Giants Outlast Blades 7-6 on Home Ice
November 2, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release
Vancouver Giants' Colton Alain in action
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Rob Wilton)
Langley, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants defeated the Eastern Conference leading Saskatoon Blades 7-6 on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre, improving to 8-4-2 on the season.
Six different Giants scored in the win, including Cameron Schmidt, whose two tallies moved him back into sole possession of the goal scoring lead in the Western Hockey League with 14.
Tyler Thorpe (7th), Tyson Zimmer (4th), Connor Levis (7th), Jaden Lipinski (1st) and Adam Titlbach (5th) each scored as well.
Burke Hood was busy all night, finishing with 42 saves on 48 shots to improve to 3-2-2 this season.
The Blades got two goals from European import David Lewandowski, plus single tallies from Hudson Kibblewhite, Rowan Calvert, Tyler Parr and Brandon Lisowsky.
The Blades took an early lead just over five minutes after Lewandowski fired one from the goal line that snuck through, but that was the only lead the Blades had all game.
Just 2:25 later, the Giants equalized on a power play when Thorpe found the bouncing back off a missed shot and put it home.
Less than three minutes later, Schmidt poked the puck off the stick of Tanner Molendyk inside the Giants zone and went the full length of the ice the other way, finishing upstairs on the backhand on the breakaway to make it 2-1 for Vancouver.
The Blades tied the game 2:01 later off the stick of 17-year-old Kibblewhite.
Once again, the Giants responded quickly, when Schmidt one-timed his second of the game off a centering pass from Ty Halaburda.
Saskatoon tied the game before the first period came to a close, making it 3-3 on Calvert's ninth goal of the season.
Zimmer gave the Giants a 4-3 lead early in the second period when he converted on a penalty shot, after he beat Gardner with a simple shot on the glove side.
The Blades would get even again thanks to their second power play goal of the night, this one from Parr on a shot from the top of the right circle.
Only 1:33 into period three, Vancouver went back ahead by one when Thorpe centered to Levis, who shovelled home his seventh of the season to make the score 5-4.
With under seven minutes left in regulation, Lewandowski scored his second of the night to tie the game 5-5.
The G-Men got a clutch goal three and a half minutes later, when Thorpe's shot from the high slot hit Lipinski in front and went past the blocker of Gardner.
Titlbach would score into the empty net to make it 7-5 with 1:13 left.
Lisowsky got the visitors to within one with 18.8 seconds left, but that was as close as they would come.
SOG : VAN - 6/10/10 = 26 | SAS - 18/14/16 = 48
PP: VAN- 1/2 | SAS - 2/4
Face-Offs: VAN - 39 | SAS - 31 THEY SAID IT
"Probably from both teams, that's kind of a one-off. Both teams were pretty loose in a lot of areas of their game - I know we were. We didn't have our best in some areas tonight, but I love the way we competed. That's the biggest thing. Things weren't flowing properly at times, but our kids just dug in and kept working and kept working and they weren't going to be denied, so that was really positive from our group here. We can correct those other mistakes...if there's a lack of effort in some of the mistakes, then you have an issue, but everything we were doing tonight, our kids were working. It was just one of those games." - Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the game overall
"We've got quite a few guys out of the lineup right now and some of the other kids that came in and stepped in tonight and played extra minutes that they're not used to, I thought they did a really good job. One of them was Tyus Sparks, I thought he had an outstanding game...Not just him, other guys also, they came in and played really well." - Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on playing without London Hoilett, Ryan Lin, Aaron Obobaifo and Brett Olson 3 STARS
1st: VAN - Tyler Thorpe - 1G, 2A, 6 SOG
2nd: SAS - David Lewandowski - 2G, 2 SOG
3rd: VAN - Cameron Schmidt - 2G, 2 SOG GOALTENDING BATTLE
Vancouver : WIN - Burke Hood (42 saves / 48 shots)
Saskatoon: LOSS - Evan Gardner (19 saves / 25 shots) UP NEXT Date Opponent Time Location Saturday, November 2 Moose Jaw Warriors 7:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre Saturday, November 9 Prince George Cougars 6:00 PM PT CN Centre Sunday, November 10 Prince George Cougars 2:00 PM PT CN Centre
The next chance to see the Giants in action is on Saturday, November 2 against the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7 PM. For tickets, click here.
For more details, please contact Giants Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations Nathan Kanter (nkanter@vancouvergiants.com | 250-463-5548).
Images from this story
 Vancouver Giants' Colton Alain in action (Rob Wilton) |
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