Giants Open Trip With Win Over Hurricanes

The Vancouver Giants got five goals from five different players as they skated to a 5-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night at the Enmax Centre. Travis McEvoy, Alec Baer, Carter Popoff, Cain Franson and Joel Hamilton all found the back of the net in the victory.

McEvoy opened the scoring for Vancouver just after the 11 minute mark of the first period when he found the rebound of a Dominik Volek shot in the crease and chipped the puck past Hurricanes goalie Teagan Sacher to give Vancouver the lead. The Giants made it 2-0 just 19 seconds later when Baer rippled the mesh after a nice cross-crease pass from Dalton Sward. Jared Rathjen came up big late in the period when he stopped Riley Sheen on a breakaway to keep the Giants ahead by two.

The second period was much closer than the first with both teams generating chances. The Hurricanes got on the board with less than five minutes left in the stanza when Carter Folk netted his third of the season on the power play to pull the Lethbridge club to within one goal. The G-Men got a man advantage of their own late in the frame when Tyler Bell was called for closing his hand on the puck, and Popoff capitalized, finding the back of the net on a shot from the left circle after a nice feed from Franson.

Vancouver went ahead by three early in the third when Franson tallied his 25th goal of the year with a nice shot, beating Sacher from the high slot. Hamilton added to the lead a few minutes later, completing a nice tic-tac-toe passing play that also involved Volek and Jackson Houck. The Hurricanes would put another one on the board in the late going when Giorgio Estephan scored on the power play.

Vancouver went 1-for-4 on the power play while the 'Canes were 2-for-5. The Giants outshot Lethbridge 48-29.

The G-Men will continue their road-trip on Friday night against the Red Deer Rebels. Tune-in to TEAM 1040 and teamradio.ca for the play-by-play at 6:00pm.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Cain Franson - Vancouver
2. Jackson Houck - Vancouver
3. Carter Folk - Lethbridge