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AHA MEDIA attended Game Five of the WHL Western Conference between Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets
AHA MEDIA was pleased to be able to attend the fifth game of the WHL Western Conference between Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets. 
AHA MEDIA was able to go to this game courtesy to Graham Lloyd , Account Manager, 99.3 The FOX http://www.cfox.com
Thanks Graham!
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The Vancouver Giants have once again put themselves squarely behind the eight ball by losing the pivotal fifth game in the WHL Western conference final to the Kelowna Rockets 1-0 on Saturday at the Coliseum. They also trailed their semi final series with the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 before winning the final two games to advance to the finals against the Rockets.
The Giants will be hard pressed to repeat that feat against a bigger, tougher Kelowna squad however. The Calgary Hitmen await the winner of this series, considered by many knowledgeable observers as the best Junior team in the country.
The first period was a close checking affair for most of the period with the Rockets scoring the games only goal late in the first amid a scramble in front of the Vancouver net. The officials allowed both teams to play and penalty calls were rare. Kelowna outshot the Giants by a 12 to 6 margin in the first.
The second period saw more of the same tight checking action with both teams managing only four shots on net each. The Giants appeared to have evened the score late in the second when the puck went into the net past the Rocket goalie at 2:16 left in the period. The goal was disallowed after video review determined that the puck was kicked into the net by the Vancouver player. The Rockets thoroughly out hustled the Giants in this period.
The final frame saw the Giants finally put pressure on the Kelowna squad and in fact forced three Kelowna penalties in a row. They even had a two-man advantage for a minute and a half but could not solve the Rockets’ netminder. The final shot on goal tally was 25-23 in favor of the Giants.
Once again the size advantage showed as the Rockets out muscled and out hustled the Giants at every turn pushing them of the puck and forcing turnovers. The3 Vancouver side will have it’s work cut out for them in game six at a tough Kelowna building.
Go Giants! 🙂
AHA MEDIA attended Game Two of the WHL Western Conference between Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets
AHA MEDIA was excited to be able to attend the second game of the WHL Western Conference between Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets. 🙂
AHA MEDIA was able to go to this game courtesy to Graham Lloyd , Account Manager, 99.3 The FOX http://www.cfox.com
Thanks Graham! 🙂
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The Vancouver Giants dodged a huge bullet on Sunday evening in their second game of the WHL western final by defeating the Kelowna Rockets 4-3 in overtime at the Pacific Coliseum. They evened the series at one game apiece and head to Kelowna for game three on Tuesday.
The Giants came out on Sunday night, intending to put their horrible start the night before behind them.
While they were thoroughly outplayed in game one it was imperative that Vancouver even the series before going on the road into a tough building in Kelowna. The Giants were impressive in responding to the physical play of the larger Rockets team which dominated in the first game. There was a lot of rough play with nine penalties assessed to the Rockets and six to the Giants, mostly for roughing and high sticking. The Giants were able to adapt to the rough play however and scored on two power plays.
The first period was action packed, where the Giants outshot the Kelowna Rockets and scored a goal.
The second period was almost the same high intensity with Vancouver outshooting their opponents with goals for each team, Vancouver leading.
The third period was a messy affair with the Giants taking an early 2 goal lead then Kelowna scoring 2 unanswered goals. The Giants outhit their larger opponents by a far margin. The game was very rough with lots of penalties. No fights considering all the cheap shots from both teams .
After allowing the Rockets to come back from a 3-1 third period deficit to send the game into overtime the Giants scored in the last minute of the OT frame on a Casey Pierro-Zabotel goal at 19:26 of the extra period. Pierre-Casey Zabotel scored his 4th goal of the playoffs from a scrum in front of the net to give Vancouver the 4-3 win!
Below are photos of all the Vancouver Giants all celebrating their hard – earned victory!
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The Giants also managed to take better care of the puck on this night, not turning it over when pressed by the Rockets and also skated better and showed more energy overall than they did in game one. To be fair to the Giants they are coming off an extremely demanding series with the Spokane Chiefs that saw them play five overtime periods in the final two games of that series in which they overcame a 3-2 deficit to win.
The stage is now set for a thrilling game three in Kelowna on Tuesday night and game four goes Thursday also in Kelowna. The series switches back to Vancouver for game five on Saturday.
Go Giants! 🙂
More photos of this game are available on our Flickr Page 🙂
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahamedia/sets/72157617010261533/
AHA MEDIA attended Game One of the WHL Western Conference between Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets
AHA MEDIA was pleased to be able to attend the first game of the WHL Western Conference between Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets. 🙂
AHA MEDIA was able to go to this game courtesy to Graham Lloyd , Account Manager, 99.3 The FOX http://www.cfox.com
Thanks Graham! 🙂
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Over 8500 people packed Pacific Coliseum at 7pm Saturday April 18th
Game one of the WHL western conference finals played on Saturday night was an inauspicious start for the Vancouver Giants. They lost 4 to 2 to the Kelowna Rockets, a bigger, more physical team and it showed as the Giants were out-hustled and out-muscled in the first of a best of seven series.
The first period was a fairly even session with no goals scored and the Giants out shooting the visitors by a 10 to 6 margin.
During Intermission, The Timbit League of young girls came out and showed off their skills.
Things started to unravel in the second period as the Rockets scored three unanswered goals and completely dominated the Giants at both ends of the rink. In fact the Giants did not even manage their first shot on goal until almost fifteen minutes had elapsed. That first shot was in fact a disallowed goal when video review determined that the Giants player pushed the puck past the Rockets goalie with his fist. The Giants were out-shot by a 15 to 4 measure in the second frame.
The Giants finally figured out the Rockets air tight defense in the third period with an early power play marker Lance Bouma They followed it up with another score by James Henry when the Rocket’s goaltender let in a soft goal with 6 minutes left in the game.
It was a close as the Giants would get however as the Rockets shut down the home side down the stretch and salted away the win with an empty netter in the final minute.
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The Giants will have to deal with the physical presence of the Rockets if they hope to prevent a replay of this troubling performance exhibited in game one. The many Kelowna fans in attendance were vocally pleased with their team’s performance. One thing to remember, however, is that Giants coach Don Hay has shown that he will always make the adjustments required to be successful. He will have to because the Giants certainly do not want to go into Kelowna 2 games down in the series.
AHA MEDIA hopes that for Game 2 at 5pm Sunday April 19th, things turn around for our Vancouver Giants! 🙂
Go Giants! 🙂
More photos of this game are available on our Flickr page 🙂
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahamedia/3456812086/in/set-72157616963186389/
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