Giants Put Up Seven on Royals

The Vancouver Giants scored five goals in the second period en route to a 7-4 come-from-behind win over the Victoria Royals at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday night. The G-Men got goals from seven different players while Payton Lee made 29 saves for his ninth win of the season. The victory marked the first time the Giants have won this season when trailing after the first period.

The Royals got the first goal of the hockey game on Teddy Bear Toss night in Victoria at 3:51 of the opening frame when Austin Carroll knocked the puck past Lee to put the home team ahead. The Royals would go up by two goals later in the period when Steven Hodges netted his second goal of the season. Vancouver got one back before the end of the first when Trent Lofthouse scored on the power play, chipping a rebound past Patrik Polivka in the Victoria net.

The G-Men turned the tide in the second period. Thomas Foster netted his second of the year with a backhander in front to tie the game less than two minutes into the stanza, and Mason Geertsen gave the Giants the lead with his first of the year, beating Polivka from the left point. Shaun Dosanjh tallied his first goal in the WHL with a shot from the point, and Polivka was pulled in favour of Coleman Vollrath after giving up four goals on 26 shots. The Giants weren't done there. Carter Popoff added his name to the score sheet, rippling the mesh after a nice drop pass from Arvin Atwal on an odd-man rush, and Dalton Thrower capped off the scoring in the period with a power play goal from the point, giving the Giants a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Victoria tried to mount a comeback in the third. Ben Walker scored on the power play at 5:32 to pull the home team to within three goals, and Hodges picked up his second of the evening with a strong individual effort to beat Lee off a face-off in the Vancouver zone. Right after Hodges' goal, Lee had to come up big as he stopped Hodges from close range to preserve the two goal lead for Vancouver. Cain Franson also added a power play marker in the late stages to extend his goal scoring streak to five games.

The G-Men and Royals will play again on Tuesday at the Pacific Coliseum. For tickets, call 604-4-GIANTS or visit vancouvergiants.com.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Carter Popoff - Vancouver
2. Steven Hodges - Victoria
3. Trent Lofthouse - Vancouver