Pierro-Zabotel fine with Giants

C Casey Pierro-Zabotel of the Vancouver Giants finally got to play in his hometown on Sunday. While things didn’t go the way he would have liked – the Giants lost 5-4 in a shootout to Kamloops and he was on the ice for all four Blazers goals – Pierro-Zabotel admitted to being thrilled to play in Interior Savings Centre.
And why not? He certainly had a lot of supporters in the crowd, which, at 5,327, was the largest in Kamloops this season. Pierro-Zabotel actually was born in Ashcroft, a community located west of Kamloops. Ashcroft is perhaps best-known, at least in recent years, as the place where an An Unfinished Life, starring Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and, yes, Jennifer Lopez, was filmed. Pierro-Zabotel has lived in Kamloops for the last nine years and that is where he played his minor hockey.
Pierro-Zabotel, who left the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials to join the Giants in November, has 15 points in 15 games but that doesn’t mean he has found it easy going.
“I find the league really good,” said the Pittsburgh Penguins’ third-round pick in the 2007 NHL draft. “It’s different than the BCHL, for sure. There’s better checking. It’s harder to get to the net.”
He also has had his eyes opened while playing for Vancouver head coach Don Hay.
“He’s really good,” said Pierro-Zabotel, with a bit of a chuckle. “He’s hard on you but that’s good for you in the end. I can only benefit from his style of coaching.”
Pierro-Zabotel originally was given credit for two goals in a 5-2 victory over the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Saturday. One of those goals was later awarded to D Mike Berube. Still, Pierro-Zabotel has 15 points, including six goals, in 15 games.
When Pierro-Zabotel and the Giants take to the ice against the Rockets in Kelowna on Wednesday, they’ll have D Linden Saip in their lineup.
Saip, 16, was named after Vancouver Canucks centre Trevor Linden.
“It's pretty cool," Saip told the Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen. "I think I figured it out when I got my first Sega game, NHL '94. I asked my parents and they were like, 'Yep.'
"He's a big hero in my family."
Saip, an eight-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft, plays for the major midget Vancouver Canadians.
He is a nephew of Dale Saip, the Giants’ director of business development. Dale has been rumoured since late summer to be moving to Kamloops as the Blazers’ president under the team’s new owners.