It was the first look at a revised Vancouver Giants lineup following a flurry of trades that also produced a new team captain, and the result was a 4-3 overtime win on home ice against the Tri-City Americans Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.
With five of six new players in the game, Giants held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes and entered the third period up 3-1, before the Americans fought back to tie the game 3-3 and send it to overtime.
New addition Mathis Preston tucked his 15th of the season to win the game.
Newly-named team captain Ryan Lin had a standout night in his first game wearing the ‘C’, scoring twice and adding an assist to give him 50 points on the season, making him the first draft-eligible CHL defenceman to hit the 50-point plateau.
Giants head coach Parker Burgess said it was “nice to kind of kick off this post-trade deadline era with a win.”
Lin said the team “had a pretty hot start and we were controlling the game in the first period and then it got away from us. Starting to drift away in the second and then in the third period we were sitting back a little bit there, which we don’t want to do. Our guys were really moving tonight. Obviously, the OT winner with Mathis was a great way to put a stamp on it.”
As the 24th Giants captain, the 2008-born Lin is the youngest Giants captain since Tyler Benson was given the ‘C’ in 2015-16.
“It feels surreal to be named the next captain of the Vancouver Giants – this is the team I grew up watching and cheering on as a kid,” Lin said.
Lin takes over from Ty Halaburda, who was traded to Kelowna.
Burgess said Lin “has the respect of everybody in the locker room. He goes about his business the right way every single day. He’s competitive. He’s a great teammate. Passionate about not only his development, but the organization and winning.”