Tigers vs. Giants Preview
The Vancouver Giants and Medicine Hat Tigers renew their rivalry Saturday night, 7:00 pm, at the Pacific Coliseum on Magnetic Schedule night. The first 5,000 fans through the doors receive a Giants Magnetic Schedule.
The Tigers come to town in the midst of a 5 game B.C. division road swing and Saturday will mark their third game in three nights after back to back games in Victoria. Medicine Hat is coming off a 100 point season in 2010-11 in which they finished 3rd in the Eastern Conference during the regular season and then lost to eventual WHL Champions Kootenay in the Eastern Conference Final. Shaun Clouston enters his 2nd year as head coach of the Tigers after being the number one assistant coach under Willie Desjardins for six seasons. Gone is last year’s Bobby Clarke Trophy winner Linden Vey, who led the league with 116 points, but back are Emerson Etem and Tyler Bunz. Etem, a 1st round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, is one of the WHL’s most prolific scorers. After scoring 37 goals in his rookie season, he followed that up with 45 goals last year, including a league leading 9 shorthanded goals. As well, he represented the USA at the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships. Goaltender Tyler Bunz is now in his 4th season with the Tigers. A 5th round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, Bunz is coming off a season in which he was 35-13-4-4 and this year is hoping to earn an invite to Canada’s World Junior selection camp in December, so needless to say he will be looking to impress head coach Don Hay.
Medicine Hat also features Jayden Hart, the younger brother of Giants defenseman Tyler Hart, who was selected by the Tigers in the 3rd round of the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft. This will be the first meeting between the brothers in the WHL if Tyler is healthy. He missed the Giants last game with an upper body injury.
Last season, the two games between Vancouver and Medicine Hat were two of the most entertaining games all year. The Giants won both meetings 3-2. Spencer Bennett scored the game winning goal in both contests. Over the last 4 season, the Giants have won 6 of the 8 games between the two teams.
Newcomers Adam Morrison and Levi Bews will look to pick up where they left off Wednesday night; Morrison made 25 saves and stopped all 3 shots in the shootout to earn first star honours in the Giants 3-2 victory over Spokane, while Bews scored a goal and drew a couple of penalties against the Chiefs.
The Giants continue to battle the injury bug, but are getting closer to have some major contributors back in the line up. Luke Fenske and Matt Bellerive, who have not played a game this year, are aiming to be back in action next weekend, while Connor Redmond continues to improve and is anticipating a return in early November. As for Neil Manning, it is wait and see as he deals with a nagging back injury.
