Vancouver Giants fell 5-2 to the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night, March 23, in their regular season finale at Prospera Place, finishing the year as the sixth seed in the Western Conference with a 32-32-4-0 record,
The loss sets up a first-round matchup between Vancouver and Everett, which will begin on Friday, March 29 in Everett.
Scoring for the Giants on Saturday was Tyson Zimmer (23rd) and Jaden Lipinski (24th).
The Rockets got a pair of goals each from Max Graham and Ethan Neutens, plus a goal from Michael Cicek.
It wasn’t the result Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio was looking for.
“We need more consistency,” Maglio said.
“When we’re on, we’re a good team and we know that, but at the end of the day, we’re a five-man team, so we need all five guys going on the ice. I think we’ve had some inconsistencies with performances and that’s everyone, especially these last two games. I just think guys need to perform at their best every night, especially in the playoffs to give us a chance here.”
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Maglio predicted the upcoming playoff series against Everett will be intense.
“They’re a workman-like team,” Maglio said of Everett.
“They’re a really, really hard forechecking team, their track game is really good – they get back on top of you – and they don’t give you a lot of room on the ice. I think players will have to understand you need to play a little bit of a different game. You can’t play a spaced out game against them and hope that things are going to work out. You’ve got to match their intensity because it’s going to [be a] physical series.”
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The Rockets got out to a 2-0 lead after one period thanks to goals from Cicek and Neutens less than two minutes apart. The Rockets also outshot the Giants 16-7 in the opening frame and controlled most of the play.
In the second, Vancouver came out strong, with Zimmer cutting the Rockets’ lead in half just 3:22 into the period. Connor Levis fed a great stretch pass up ice to Zimmer, who entered on a 2-on-1 with Zimmer and ripped it home over the glove of Jari Kykkanen to make it 2-1.
Several minutes later on a power play, the G-Men found the equalizer after a pass out front from the goal line from Honzek found Lipinski in front, who chipped in his 24th of the season.
Before the second period came to a close, the Rockets re-took the lead on Neutens second of the game, giving them a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Graham scored the all-important next goal for Kelowna 4:45 into the third period to make it 4-2 Rockets.
Graham then added his 20th goal of the season into an empty net with 3:32 left to play to make the final score 5-2.
Next, Giants will take on the Everett Silvertips in round one of the 2024 Western Hockey League Playoffs, which begin on the road on Friday, March 29.
Playoff tickets for the first round will go on sale to the general public on Monday, March 25 at 10 a.m.