Giants Bump Slump Against Blazers

The Vancouver Giants ended their eight game losing streak with a big 5-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers at the Pacific Coliseum on Friday night. Payton Lee made 23 saves to pick up the win while Vancouver got goals from Tim Traber, Dalton Thrower, Ty Ronning, Brett Kulak and Alec Baer.

Traber got Vancouver on the board 2:20 into the first period when he tipped a Brett Kulak pass into the Blazers' net off the rush to put the Giants ahead. There was a pause in the action a couple of minutes later when Kamloops goalie Bolton Pouliot went down on the ice after a teammate collided with him. Pouliot had to leave the game with what looked like a head injury, and he was replaced by Taran Kozun.

While the second period gave the Giants fits on their eastern road swing, the Vancouver club came out with a solid effort in the middle frame on home ice, and after killing off an early penalty, Thrower scored his fourth of the young season on a point shot on the power play to double Vancouver's advantage. Blake Orban had a great chance in the second as well when he wrung a wrister off the post from the right wing.

The G-Men extended the lead in the first minute of the third when Ronning scored his second of the year, knocking home a nice centring feed from Carter Popoff off the end boards. Vancouver went to the power play later in the frame after Andreas Eder was hit from behind by Ryan Rehill, and just as the penalty expired, Cain Franson found a pinching Kulak with a seeing eye pass from the left corner, and Kulak made no mistake, burying the one-timer at the right post to make it 4-0. Baer, who had a strong game throughout, added his name to the scoresheet just after the ten-minute mark when he ripped a wrist shot over Kozun's right shoulder right off the face-off. The Blazers spoiled Payton Lee's shutout bid a few minutes later when Aspen Sterzer shovelled a rebound into the Vancouver net.

The G-Men will be back in action at the Pacific Coliseum on Wednesday evening when they host the Calgary Hitmen. For ticket information, call 604-4-GIANTS or visit vancouvergiants.com.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Brett Kulak - Vancouver
2. Alec Baer - Vancouver
3. Dalton Thrower - Vancouver