Giants shooting for first win of 2021 after falling to Kamloops in opener
The 384-day wait is a thing of the past for the Vancouver Giants, who were playing the second game of their WHL season Sunday night against the Kelowna Rockets at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
Coach Michael Dyck had a simple message after the Giants' first game of the WHL's B.C. Division hub season, played Friday at the Sandman.
“When we checked, played heavy and got pucks to the net, we were hard to play against. When we didn't, we were on our heels and chased the game,” Dyck explained, via text message Saturday morning, after the Giants' 7-3 loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
It was the Giants' first game since a 4-3 overtime loss on the road to the Prince George Cougars on March 7, 2020. COVID -19 shut down the WHL after that.
The league has all of its 22 teams up and running now, with the B.C. loop — featuring the Giants, Blazers, Cougars, Rockets and Victoria Royals — the last one to get returnto-play approval from its health authorities.
Vancouver, Kamloops, Kelowna, Prince George and Victoria are playing 24-game seasons in empty arenas at the Sandman in Kamloops and Prospera Place in Kelowna.
Vancouver and Prince George are staying in a hotel in Kamloops, while Victoria is doing the same in Kelowna. The Blazers and Rockets are staying at their billet homes.
The WHL is paying for extra COVID-19 testing for all players and staff across its four divisions. On Friday, the league announced that it had administered 1,002 tests for COVID-19 last week with zero positive results across its four divisions. For the season, the league has administered 4,094 tests and had one positive test.
The Rockets, who missed out on hosting the Memorial Cup national championship last spring because of COVID -19, opened proceedings on Friday with a 5-0 blanking of the Royals at Prospera.
Forward Alex Swetlikoff had two goals, while Cole Schwebius made 19 saves in the Kelowna cage.
Vancouver dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen against the Blazers. They were carrying 13 forwards and eight forwards.
Veteran netminder Trent Miner backed up newcomer Drew Sim against the Blazers and is expected to get the call against the Rockets. Miner, who turned 20 in February, only started skating with the Giants midway through this past week, coming off a 14-day quarantine as he had been playing with the Colorado Eagles, the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.
Miner was 2-3-1 with a 2.86 goals against average and a .903 save percentage with the Eagles, and Giants general manager Barclay Parneta says that he's received glowing reports on Miner from Avalanche brass.
The Avalanche picked Miner in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL draft. He hasn't signed a contract yet, but he's trending towards skipping his overage season with Vancouver next fall and playing instead somewhere in Colorado's system. Miner is 41-20-3-2, with a 2.56 goals against average and a .909 save percentage over three seasons with Vancouver.
Sim, who turned 18 in February, was the second goalie picked in the 2018 WHL bantam draft, going in the third round to the Giants.
Dyck said that the plan is to split the goaltending load in this hub season.
Sim, in his third WHL appearance and second start, gave up seven goals on 27 shots. He didn't receive much assistance from his defence, though.
Kamloops was in top spot in the B.C. Division when the WHL shut down last March and they have the best team on paper in the loop again this season.
They feature forward Connor Zary and goaltender Dylan Garand, both members of the Canadian entry that took silver at the world juniors in January. Zary was a first-round pick, No. 24 overall, of the Calgary Flames in October's NHL Draft, and fellow Kamloops forward Logan Stankoven is pegged as a possible first rounder in this summer's NHL Draft.
Zary had three assists Friday, Stankoven a goal and an assist.
Bryce Bader, Tristen Nielsen and Eric Florchuk scored the Vancouver goals.