Vancouver Giants are learning how to deal with playoff adversity
They got ahead of themselves after winning Game 1 of the opening round of these playoffs by a 7-1 count over the Seattle Thunderbirds, ending up largely just spectators in a 4-1 Game 2 loss to Thunderbirds a night later.
The Giants beat Victoria 3-0 in Game 1 on Friday at the Langley Events Centre, giving up a measly 15 shots. They had the run of the play for the majority of Saturday again at the LEC, but Royals netminder Griffen Outhouse, who has flustered and flummoxed the Giants more times than they would want to admit during his WHL career, was having one of those nights where he could snag buckshot with a butterfly net.
The @victoriaroyals are on the board with a goal from Ralph Jarratt and we have a tied game! #VANvsVIC | #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/HCoz9oQauo This is an older Giants team than we’ve seen the past few years. They have seven players in their 19-year-old season. A year ago, when they made the playoffs for the first time in four springs and lost in seven games to the Royals in the opening round, they had four 19 year olds.
Michael Dyck was hired as bench boss last summer after new general manager Barclay Parneta fired Jason McKee and stressed team defence upon his arrival. Vancouver opened the regular season in September winning both ends of a home-and-home weekend series against the Everett Silvertips by identical 3-1 counts and those victories in that style over a club that had given the Giants fits for years further spearheaded buy-in from the players to Dyck’s philosophies.
Dyck came with the added advantage that he had guided the Lethbridge Hurricanes to the WHL finals in 2007-08, and he brought his former junior teammate Jamie Heward to be his top assistant. Heward was part of the coaching staff of the Swift Current Broncos team that won the league crown last spring.
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