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WHL Vancouver Giants

Giants Power Play Stays Hot in 5-2 Win over Rebels

October 9, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants vs. the Red Deer Rebels
Vancouver Giants vs. the Red Deer Rebels
(Vancouver Giants)

Red Deer, Alta. - The Vancouver Giants handed the Red Deer Rebels their first regulation loss of the season on Tuesday night, defeating the home side 5-2, much in part thanks to three first period power play goals.

The win improves Vancouver's record to 4-2-0 this season.

Mazden Leslie, Ty Halaburda and Cameron Schmidt each scored in the opening frame on the man advantage, while Aaron Obobaifo and Jakob Oreskovic scored in the second period for the G-Men.

Matthew Hutchison made 32 saves on the evening, including stopping all 13 shots he faced in the third period.

Cohen Poulin and Hunter Mayo had the goals for the Rebels.

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GAME SUMMARY

The Giants scored the first goal of the game for the first time this season, and it came on their first power play of the contest just under eight minutes in.

Leslie took a pass from Roberts and let a low shot go from the right circle that beat Wutzke through the five hole to make it 1-0.

After Matthew Gard was called for cross-checking, the Giants extended their lead to 2-0 thanks to a great cross-seam pass from Leslie to Halaburda in the slot, who snapped it home for his third goal of the season.

Then, with only nine seconds left in the period, Schmidt was able to find a loose puck just outside the crease and shoot it off a defender and in, giving the Giants a commanding 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Early in the second, Red Deer got on the board after a turnover behind the Giants net.

But less than five minutes later, Obobaifo restored Vancouver's three-goal lead with a great individual effort. Zimmer threw a puck towards the middle of the ice at the offensive blue line for Obobaifo, who took it and immediately tried to split between two defenceman. Somehow, while fighting off the check of defenceman Mattero Fabrizi, the 17-year-old was able to chip the puck over the glove of Wutzke and into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season.

Only 1:55 after Obobaifo made it 4-1, a fellow first round pick from 2022 increased the Giants lead yet again.

Jakob Oreskovic tipped in Leslie's point shot at the 8:10 mark of the middle frame to make it 5-1 for Vancouver.

The Rebels got one goal back just a few minutes later off a laser of a shot from Mayo, but that would be the last goal scored in the hockey game.

In the end, the Giants special teams were perfect, with their power play going 3-for-3 and their penalty kill going 4-for-4.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 15/9/4 = 28 | RD - 8/13/13 = 34

PP: VAN- 3/3 | RD - 0/4

Face-Offs: VAN - 25 | RD - 29

THEY SAID IT

"I thought we matched them with our compete. Special teams were good - was it three power play goals tonight? So the PP is rolling from Calgary. I thought we competed hard tonight and you have to against a team like Red Deer...I feel overall we've done a good job of that this year. It's really been puck management for us at the end of the day I think where teams have created on us. I thought tonight we were better. We're still kind of learning that piece of the game. That's a team that directs a lot of pucks to the net. There's a lot of scrums; we had numbers around it. We had numbers at the net. I thought the guys did a good job. I thought Hutch was good tonight too, so it was great to see Hutch have a real good solid game in there." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio

3 STARS

1st: VAN - Mazden Leslie - 3A, 3 SOG, +3

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

3rd: RD - Hunter Mayo - 1G, 1A, 2 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN - Matthew Hutchison (32 saves / 34 shots)

Red Deer: LOSS - Chase Wutzke (23 saves / 28 shots)

UP NEXT

Date Opponent Time Location

Friday, October 11 Lethbridge Hurricanes 6 PM PT VisitLethbridge.com Arena

Saturday, October 12 Medicine Hat Tigers 6 PM PT Co-op Place

Monday, October 14 Edmonton Oil Kings 11 AM PT Rogers Place

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Vancouver Giants battle the Red Deer Rebels
Vancouver Giants battle the Red Deer Rebels
 Vancouver Giants celebrate a win against the Red Deer Rebels
Vancouver Giants celebrate a win against the Red Deer Rebels
 Vancouver Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison makes a stop against the Red Deer Rebels
Vancouver Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison makes a stop against the Red Deer Rebels
Vancouver Giants vs. the Red Deer Rebels
Vancouver Giants vs. the Red Deer Rebels
   

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