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WHL Vancouver Giants

Cristall Leads Rockets To 4-1 Win Over Giants

February 24, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Kelowna Rockets' Andrew Cristall in action
Kelowna Rockets' Andrew Cristall in action
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor/Kelowna Rockets)

Kelowna, B.C. - Andrew Cristall led the Kelowna Rockets to a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Giants on Friday night, scoring a natural hat-trick in the second period.

Vancouver's loss is just their second in regulation since January 19, as the Giants are still 10-2-1 in their last 13 games. Vancouver's overall record is now 27-26-3-0, just two points ahead of Kelowna for sixth place, who improve to 26-28-3-0.

The Giants' lone goal on Friday came from Connor Levis, his 19th of the season and ninth in 16 games since joining Vancouver at the January 10 trade deadline.

In addition to Cristall's three goals, Luke Schelter also scored for Kelowna.

CLICK FOR THE OFFICIAL WHL BOXSCORE | CLICK FOR THE FULL ONLINE RECAP WITH GOAL CLIPS AND THE POST-GAME INTERVIEW

GAME SUMMARY

The Giants had the only goal of the first period, coming with under four minutes left. Captain Sam Honzek was stopped on the breakaway by Jari Kykkanen, but Honzek recovered the puck in the corner and threw the puck back in front, where it went off Levis and in to open the scoring.

Vancouver went 0-for-3 on the power play in the first period, but still had a 1-0 lead.

Early in the second, the Rockets struck on an odd-man rush on the power play, after Cristall carried the puck from the left circle to the slot, out-waiting everyone and finishing on the backhand to tie the game 1-1.

Just a few minutes later, Kelowna went ahead 2-1 on Cristall's second of the game, after his wrist shot from the line went off a stick and in.

At the 11:26 mark of the second, Cristall completed the hat-trick, firing a shot from the left circle that just squeaked past goaltender Brett Mirwald.

Before the second frame was done, the Rockets extended their lead to 4-1. Just seconds after killing off a penalty, Hiroki Gojsic led a 3-on-2 down the left and fed a backhand pass to the slot, which Schelter collected and fired home on the blocker side.

The Giants did have 12 shots on goal in the third period, but were unable to cut into the deficit.

CLICK FOR THE FULL ONLINE RECAP WITH GOAL CLIPS AND THE POST-GAME INTERVIEW

THEY SAID IT

"Good first, not a great second, a bit better third. Just inconsistent. Didn't play 60 minutes tonight...It starts with discipline. I didn't like a couple of our penalties. Something we've addressed of late. We've been a little bit better, but we've got to keep our penalties down. We can't take unnecessary ones. I didn't like a few that were kind of 80 feet from the play, behind the play, unnecessary and those ones usually hurt you...It is a bit of a wake up call tonight. We played well against some top teams in the league and I don't know if we felt a little too good after the first - because we did like our first period overall - [but] give Kelowna credit. They came out hard in the second and really took it to us. But from a group standpoint there's a lot of belief in [our room] and we're looking for a good rebound game tomorrow." - Associate Coach Adam Maglio

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 8/0/12 = 20 | KEL - 6/13/4 = 23

PP: VAN - 0/5 | KEL - 2/4

Face-Offs: VAN - 24 | KEL - 27

3 STARS

1st: KEL - Andrew Cristall - 3G, 4 SOG

2nd: KEL - Luke Schelter - 1G, 2 SOG, +1

3rd: KEL - Carter Kowalyk - 1A, 1 SOG, +1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Loss - Brett Mirwald (19 saves / 23 shots)

Kelowna: WIN - Jari Kykkanen (19 saves / 20 shots)

NEXT GAME:

The Giants host Kamloops tomorrow (Saturday) for RE/MAX presents: Nickelodeon Night, where Vancouver will sport unique SpongeBob SquarePants jerseys!

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Kelowna Rockets' Andrew Cristall in action
Kelowna Rockets' Andrew Cristall in action
(Steve Dunsmoor/Kelowna Rockets)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from February 24, 2024


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