Giants Avoid Scare, Top Royals 5-4 in Shootout
WHL Vancouver Giants

Giants Avoid Scare, Top Royals 5-4 in Shootout

Published on December 13, 2025 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants' Aaron Obobaifo
Vancouver Giants' Aaron Obobaifo
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Kevin Light)

VICTORIA, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants nearly let one slip away on the road on Friday night, but recovered to skate away with a 5-4 shootout win over the Victoria Royals at Save on Foods Memorial Centre.

The Giants had a 4-1 lead going into the third period, but surrendered three unanswered goals that pushed the game to overtime.

Nobody scored in the extra frame and then Aaron Obobaifo scored the shootout winner to get the Giants the two points.

Vancouver improves to 13-16-1-1 with the loss, while the Royals fall to 11-11-4-2.

Ryan Lin, Obobaifo, Tobias Tomik and Brett Olson each scored for the Giants. Obobaifo (1G-2A) and Olson (1G-1A), as well as Tyus Sparks (2A) had multi-point nights.

Ludovic Perreault and Nolan Stewart each scored twice for Victoria.

Lin scored the only goal of the first period with just 2:19 left in the period, when Sparks found him alone in the right dot off an offensive zone face-off win.

Perreault would tie the game 1-1 early in the second, bringing the teddy bears down with his sixth of the season.

The Giants responded with three goals in a span of 4:42, including two goals 21 seconds apart.

First, Obobaifo tapped in a pass from Cameron Schmidt on a power play to make it 2-1 for Vancouver.

Then 21 seconds after that, Tomik deflected in a shot from Leonardo Domenichelli to make it 3-1 with 6:55 remaining in the second period.

Olson notched his sixth of the season off a backdoor pass from Obobaifo off the rush to make it 4-1 for the Giants after 40 minutes.

Stewart cut into the Giants lead at the 6:22 mark of the second to get the home side within two.

Less than three minutes later, Stewart scored again to make it a one-goal contest at 4-3.

Perreault tied the game at the 12:04 mark of the third period.

Overtime solved nothing, despite a Giants power play that generated multiple good looks, as Ethan Eskit made six saves in the Royals crease in the extra frame to force a shootout.

Woodward scored first for Victoria, but Schmidt responded for the Giants.

Perreault had an opportunity to win it for the Royals with the shootout tied 1-1, but Hood kept things going.

Then as the fourth shooter, Obobaifo went top shelf to give the Giants the 2-1 edge.

Hood made the game-closing save on Wyatt Danyleyko to give Vancouver the 5-4 win. STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 11/9/7/6 = 33 | VIC - 13/14/11/2 = 40

PP: VAN- 1/2 | VIC - 0/1

Face-Offs: VAN - 32 | VIC - 26 3 STARS

1st: VIC - Ludovic Perreault - 2G, 1A, 4 SOG, +2

2nd: VIC - Nolan Stewart - 2G, 1A, 5 SOG, +2

3rd: VAN - Aaron Obobaifo - 1G, 2A, 3 SOG, +2 GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: SO WIN - Burke Hood (36 saves / 40 shots + 3/4 in SO)

Victoria: SO LOSS - Ethan Eskit (29 saves / 33 shots + 2/4 in SO)

THEY SAID IT

"I thought we played a really good 40 minutes. I thought our forwards were doing a really good job of reloading above pucks and getting pucks back and getting tips on puck and defensively we were rock solid. Obviously you go into the third up 4-1 and you don't expect that to happen. I don't think we started the third in a bad way by any means: I thought we were putting the pressure on, but then they get one and you tighten up a little bit and they get the next two to make it close. Overall we're happy with the result, but we've got to be better obviously carrying that win through the third." - Giants Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson

UPCOMING

The Giants host their Teddy Bear Toss game tomorrow and their Toy Drive game on Sunday at LEC!

Date Opponent Time Location

Saturday, December 13 Victoria Langley Events Centre 7:00 PM

Sunday, December 14 Spokane Langley Events Centre 4:00 PM

Stream all Giants games for free on Victory+.

The Giants next home game is their Teddy Bear Toss on Saturday, December 13 at 7 PM against the Victoria Royals, followed by the annual Toy Drive on Sunday, December 14 at 4 PM against Spokane! Grab your seats at VancouverGiants.com/tickets.

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Images from this story

Vancouver Giants' Aaron Obobaifo
Vancouver Giants' Aaron Obobaifo
(Kevin Light)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from December 13, 2025


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