Ten years haven鈥檛 rubbed any of the shine off the only Memorial Cup victory in Vancouver Giants history.

May 27 marked the 10-year anniversary of the Giants鈥� victory at the 2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup. The club defeated the Medicine Hat Tigers 3-1 in front of more than 16,000 fans at the Pacific Coliseum.

Many of the players and coaches from that 2007 title-winning team got together to reminisce June 16 at Tsawwassen Springs Golf Course.

Time has, of course, pulled the players in different directions, and most continue to play pro hockey.

Several are now playing in Europe; a select few including Edmonton Oilers forward Milan Lucic, and Buffalo Sabres defenceman Cody Franson and forward Evander Kane (who played five playoff games for the Giants that year as a 15-year-old), have forged solid NHL careers.

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Right winger Spencer Machacek played a major role during the Giants鈥� 2007 Memorial Cup run, in which he tallied nine goals and 20 assists in 22 playoff games.

鈥淎s time goes by, you realize how hard it is,鈥� said Machacek, a member of the Berlin Polar Bears of the DEL, which is Germany鈥檚 top league.

鈥淭he year before we won the 鈥楧ub (WHL title) and came up a buck short in Moncton. You kind of felt like you are always going to be there. I鈥檓 going into my 10th year pro, now and I haven鈥檛 even got to a final, yet. You realize how hard it is, the older you get.鈥�

鈥淚 still remember it vividly,鈥� added centre James Wright, who at 16 was one of the youngest players on the team. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I took it for granted a little bit because it was my first year in the league, but at the time it was so amazing.鈥�

Sharing so much success has created life-long friendships, Machacek said. 鈥淭he bond that you have with the guys is unbelievable, and you have that forever which is amazing.鈥�

Wright said, 鈥淚t was an amazing group of guys and we鈥檙e all reminiscing about what a good crew we had and you can tell that by the turnout, here. At the time it was just surreal.鈥�

Machacek said selflessness and a team-first ideology made that Giants team special 鈥� and hard to beat.

鈥淚t didn鈥檛 matter who was scoring the goals, it didn鈥檛 matter who was getting the points, everybody was happy for each other, you know? It鈥檚 hard to find that in a team and the teams that win probably have the same thing,鈥� he said.

鈥淚t didn鈥檛 matter if it was Reps (Michal Repik) or Wacey (Rabbit) or Looch (Lucic) or whoever was scoring 鈥� everyone was happy for each other, and also we were competitive. We pushed each other in practice and when it came down to it, we would all stick up for each other and be there as one group.鈥�

Wright 鈥� who plays alongside his former Giants鈥� teammate Jonathon Blum with the Vladivostok Admiral of the KHL 鈥� said that 2006-07 edition of the team was unique.

鈥淲e all kind of bought into the same idea,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone bought into the same direction and obviously the results speak for themselves.鈥�

Assistant coach Craig Bonner echoed the players鈥� sentiments.

鈥淓veryone was willing to play the role that they had for the team to succeed,鈥� Bonner said.

鈥淚t was always the team first, and the individual second. The guys realized if the team succeeded, they would have personal success. If you look at the history of the players who played for that team, a lot of them went on to play in the NHL or play professional hockey, and even the ones who didn鈥檛, in life, have been successful.鈥�

Bonner said the Giants didn鈥檛 have a lot of panic in their game 鈥渂ecause most of the guys have been there before.鈥�

鈥淲e played and we had confidence in the way we played and the way we did it, and eventually it paid off,鈥� Bonner said.

Guided by head coach Don Hay, the Giants finished with a 45-17-0-10 regular season record, before losing to the powerhouse Medicine Hat Tigers in double overtime in Game 7 of the WHL Finals (the Giants earned an automatic Memorial Cup berth as the host team).

Still, Wright said the Giants were 鈥渂uilt for the post-season.鈥�

鈥淲e were gritty, tough, and I think that was one of the reasons why we were able to be even more successful in the playoffs than in the regular season,鈥� Wright said.

鈥淲e were a hard team to play against,鈥� Bonner said.

鈥淭eams didn鈥檛 like to play against us. We would wear teams down. You could see in a lot of games, by the second and third period, (other teams鈥�) defence weren鈥檛 so eager to go back and get the puck anymore. We were a hard forechecking, aggressive team.鈥�

Fans will get their first look at the 2017-18 Giants when they host a Western Hockey League pre-season tournament Sept. 8 to 10 at the G-Men鈥檚 home rink, the 91原创 Events Centre. Also involved in the tournament are the Prince George Cougars, Victoria Royals, and Everett Silvertips.