LANGLEY, British Columbia - Patrick Holland scored the game-winner in the shootout and Drew Owsley finished with 30 saves to become the league's first 30-game winner as Tri-City Americans rallied to beat the Vancouver Giants 5-4 on Saturday night.

The Americans (38-13-0-2, 78 points), who earned a spot in the playoffs Friday night, moved into a three-way tie for first place in the WHL standings with Saskatoon and Brandon. Tri-City leads the U.S. Division by seven points over Everett and Portland.

The Giants (33-20-1-3, 70 points) led 3-0 midway through the first period with goals by Lance Bouma, Brett Breitkreuz and James Wright.

The 4,488 folks who packed the Langley Events Centre Saturday earned themselves a stomach churning ride.

The Tri-City Americans took a 5-4 shootout victory over the Vancouver Giants in a game where momentum rocketed around like a lacrosse ball on steroids.

Tri-City, the top team in the WHL's Western Conference, secured the triumph when Kevin Connauton, Vancouver's final shooter in the three-man opening round, pinged the post behind Americans netminder Drew Owsley. He had beaten Owsley to the stick side.

It was a first for the Vancouver Giants. And as much as we'd like to say we're talking about the three goals in the third period the team allowed in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Tri-City Americans on Saturday, we're not.

Sadly, it's not even the first time the Giants allowed three third-period goals to the Americans this season. The team coughed up four unanswered in a 5-3 loss to Tri-City at the Pacific Coliseum on Oct. 17.

To read the rest of this article, click here

LANGLEY, BC - George Santayana once penned that 'those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.' On Saturday night, the Vancouver Giants realized that the hard way.

For the third time this season, the Vancouver Giants (33-20-1-3, 70 pts) saw an early lead evaporate against the Tri-City Americans (38-13-0-2, 78 pts), who used three third period goals and the winner in the shootout to slip past their Conference rivals 5-4 in front of 4,488 fans at the Langley Events Centre. With the win, the Americans are now 16-1 vs. the B.C. Division and improved to 16-8-0-2 on the road this season. Meanwhile, for the first time in the franchise's nine-year history, the Giants were swept by the Americans during the regular season, falling to 0-4 in 2009-10.

The Tri-City Americans became the first team in the Western Hockey League to make the playoffs Friday night, and they didn't even have to lace up their skates.

Seattle's 6-3 loss to Portland qualified the Americans for the postseason.

The Thunderbirds are ninth in the Western Conference and trail first-place Tri-City by 39 points. However, they have only 19 games remaining (for a maximum of 38 points), which eliminates the T-birds from catching the Americans (37-13-0-2, 76 points).

Today's Vancouver Giants story is brought to you by the word "break" and its various definitions.

Coach Don Hay thinks defenceman Kevin Connauton might need a break, insisting that rest during next week's practice-heavy period could do him good. After visits to their temporary Langley home from the Everett Silvertips tonight (7:30 p.m., AM 650) and the Tri-City Americans on Saturday (7 p.m., AM 650), Vancouver has six straight practice days.

Two of Canmore's best young hockey prospects came through town with the WHL leading Tri-City Americans recently, stopping to practice at the Alex Kaleta rink in the Canmore Rec Centre.

Jordan Messier and Nils Moser are both having good, if different, years with the Americans.

Moser, a 6'0" 181 pounds right wing is finding his stride with the team as a rookie.

Toronto, ON - The Canadian Hockey League today announced the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for week twenty of the 2009-10 season. The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League's Top 10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.

BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 Rankings - Week 20
Rank, Team (Record), Last Week Rank, Number of Weeks Ranked

1, Saint John Sea Dogs (42-8-1-0), 1, 17
2, Barrie Colts (41-7-0-1), 2, 16
3, Windsor Spitfires (40-7-0-5), 3, 20
4, Tri-City Americans (37-13-0-2), 4, 15
5, Saskatoon Blades (34-11-3-3), 6, 16
6, Moncton Wildcats (35-12-1-3), 9, 3
7, London Knights (35-13-0-2), 5, 9
8, Brandon Wheat Kings (35-16-0-3), 10, 11
9, Drummondville Voltigeurs (35-14-0-2), -, 18
10. Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (33-12-4-1), 7, 16

KENNEWICK - There were nights not so long ago when the number of "orange fans" at Toyota Center outnumbered the actual fans.

Not anymore.

From 2002-03 -- the last season the Tri-City Americans did not make the playoffs -- to now, the team has seen an increase of 62 percent in attendance.

During that woeful 2002-03 campaign, the Americans drew 98,462 fans -- the second lowest total in team history. During the past six seasons, attendance has increased each season, with 159,264 fans filling the seats in 2008-09.