Giants hoping for another underdog story with playoff matchup against Blazers

(Chris Relke/Vancouver Giants)

The stage is set for another underdog playoff story.

A victory on March 5 in Victoria clinched Vancouver a spot in the postseason, and last night’s 3-2 overtime victory in Portland booked a playoff meeting with Kamloops. Ty Halaburda opened and closed the scoring for the G-men, while Ty Thorpe scored Vancouver’s second of the night. Portland heavily outshot Vancouver 39-18, but Brett Mirwald only cracked twice between the pipes.

Vancouver’s (24-39-5-0, 53PTS) takedown over the Silvertips (45-13-5-5, 100PTS) in last year’s playoffs was the first time in WHL history that an eighth seed defeated a top seed in a first-round playoff series. A total of 47 points separated these two teams during the regular season. Vancouver picked up victories in Games 1,4,5, and 6 to advance to the second round and beat the Silvertips in the playoffs for the second time in franchise history. Giants fans are hoping for that same magic against a Kamloops Blazers team that sits fourth in the WHL and is hosting this year’s Memorial Cup.

The Blazers hold down a record of 47-12-4-2, first in the B.C. Division and 23 points ahead of the Prince George Cougars, who sit in second. Vancouver’s victory has locked the club in seventh place in the Western Conference, while a 6-3 loss for Kamloops against Seattle has them finishing in second place. The Blazers were Vancouver’s second-round opponent last Spring and took Vancouver down in six games. Vancouver has won two of their past seven best-of-seven series over Kamloops.

Kamloops is hosting the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia and would like to earn their way to the tournament. They will need to face off against a very hardworking Vancouver Giants team starting on March 30.

The Giants will not go down without a fight.