Here’s photographic evidence that Tate Olson indeed plays the game of hockey. He was selected 210th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Tate Olson, Vancouver Canucks draftee
Tag Archives: Prince George Cougars
Giants outscore their problems
It was a rough night for the ol’ save percentage, but Jared Rathjen skated away with his 11th win of the season at the Pacific Coliseum. His Vancouver Giants scored early and scored often on Friday night, but they needed to hang on tight for their 6–5 win over the Prince George Cougars.
It was the kind of game that drives both coaches nuts. Tim Traber opened the scoring for the home side 49 seconds into the game on a rebound in the blue paint, but then Rathjen let in two goals on the glove side just 18 seconds apart to give the lead to the Cougars. A buck seven later, the Giants had scored twice more, taking back the lead themselves. Less than eight minutes into the first period, it was 3–2 Giants. They would add another pair of goals to walk out of the first period with a 5–2 lead.
It’s a cakewalk at this point, right? Twenty minutes in against the ninth-place Cougars, up 18–8 in shots and 5–2 in goals, Vancouver should tip this bad boy out the door, no problem.
Yeah, uh… problem.
More, including game highlights, after the jump.
Giants end 2013 on a winning note
At the beginning of the season, a lot of WHL players look at the calendar to see where the three-in-threes are. John Tortorella might wax poetic about his Canucks being a tired team after five games in nine nights, but when was the last time an NHLer hit the ice on three consecutive nights?
The Vancouver Giants ended 2013 with a threefer, taking four of a possible six points despite travelling on the bus between each game. Sunday was the final game of the calendar year for the G-Men, and they made it count with a 5–2 win over the visiting Prince George Cougars. Jared Rathjen made 27 stops for his eighth win of the season, while both Carter Popoff and Thomas Foster had a goal and an assist at the other end of the rink.
It’s a game they should have won, but on that third night in a row, you never know which of the legs or the heart will show up. Sometimes you get both. Sometimes you get neither.
With the win, the Giants go into 2014 at five games over .500 and sit seventh place in the Western Conference. Their 45 points are one more than they had all last year, when they finished in the league basement. Making it all the more remarkable is the fact that the Giants started this year with a dismal 1–9 stretch to start the season. Since then, they’ve played solid two-way hockey, and gone 18–5–7.
More after the break.
Edmonds stands tall against the Giants
The Vancouver Giants received a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings Sunday night, as their seven-game home win streak was snapped by the Prince George Cougars. It was just the third regulation loss in 19 games for the Giants, who remain in seventh place in the Western Conference going into the Christmas break.
Carter Popoff scored his tenth of the year at 17:02 of the first period, a beauty of an individual effort. Popoff poke checked Zach Pochiro at the Cougar blueline, then held the puck on a 2-on-0 break and made a slick deke around a sprawling Ty Edmonds to open the scoring.
However, Vancouver gave up two in quick succession to start the second. Pochiro and Jordan Tkatch scored goals for the Cougars just 25 seconds apart for a lead they would never relinquish. Other than that brief lapse in the second period, the Giants dominated play, pouring 42 shots on Edmonds — including 25 in the second period alone — but couldn’t manufacture the tying goal in front of 6,324 fans. Klarc Wilson added an insurance goal with one second remaining into an empty net. Edmonds, who picked up his 11th win on the season, was the unanimous choice for first star honours ahead of Vancouver skaters Brett Kulak and Tyler Benson.
Giants goaltender Payton Lee stopped 23 of 25 shots in the loss. It was the third game in three nights for both teams, who each went 0-for-4 on the power play, including a five-minute major in the third period to Giants captain Dalton Thrower for a high open-ice elbow.
View highlights of the game here.
The next Vancouver Giants game is December 28 vs the Kelowna Rockets.