The Vancouver Giants and the Chilliwack Bruins have played each other nine times so far in the WHL season. The familiarity, it would seem, has bred extreme discontent. The Bruins beat the Giants 2-0 at the Pacific Coliseum on Wednesday night behind the shutout goaltending of Lucas Gore. It was a vicious affair. Referees Trent Knorr and Steve Papp handed out a total of 136 minutes in penalties — 111 of them in the second period alone, 63 of those to the Bruins and 48 to the Giants. Giants forward Michael Burns was taken off the ice on a gurney and taken to hospital after taking a hard hit along the boards from Chilliwack’s Tyler Stahl at 2:52 of the second period. Sources said he may have a concussion. There was no penalty on the play. Just 27 seconds later a line brawl broke out. Giants Neil Manning and Greg Lamoureux and Bruins Jamie Crooks and Stahl all got five-minute fighting penalties and game misconducts. Things seemed to settle down a bit until the Bruins’ Curt Gogol crushed Giants defenceman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen hard into the boards behind the Vancouver net. Vannieuwenhuizen staggered to his feet twice and fell back to the ice both times. Gogol got a five-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct. Vannieuwenhuizen — who had been suspended for seven games earlier in the season for a hit on the Bruins’ Robin Soudek — returned for the third period. Through all of that, the Bruins held a 1-0 lead. Chilliwack is now just four games behind in the B.C. Division. They took the lead before 5,207 fans, on Soudek’s 21st goal of the season at 12:30 of the first period. He fired a rebound of a Brandon Manning shot past Vancouver goalie Mark Segal. At the other end of the ice, Gore was busy flashing the form that earned him the Canadian Hockey League’s goaltender of the week honours. He was particularly sharp during Gogol’s major, making big saves off Andrej Stastny, Nathan Smith and on a tip of a David Musil shot from the point. Roman Horak gave Chilliwack a 2-0 lead with his 24th goal of the season at 9:27 of the third. The Bruins are on a 6-0 win streak, the best in franchise history. The news was better for the Giants earlier in the day. Injured forward Brendan Gallagher, the Giants’ leading scorer, passed his concussion baseline testing and felt fine after riding a bike. He’s symptom-free and is scheduled to skate on his own on Thursday. There’s still no time line on a return. Gallagher suffered a head injury in Saturday’s 5-0 loss to Portland at the Pacific Coliseum. He was body checked and sent flying by the Winterhawks’ Brendan Leipsic. The Giants’ next game is against Prince George on Friday at the Pacific Coliseum (7 p.m., AM 650). They play the Bruins for the 10th and final time Saturday at Chilliwack’s Prospera Centre (7 p.m., AM 650).

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