“This is what (Owen Hardy’s) built for. He’s a hard guy to play against. He’s heavy, he’s hard on pucks. He’s so valuable to us right now.”
VICTORIA — When Owen Hardy hit the post with the goalie out of position in the last playoff series against the Seattle Thunderbirds, Vancouver Giants coach Michael Dyck told Hardy not to worry because “he was saving it for a bigger moment.”Hardy’s second marker of the evening and second of the Western Hockey League post-season was the winner in a 5-4 overtime decision against the Victoria Royals at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
Hardy and regular linemates Jared Dmytriw and Dawson Holt wore out the Thunderbirds’ defencemen with their intensity and cycle game, and now it appears they’re starting to do the same with the Royals. Hardy, who turned 20 in February, was part of the 2014 bantam draft class that Vancouver has been building around the past two or three seasons. The Nanaimo product was a second-round pick, 42nd overall and one of five selections that Vancouver had in the opening two rounds.
“I’m thinking one game at a time, one shift at time,” said Hardy. “I can only control how I play. There’s been times I haven’t handled things very well. Now, I think I’ve matured. I’m not basing the way I play on goals and assists. I just want to play hard. It all comes with experience. Vancouver has remained patient so far, and Hardy says that’s tied to “knowing how good we are when we play our game.”
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