Giants aim to upend Everett Saturday after beating Kamloops Friday
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The Giants 3-1 win over the Blazers extended Vancouver’s overall winning streak to five games and made coach Michael Dyck believe that “it is really going to happen. The fact that we have remained composed shows that we are taking steps in the right direction.” ”
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04 Dec 2021 • 22 minutes ago • 2 minutes read • Join the conversation 
Vancouver Giants netminder Jesper Vikman closes Kamloops blazer Nick McCarry in a 3-1 victory for the Giants at the Langley Events Center on Friday. Photo by Rob Wilton
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The Vancouver Giants will attend the conference-holding Everett Silvertips tonight (6:05 p.m., www.sportsnet650.ca).
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Vancouver (12-7-1-0) won their first game in five meetings with the Kamloops Blazers (17-3-0-0) on Friday and a 3-1 decision in one evening at the Langley Events Center met when they were fast, raved about pre-checking, and were physically for long distances.
When Kamloops hit the board at 2:51 p.m. in third place thanks to Ethan Brandwood’s long-range defense from Jesper Vikman’s blocker, Vancouver never panicked and gave up little in the last five minutes.
The Blazers had mistreated the Giants in their first four encounters this season, beating them 20-6. The Blazers are the only team to have beaten the Silvertips (18-1-1-1) as a rule and to beat the leaders of the Western Conference last Saturday at Everett 3-2.
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The Blazers were team # 2 in the national rankings last week. The Silvertips were No. 3.
“I liked the way we played and when we had a few dropouts, Jesper Vikman came out big for us,” said Giants coach Michael Dyck of Friday against Kamloops. “I thought our best players were our best players for us. They played really well. “
When asked if this comes as close to his team as we’ve seen this season, Dyck said, “Yeah, in pieces, but it’s really starting to come. The fact that we remained calm shows that we are taking steps in the right direction. “
Vancouver’s five-game winning streak includes four wins with two goals and a single goal won. Vikman called in four of the five goals and stopped 139 of 146 shots (0.952 save percentage) in that distance. Vikman, the Swede who is one of the Vegas Golden Knights, scored 39 saves against the Blazers and several of the highlight reel variants. His best result of the night was to stretch out to his right to free his blocker on a one-timer from Kamloops star Logan Stankoven’s stick at 7:38 of the second period with a 1-0 result.
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Vikman’s thoughts on the Save von Stankoven? “How the hell did I manage that?” he said afterwards.
Zack Ostaphcuk, with his fourth, opened the scoring for Vancouver at the 18:50 mark in the first third after a superlative feed from Alex Cotton. Rookie Ethan Semeniuk took the eventual winner of the game with his third at 4:50 of the third. Payton Mount, on his fifth, hit an empty net on the left at 0:32.
The Giants continue their 12-game season streak with the Blazers on Wednesday with a visit to Kamloops. Giants captain Justin Sourdif starts Team Canada’s World Junior Tryout Camp in Calgary on Thursday and will not compete for Vancouver in Kamloops in this game. Vancouver also loses Dyck to junior world champions. He is an assistant to Team Canada.
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