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WHL Vancouver Giants

Giants Grab Point vs. Chiefs in 2nd Straight OT Loss

October 26, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach battles the Spokane Chiefs' Hayden Paupanekis
Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach battles the Spokane Chiefs' Hayden Paupanekis
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Larry Brunt)

Spokane, WA - The Vancouver Giants fought tooth and nail with the Spokane Chiefs on the road on Friday night and came away with a single point in a 4-3 overtime loss.

The Giants record now sits at 6-4-2-0, while the Chiefs improve to 9-4-0.

Ty Halaburda, Mazden Leslie and Tyler Thorpe each scored in the defeat, while Cameron Schmidt increased his season-long point streak to 12 games with a pair of assists.

Burke Hood stopped 10 of 11 shots he saw in relief of Matthew Hutchison, who made 15 saves on 18 shots in the first 42 minutes of the game.

Shea Van Olm found the scoresheet twice for the Chiefs, while Chase Harrington and Rasmus Ekstrom (overtime winner) also scored.

It was the Chiefs first home game since October 5 and they started the game with a lot of energy.

Van Olm made it 1-0 just 44 seconds in when he deposited the puck into the open net after Brayden Crampton hit the post from the right point.

Then at the 2:22 mark of the first, Harrington scored from the left circle off a cross-ice feed from Owen Martin.

Vancouver got some momentum back when London Hoilett was sprung for a breakaway and got slashed, leading to a penalty shot. Although he couldn't score, it settled the Giants into the game, as they would find the equalizer a few minutes later.

It was at the 7:17 mark of the first period when Schmidt found Halaburda open at the bottom of the left circle, who took the puck hard to the net and slide it under goaltender Dawson Cowan to even the score on his fifth goal of the season.

The Chiefs took that 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Vancouver tied the game 7:16 into the second period when Lipinski made a good play along the wall to find Schmidt on the inside and make it a 2-on-1 down low, where he froze the goaltender Cowan and dished the puck across to Leslie, who one-timed it into the open net.

Not long after, the Giants thought they had their first lead of the game, but Caden Cail's goal was called back for goaltender interference, leading to a Chiefs power play at 11:54 of period two. Just 15 seconds into their power play, Spokane scored, with Van Olm making it 3-2 on his second goal of the game and 11th of the season.

Early in the third period, the Chiefs thought they had extended their lead to 4-2, but their goal was called back due to contact on goaltender Matthew Hutchison. A penalty was not given on the play.

The Giants made a goaltending change at this point, with Hood relieving Hutchison.

Not long after, the Giants found the equalizer, when Levis found Thorpe at the top of the left circle, who beat Cowan with a hard shot on the glove side to make it 3-3 just 3:40 into period number three.

In the dying seconds of the game, the Chiefs thought they had a buzzer beater, but it was determined Harrington's deflection put the puck over the goal line just after the clock hit zero.

On the first shift of overtime, the Giants were called for holding, which led to Ekstrom's winner on the top corner finish from the right circle.

SOG : VAN - 8/7/7/0 = 22 | SPO - 10/7/8/4 = 29

PP: VAN- 0/2 | SPO - 2/3

Face-Offs: VAN - 22 | SPO - 34 THEY SAID IT

"I thought it was a good game both ways. I think our guys competed extremely hard. That's a good team over there in Spokane. We were resilient like you said. We come back again to force OT and give ourselves a chance to win. Unfortunately a penalty in OT and they score. A lot of positives from the group. We liked our game overall. I thought we competed extremely hard tonight. I liked our physicality. I thought the intensity, the urgency, was there." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game overall

"We liked a lot of what we did. We were executing the game plan I thought for the most part. We got better as the game went on. I thought we got contributions from everyone tonight. So there were some positives. We'll take some learning lessons and move on into Kamloops Sunday." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on getting better as the game went on

"I liked Thorpe's game. I really like [Halaburda's] game. I thought Lin and [Leslie] did a real good job tonight. But like I said, we got contributions from everyone tonight. I thought there were a lot of little things that maybe go unnoticed that some guys did. We had good energy; we had good pop, but that Thorpe line was really good tonight." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on who stood out 3 STARS

1st: SPO - Shea Van Olm - 2G, 3 SOG

2nd: VAN - Ty Halaburda - 1G, 4 SOG, +2

3rd: SPO - Rasmus Ekstrom - OT Winner, 1A, 1 SOG GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver : LOSS - Burke Hood (10 saves / 11 shots) AND Matthew Hutchison (15 saves / 18 shots)

Spokane: WIN - Dawson Cowan (18 saves / 21 shots) BY THE NUMBERS

With two assists, Schmidt remains tied for the WHL lead in points (21) and is tied for first in goals (12)

Leslie's goal gives him 15 points this season, which is the second-most amongst all defencemen in the WHL

After one goal in his first six games, Thorpe now has three goals in his last six. He leads the Giants with 44 shots on goal UP NEXT Date Opponent Time Location Sunday, October 27 Kamloops Blazers 4:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre Friday, November 1 Saskatoon Blades 7:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre Saturday, November 2 Moose Jaw Warriors 7:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre

The next chance to see the Giants in action is on Sunday, October 27 at 4 p.m. when they host the Kamloops Blazers at the Langley Events Centre in the annual Trick or Suite night. Following that, they host the Saskatoon Blades on Friday, November 1 and the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday, November 2.

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Images from this story

Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach battles the Spokane Chiefs' Hayden Paupanekis
Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach battles the Spokane Chiefs' Hayden Paupanekis
(Larry Brunt)		   

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