The Vancouver Giants got a goal and an assist from James Malm as they defeated the Kelowna Rockets 5-4 in preseason Western Hockey League action at the Langley Events Centre on Friday night.
Malm and Kelowna’s Conner Bruggen-Cate are both trying to land spots with their respective WHL teams for the 2015/16 hockey season.
Both left-wingers are 16 years old and from Langley and were teammates with the rep peewee team which won silver at the provincial championships in 2012. That team was also the first from B.C. to win gold at the prestigious Regina Peewee Classic hockey tournament.
Malm, a second round pick of the Giants in the 2014 WHL bantam draft, finished the preseason with two goals and an assist.
Bruggen-Cate had one assist in the exhibition season as he tries to stick with the defending WHL champion Rockets. He was also taken in the 2014 bantam draft, going in the sixth round.
WHL teams must be down to 25 players for the start of the season, which gets underway Friday.