By Adam Dunfee /
The third time was the charm for the Vancouver North West Giants.
After losing in the finals at the last two Mac’s Midget AAA Tournaments, the Giants finally found themselves on the right side of the score in this year’s final beating the UFA Bisons, 2-1.
Matt Bellerive opened up the scoring for the Giants in the final but the lead didn’t last long, as just over a minute later, Matthew Flette scored for the Bisons. The score remained tied until the third period when Griffin Reinhart scored to put the Giants ahead for good. Giants’ goaltender Charlie Finn stopped 30 shots for the win and was named the Giants player of the game.
“It’s great, we always like to set the benchmark high and being the first team out of our Midget league to win (the Mac’s), it’s just another thing we’ve done in the league first,” said Giants coach Jon Calvano.
The Giants went 3-0-1 in round play and Calvano says that the team’s tie, a 3-3 draw against Shattuck St. Mary’s, was the defining moment for his squad.
The Giants got out to a 3-1 lead but St. Mary’s came back to tie the game. Calvano says many observers were expecting an easy St. Mary’s win so the 3-3 final was a great result for his club.
“We battled through a bunch of penalties in the second and third period and (goaltender) Charlie (Finn) played so great I think that gave us a bunch of confidence for the rest of the tournament,” says Calvano. “That was the turning point of the whole tournament for us.”
The Giants knocked of fellow BC Major Midget League team the Cariboo Cougars, 4-3—the Cougars were the only other B.C. team to make it into the playoff round.
In the semifinals later that day against the Lloydminster Bobcats, the Giants got out to a 2-0 lead but the Bobcats scored two goals in 20 seconds to chase starting goaltender Lyndon Stanwood from the net. The Bobcats added two goals in the second to go into the intermission up 4-2.
“Obviously, it’s hard to go into the room and motivate when you look at the kids and they’re just dead, they have no more emotion—not in a negative way, they’re just drained mentally and physically,” said Calvano.
But the Giants found energy somewhere as Curtis Loik collected his third goal of the game, 5:27 into the third.
The score remained 4-3 Bobcats until the dying moments of the third when, with Finn on the bench, the Bobcats iced the puck.
“We drew up a faceoff play and ironically enough, we drew it up on the wrong side of the ice because that’s where the ref said the faceoff was going to be,” says Calvano.
“So as soon as the ref brought the puck to the new side where he was going to drop it, Steven Iacobellis and Brandon Morley decided to call an audible and switched up who the centreman was and ran the same play.”
It worked as Iacobellis popped in a rebound with just 22 seconds left to send the game to overtime. In the second overtime, Alex Kerfoot scored to send the Giants to their third consecutive Mac’s final.
The win over the Bisons in the final was very special to Calvano and his coaching staff.
The Giants roster doesn’t feature an offensive superstar like Landon Ferraro or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins like it has in previous seasons and many thought that this would be the season the high level of play the Giants have maintained over their history would drop.
“For all of us this was a great event to go to to prove to the rest of Western Canada and more importantly to BC Hockey and the rest of the BC MML that, you know what, we’re a strong team and don’t underestimate us.” |