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.

Steve Ewen  Vancouver Province

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.

Ian Walker  Vancouver Sun

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.

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