LANGLEY, British Columbia — Opening Night for Western Hockey League teams is always special, and Friday’s opener at the Langley Event Centre adds a historic element as the Vancouver Giants kick off their first season in Langley after playing their first 15 seasons at Pacific Coliseum.
But for Everett Silvertips forward Spencer Gerth, a Langley native, tonight’s opener holds another special meaning.
“The Giants are a team I grew up watching a lot, so obviously it’s fun playing them,” said Gerth, who will suit up for Everett on Friday night. “Last year was cool when we got to play them at the Coliseum, but this year is even something more special getting to play them in Langley. It’s not an opportunity a ton of people get: to play in their hometown, against their hometown team that they grew up watching.”
During his formative years, Gerth attended Giants games at Pacific Coliseum and watched the Junior A Langley Rivermen play at the LEC. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound right winger joined the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget League for the 2013-14 season, and got the chance to play home games at the LEC.
Now he returns home for Friday night’s 7:30 start.
“It will be familiar, but it will be a much cooler experience playing in front of this sold-out crowd compared to your parents in midget,” Gerth said. “That will be exciting.”
The Tips open their 2016-17 season missing several key pieces, with goaltender Carter Hart, defenseman Noah Juulsen and forward Eetu Tuulola away at NHL camps. Tonight’s roster, which includes five 16-year-olds and six 17-year-olds, will be further pared down when the NHL guys return.
The impact will be felt the most on defense, where the Tips have a pair of 17-year-olds in Jake Christiansen and Wyatte Wylie, and three 16-year-olds in Ian Walker, Gianni Fairbrother and Montana Onyebuchi.
Head Kevin Constantine said all the youngsters “are going to be good players in this league,” but it can take some time for them to adjust to the WHL. The youth manifested itself in more scoring chances allowed during the preseason than Tips fans are used to seeing, but that was to be expected.
“The last game against Seattle, we had a young core on ‘D’ and I thought they started to show signs of picking up some things and playing a little better,” Constantine said. “That’s going to be an ongoing experiment for the first couple weeks of the season.”
Forwards Orrin Centazzo and Brett Kemp are the other two 16-year-olds on the roster, and 17-year-old forwards Riley Sutter, Brian King and Connor Dewar are back for their sophomore campaigns. Fellow 17-year-old forward Bryce Kindopp is also with the team.
“We’ve started pretty good the last three seasons in terms of record,” Constantine said. “You look after about 17 games and our records have been pretty good, so you wouldn’t want to change a ton of what has been a good formula to get the team ready for the year, so we’ve done everything the same. That being said, the end result will be based on your personnel and who hits the ice.
“(The team has) got a flavor of being a little younger,” Constantine continued. “So I don’t know how that will translate into win-loss success, but it doesn’t change what you would do as a coaching staff in terms of working hard to make that group as prepared as possible, as educated as possible, and you go through the year-long process of seeing what you can make out of the team.”
Behind the other bench the Giants have yet another new coach in Jason McKee, the fourth Vancouver coach since Don Hay left for Kamloops after the 2013-14 season. The Giants have missed the playoffs three of the past four seasons, including last year when they finished last in the Western Conference with a 23-40-5-4 record.
The Giants have six players still at NHL camps, meaning their weekend roster also will look quite different than it will a month from now.
Players still absent include offensive playmakers like Tyler Benson and Ty Ronning. Benson was a second-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in June’s NHL draft, but has battled various injuries throughout his WHL career. Ronning was a seventh-round pick by the New York Rangers in this year’s draft.
Vancouver also will be without the services of Radovan Bondra (Chicago Blackhawks), Darian Skeoch (Anaheim Ducks), Chase Lang (Minnesota Wild) and Ben Thomas (Tampa Bay Lightning).
The teams meet again Saturday at Xfinity Arena in Everett. Game time for the Silvertips’ home opener is 7:05 p.m.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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