Giants defeat Winter Hawks, score 17 goals over two games

It was a fantastic weekend for the Vancouver Giants, who, scored 17 goals, in just two games, one against Seattle, the other versus Portland.

The Portland game was a tough act to follow, after the thumping of the Thunderbirds on Friday night.

Giants scratches:

Simon Witt (Healthy)
Brendan Gallagher (Healthy)
Curtis Kulchar (Out for 3-4 weeks)
Todd Kennedy (Day to Day)
Mitch Spooner (Was re-assigned for the rest of the season last week)

Two early penalties for the Giants didn't end up hurting them, despite Mikhail Fisenko getting sent off just 36 seconds inito the game, before JT Barnett tripped an opponent two minutes later, as Portland couldn't capitalize on either Powerplay.

Unfortunately for the Winter Hawks, Vancouver is a better team with the man advantage, and a soft goal, off of a weak slapshot from Jon Blum, beat Kurtis Mucha, and Vancouver, like that, took an early 1-0 lead.

The luck continued, as Lance Bouma scored his 3rd goal of the campaign 10 minutes later, also on the Powerplay.

Casey Pierro-Zabotel added a tally under two minutes later, bringing the Giants lead to 3 goals, after a period.

With Portland's two mistakes, penalties, that lead to Giants goals, the Winter Hawks, and Vancouver, in fact, laid off on the penalties, and went over 30 minutes, without a referee having to send a player to the sin bin.

The Giants dominance continued early on in the 2nd, with Craig Schira scoring his 3rd of the year a mere 24 seconds into the period. Brad Ross of Portland responded with a goal of his own, just 18 seconds later, his 1st of the season.

Despite the 4-1 lead, Vancouver felt it needed to add to that total. Evander Kane added to the lead with his 6th as a member of the '08-'09 Giants, three minutes after Portland's first of the game. 5-1 G-Men after two.

One night after scoring his first 3 WHL goals, Andrej Kudrna scored his 4th in the 'Dub, to give his team a 5 goal advantage.

James Henry scored an unassisted marker, late in the game, 7-1 Giants, which was the final score.

It was a great game to be at, and Giants netminder Jamie Tucker was great between the pipes, in his home debut.

Road Kill Sports Three Stars:

1. Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Vancouver: CPZ or 'The Hyphen' had a goal and three assists, and was easily the best player on the ice for Vancouver last night.

2. Evander Kane, Vancouver: Kandy had more than the one opportunity for a goal, but only managed the one. He also had two assists to go along with a +3 rating.

3. Jon Blum, Vancouver: Blum was a leader on the ice, ending up being +4, and had a weak goal, but still was a team leader, and helped his club to victory.

Giants next play Friday, as they host Kelowna.