Vancouver Giants 1 Kelowna Rockets 2 (SO)

For 60 minutes Wednesday night the Kelowna Rockets turned into thieves. For those same 60 minutes the defending Memorial Cup champion Vancouver Giants turned into the crazy uncle on Christmas morning.

Rather than playing their usual lunchbucket roadgame the Giants were unable to develop any momentum and ending up giving away a win. The Rockets, losers of three straight, may have been the better team but they certainly stole the extra point in a game that had all the intensity of a ballet recital.

The Giants managed only two shots in the first period while Kelowna put up a measly 7. Not surprisingly neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes. The second period saw the Giants get more pucks on net, but still none found their way behind Kristofer Westblom.

Finally in the third period the dams broke when Evan Bloodoff drove hard to the net and poked in the puck as it came loose from Tyson Sexsmith's pads.

But only 17 seconds later Spencer Machacek tied the game for Vancouver with his eighth goal of the season. From there neither team created much in the way of offensive pressure and the game headed to overtime for more of the same. In overtime neither team managed a single shot on goal and the Rockets ended up out-shooting the G-men 28-24 on the night.

In the shootout Evander Kane and Michal Repik both missed their chances while Jamie Benn and Colin Long scored for the Rockets.