime and you can only give them so many opportunities before they’re going to cash in. They’re a very talented team with some top- end guys and they took advantage of our mistake.”
Giants centre Jordan Martinook, who had been a heroic figure checking and killing penalties through 60 minutes, took the OT penalty when he tripped Tri- City defenceman Drydn Dow after losing the puck in his own zone.
The Americans’ power play had been 0- for- 6 to that point with only two shots but came through when Feser one- timed a Patrick Holland feed past Adam Morrison at 2: 09 of the extra period.
“It was a hard- fought game and I made a stupid mistake at the end,” said a distraught Martinook. “It cost us. It hurts a little but knowing I left the guys kind of stranded there.”
Although there were other marginal penalties called in the game, this one was legit. Even Martinook didn’t attempt to claim he was cheated.
“I was just going for the puck and got a little too aggressive and he [ Dow] went down,” he lamented. “They have one of the best power plays in the league and if you give them a chance 4- on- 3, they’re going to capitalize. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth.”
Entering the game, it appeared the Giants would have their hands full with the Americans, ranked fifth this week among all major junior teams. Their lineup featured three players — Brendan Shinnimin, Adam Hughesman and Holland — all with more than 100 points, the first time this feat has been accomplished since the 1995- 96 WHL season.
Predictably, the trio were in on both Tri- City goals as Hughesman scored the first, Holland assisted on both and Shinnimin collected one helper on Feser’s game winner.
Shinnimin leads the league with 121 points and has points in 18 straight games. Hughesman is fifth with 105 and Holland sixth at 103. Holland also has a points streak of 15 games in progress.
The Americans’ best player Wednesday, however, was netminder Ty Rimmer, who allowed an early bad- angle goal to Giants forward Dalton Sward and then slammed the door shut to finish with 26 saves. Among them were five- alarm stops on Neil Manning, Nathan Burns and Taylor Makin.
The Giants remained tied for fourth in the Western Conference standings with the Spokane Chiefs, who lost 3- 2 Wednesday in a shootout to Kelowna. The Giants have just five games left on their schedule and they’ll play three of them this weekend when they entertain Kamloops on Friday, visit Kamloops Saturday and then return home Sunday against the Victoria Royals.
Spokane has six remaining games — two against TriCity, two against the Seattle Thunderbirds and one each against the Kootenay Ice and Kamloops Blazers. Four of the Chiefs’ remaining six are at home. Both the Giants and Chiefs will conclude regularseason play March 17.
Attendance Wednesday was 8,536.
G- NOTES: Forward Anthony Ast, the Giants’ first pick in the 2010 bantam draft, is out for the year with a high ankle sprain. Ast, 17, finished his rookie season with five goals and 10 assists in 42 games ... Giants affiliate player Brodyn Nielsen has joined the team full- time with his junior B club, the North Vancouver Wolf Pack, eliminated from its playoffs. Nielsen is a 5- foot- 10, 170- pound forward ... Giants minority owners Pat Quinn and Lewis Buble were part of the pre- game ceremony in which Evander Kane was inducted into the team’s ring of honour.