Kelowna Rockets 17-year-old forward Tij Iginla had a very good game, scoring three in a row in the third period for a natural hat trick and a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Giants on Friday night, Jan. 19, at Prospera Place.
Vancouver got goals from Cameron Schmidt (11th) and Sam Honzek (5th).
Kelowna’s other goals came from Andrew Cristall and Ethan Neutens.
Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio called it a “tough loss,” the result of losing momentum on power plays.
”We were kind of panicking with the puck and there wasn’t balance,” Maglio commentted.
“I thought we weren’t recovering well.”
The Giants overall record falls to 17-24-2-0. Kelowna improves to 21-19-2-0..
Vancouver opened the scoring less than five minutes in, when Schmidt got a stretch pass from Colton Alain and went in all alone, faking to the backhand and finishing on the forehand past goaltender Jake Pilon.
Rockets responded in the back half of the first period, after Iginla spun and fired a backhand pass across the crease that was deflected in off Cristall to tie the game 1-1.
After 20 minutes, the Rockets were out-shooting Vancouver 15-9 and the score was 1-1.
Only one goal was scored in the middle frame, coming off the stick of Neutens, who snapped a shot past the blocker of goaltender Matthew Hutchison for his sixth of the season, giving the home side a 2-1 edge. Moments earlier, Hutchison made two fantastic stops on Max Graham on a shorthanded breakaway.
Honzek would even the score in the third, as the Giants captain ripped a one-timer off a feed from Mazden Leslie to make it 2-2 at the 7:33 mark of the third period.
Iginla restored the Rockets lead with his first of three straight at the 11:52 mark of the period, after he split the defence and poked it home to make it 3-2.
Three minutes later Iginla scored shorthanded off the rush to make it 4-2.
He completed his natural hat-trick with an empty-net marker with 1:37 remaining in the game to make it a 5-2 final score.
Next, Giants have a rematch with the Rockets on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 21, at 2 p.m. on home ice at Langley Events Centre.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Vancouver Giants wrap road trip with a loss
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Vancouver Giants down Pats to improve road trip record
