Giants Grind Out 3-1 Win Over Royals, Stretch Win Streak To 4

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WHL Vancouver Giants

Giants Grind Out 3-1 Win Over Royals, Stretch Win Streak To 4

March 15, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants' Ryan Lin, Tyler Thorpe, and Mazden Leslie on game night
Vancouver Giants' Ryan Lin, Tyler Thorpe, and Mazden Leslie on game night
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Gord Rufh)

Victoria, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants extended their winning streak to four games on Friday night following a 3-1 road win over the Victoria Royals at the Save on Foods Memorial Centre.

The Giants improve to 32-24-8-0 on the season and are now tied with the Portland Winterhawks for fifth place in the Western Conference with 72 points each. Both teams have four games remaining.

Cameron Schmidt had a pair of first period goals, his 37th and 38th tallies of the season, while Tyler Thorpe hit the empty net with 1:26 to go to ensure the victory. Burke Hood was dialled in again, stopping 33 of 34 shots to improve to 18-12-6 on the season. He is 8-2-1 over his last 11 starts with a .939 save percentage.

Brayden Boehm had the lone Royals goal.

Schmidt opened the scoring on an odd-man rush, after Adam Titlbach dished the puck to him at the offensive blue line and he wristed one from the top of the right circle past Johnny Hicks on the blocker side.

After Titlbach drew a hooking penalty, the Giants cashed in on the power play midway through the period, needing only 10 seconds of the man advantage to work the puck to Leslie on the left side and then Schmidt in the right circle, who made no mistake for his 38th goal of the season.

The draft-eligible Schmidt now has a five-game point streak, with nine points during that span (4G-5A). He also has goals in three straight for the first time since January.

Early in the second period, the Royals cut the Giants lead in half when Boehm scored on a breakaway, backhanding it through the five hole of Hood.

In the third period, Vancouver came through with back-to-back clutch penalty kills midway through the frame before Thorpe scored on the empty net from centre ice.

Then with 1:17 remaining, the Giants had to kill off a 6-on-4 for the remainder of the game and were able to come through.

CLICK FOR THE ONLINE RECAP WITH GOAL CLIPS STATISTICS

SOG : VAN - 8/12/5 = 25 | VIC - 13/11/10 = 34

PP: VAN- 1/3 | VIC - 0 /3

Face-Offs: VAN - 21 | VIC - 34 3 STARS (Three Graduating 20-Year-Olds for Final VIC Home Game)

1st: VIC - Brandon Lisowsky - 283 career WHL games

2nd: VIC - Brayden Boehm - 211 career WHL games

3rd: VIC - Kenta Isogai - 119 career WHL games GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver : WIN - Burke Hood (33 saves / 34 shots)

Victoria: LOSS - Johnny Hicks (22 saves / 24 shots) THEY SAID IT

"Hood made some key saves when we needed him to, so that kept us in it early. I thought we got better. On the road, not getting our matchups, I thought all the lines did a really good job and the 'D', kind of playing against guys maybe they're not typically seeing when we're at home. So I thought a pretty good job with our matchups. Real solid effort by the group tonight." - Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game overall

"Credit to the group. We've been stressing not just limping into the playoffs [but] playing the right way. You could feel in that last second half of the third, there was some real desperation and urgency in our game and that really was a big step for us tonight." - Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the third period urgency

"His tracking has been unbelievable. The way he's getting ahead of plays - that's what has made him so good in my opinion. And then obviously his rebound control I think has also really, really improved. He's feeling it. Credit to him. He puts a ton of work in. Hood is one of our hardest workers every day. We could feel this was coming for him. He deserves it. He puts in the work every day and another great performance tonight." - Associate Coach Adam Maglio on Hood

THIS AND THAT

Mazden Leslie recorded two assists on Friday, becoming just the third Giants defenceman in franchise history to reach 70 points in a single season, joining Kevin Connauton (72, 2009-10) and Bowen Byram (71, 2018-19)

Schmidt is two goals shy of becoming just the sixth Giant to record 40 or more goals in a single season. The five that accomplished it are: Ty Ronning (61), Evander Kane (48), Brendan Gallagher (44, 41, 41), Adam Courchaine (43) and Jordan Martinook (40)

Jaden Lipinski increased his point streak to six games with an assist: he has seven points in that span (3G-4A)

UPCOMING

The Giants host the Royals on Saturday and then wrap up the weekend with a matinee in Portland on Sunday.

Date Opponent Time Location

Saturday, March 15 Victoria 7:00 PM PST Langley Events Centre

Sunday, March 16 Portland 4:00 PM PST Veterans Memorial Coliseum

The Giants next home game is Saturday, March 15 against the Victoria Royals at 7 p.m. Their final home game of the regular season is Sunday, March 23 against the Kelowna Rockets at 4 p.m.

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Vancouver Giants' Ryan Lin, Tyler Thorpe, and Mazden Leslie on game night
Vancouver Giants' Ryan Lin, Tyler Thorpe, and Mazden Leslie on game night
(Gord Rufh)		   

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