Returning home after their annual prairie pilgrimage the Vancouver Giants will play a home-and-home with the Tri-City Americans. The two game set begins Friday night at the Pacific Coliseum.

Players to Watch, Vancouver

Team Captain Spencer Machacek leads the Giants in Goals (25) and Points (48) ... defenseman Jon Blum leads the team in assists (33) despite missing a number of games while representing the USA at the World Junior Championships ... 16-year old rookie Evander Kane has 18 goals in 41 games played.

Players to Watch, Tri-City

Colton Yellow Horn sits third in WHL scoring with 64 points. He leads the team with 34 goals ... Former Giant Jason Reese is the top assist man for Tri-City (38) and is second in scoring (57 points) ... TJ Fast is the team's top scoring defenseman with seven goals and 22 assists in 46 games this season.

Previous Meetings

The two teams have split their previous two meetings so far this season with the home team coming out on top each time. In early October the G-men got goals from Michal Repik, Craig Cunningham, Chris Cloud and Blum in a 4-1 win ... In early November the Americans put an 8-4 pounding on the Giants thanks to a four point night (1G, 3A) from Reese.

Goaltenders

Both #1 netminders should play both games this weekend ... Tyson Sexsmith is 30-7-1-5 and leads the WHL with a 1.95 GAA ... Chet Pickard, who represented the Ams in the CHL Top Prospects game Wednesday in Edmonton, is 28-8-1-2 with a 2.46 GAA.

Discuss the game now in the Vancouver Giants Fan Forum