It’s an all-too familiar story this season: the Vancouver Giants jump out to an early lead, only to see plucky opposition teams chip away and eventually win the game.
Tyler Benson made a welcome return to the Vancouver Giants lineup in a 4-3 shootout win over the Kamloops Blazers. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
On Sunday, however, playing their third game in as many nights, Vancouver seemed determined to get Jake Morrissey his first win in Giants colours. It was Morrissey’s first start at the Pacific Coliseum; he’d made it into seven games in one form or another earlier in the season, but only been credited with three losses and had that big fat zero looming in the W column for some time.
It’s been a tale of two seasons for the Vancouver Giants. Between September 28 and December 6, the team won just six times in 28 tries. Since then, they’ve earned two points in 9 of the last 13 games. This last week alone, the G-men brought home a remarkable ten of twelve available points on a tricky road trip that saw them play five games in four different cities in just eight nights.
Whew. Numbers, right?
The changes started at the top. GM Scott Bonner announced that he would move on at the end of this season, then proceeded to make a schwack of moves to alter the chemistry in the locker room. And while no one will give up the name(s) of the player(s) who were poison in the room, the team has been playing much better since the moves started.
Ty Ronning has been anything but ugly this season. His 25 goals leads the team. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Ty Ronning has been the very picture of consistency through all the turmoil; his 25 goals sees him among the league’s best snipers. Defenseman Brennan Menell has upped his game in his sophomore season, already eclipsing last year’s offensive output. Netminder Ryan Kubic has been a revelation in the second half, posting three consecutive shutouts at one point.
The much-heralded Tyler Benson has been a point-a-game guy when he’s in the lineup. Sadly, he’s yet to play at 100% this season — management hopes he’ll be back to form by the time the Top Prospects game rolls around later this month.
Tyler Benson has been a force when he’s been in the lineup, despite playing at less than 100%. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The fact is, the G-Men are far more successful, and infinitely more entertaining to watch, when they crash and bang as a team. They’re doing that right now. As they threaten to make the playoff race interesting, that makes the Coliseuma mighty fine place to be.
The next Giants home game is Friday at 7:30 against the dirty, rotten, stinkin’ Everett Silvertips. Get your tickets here.
Back on November 16, 2013, Tyler Benson made his WHL debut. He wore a full face cage, as rules stipulate Bantam-aged prospects must. He also stood 5’11” and weighed 185 pounds at the time, which should probably be against the rules when you’re 15 years old. Here’s a picture I took at that game, as Benson tried a shifty backdoor play. He didn’t get on the scoresheet that night, but he’s figured prominently in Vancouver ever since.
On the night of Tyler Benson’s WHL debut, the Vancouver Giants defeated the Tri-City Americans 5-2 at the Pacific Coliseum. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Vancouver Giants are just two days away from their first pre-season game. Puck drops Saturday vs the dirty, rotten, stinkin’ scoundrels that are the Kamloops Blazers at 7pm at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
Tyler Benson of the Vancouver Giants wheels into the offensive zone, eyed up by defenseman Alexey Sleptsov. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Here’s a bit of Throwback Thursday for you: Tyler Benson wheeling into the offensive zone during WHL action at the Pacific Coliseum. Benson is largely predicted to go in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft, assuming the mysterious, undisclosed injury that’s kept him out of contact drills and scrimmages through training camp is as minor as team officials are claiming.
My most prized bit of sports decor: a framed 8×10 of Hall of Fame goaltender Gerald Michael “Cheesey” Cheevers. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
I like my sports stuff. Photos, cards, jerseys… you name it, I’ve got a few. My favourite piece for years has been an 8×10 Gerry Cheevers signed for me when he was in town for a Vancouver Giants Legends Night— dude, CHEEVERS! Two Stanley Cups, the 1974 Canada Cup, a stint in the WHA, and that iconic mask, are you kidding me? This guy is the very epitome of old timey hockey. He’s even got his own three-chord proto-punk song, for crying out loud.
Mrs Pucked in the Head isn’t so wild about having 8x10s and pucks littered about the place, however, even if they have been scribbled upon by ageing professional athletes. I have to pick and choose what goes up on the wall, and what goes into storage. (Sure, I’m a sucker for cutesy pictures of our daughter, but we’ve got plenty of those photos around the rest of the house. I can moon over her adorableness in just about any other room, at pretty much any time, so I stamp this room with my own personal clutter, thank you very much.)
Probably the prettiest medal I’ve earned so far came from the 2014 Rock n Roll Vancouver half marathon. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Since I started running last year, for example, I’ve managed to assemble a fistful of finisher medals from 10k races, half marathons and that one bloody full marathon I did back in May. Throw a few of those on the curtain rod, and they look all right. Add some hockey memorabilia and a small collection of tribal masks acquired during various vacations, and you’ve got a cosy little office space.
The Vancouver Giants opened the 2014-15 with a perfect September, taking a pair of wins off the rival Victoria Royals and beating the Portland Winterhawks for the first time in nine tries. Not since 2007 have the Giants gone three-and-oh to start the season — that year, in defense of their Memorial Cup win the previous spring, they won four straight off the hop, and won the BC Division by a country mile before dropping a disappointing second-round series to the Spokane Chiefs.
Rookie Tyler Benson has driven the Giants attack, using his size and speed to score twice in the first three games. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
New coach Troy G Ward, late of the Abbotsford Heat, has the G-men playing a smart, aggressive game. Like most junior teams, Vancouver had a couple of their top players — in this case, leading scorer Jackson Houck and top D-man Mason Geertsen — out of the lineup as they attended NHL training camps. Even so, the Giants have played without panic, coming from behind in all three games for the perfect record.
Rookie Tyler Benson, listed at an even six feet tall, is playing bigger and faster than last season, which saw him skate in seven WHL games as an underage player. He has already made an impact, scoring twice and pressuring opposition defensemen just about every time he’s stepped on the ice. His goal against the Portland Winterhawks was a thing of beauty, as he scampered past blueliner Layne Viveiros off a face-off in the Giants zone, skated the length of the ice alone, and coolly backhanded the puck past Adin Hill. As you watch Benson shred it up this season, keep in mind that this kid is just 16 years old.
The Vancouver Giants picked up all four points available this weekend, earning home wins in back-to-back games at the Pacific Coliseum.
First-overall pick and overall wunderkind Tyler Benson tries to stuff a puck home past Tri-City Americans goaltender Eric Comrie. He didn’t score on the play, but he was a major factor in Tyler Morrison scoring his third of the season, and his Giants won the game 5-2. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Canuck faithful came out on Friday night to see draft pick Hunter Shinkaruk, the captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers. But it was Saturday’s WHL debut of Tyler Benson, the top pick in last summer’s Bantam draft, that garnered the most attention.
Benson didn’t factor in the scoring, but he took a regular shift on the third line and did not look out of place skating against players four years his senior.
More to come, including pictures of four players with some serious hockey pedigree, but right now I need some shuteye before crushing the UBC Fall Classic in the morning.
