WHL Vancouver Giants

Giants Top Chiefs 5-3 on Ref Appreciation Night

October 23, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Spokane Chiefs' Brayden Crampton versus Vancouver Giants' Brett Mirwald
Spokane Chiefs' Brayden Crampton versus Vancouver Giants' Brett Mirwald
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Rob Wilton)

Langley, BC - There was a lot of celebrating from the men in stripes on Sunday, as the Vancouver Giants defeated the Spokane Chiefs 5-3 in the team's first ever Referee Appreciation Night at the Langley Events Centre.

With the win, the Giants snapped a five-game slide and improved to 3-5-1 this season.

For the second straight game, five different G-Men found the back of the net. This time, the goal scorers were Colton Roberts, Cameron Schmidt, Ty Halaburda, Patrik Kral and Tyler Thorpe.

Brett Mirwald made 34 saves to pick up his third win of the season.

On the other side, Connor Roulette potted a pair of goals and Layton Feist also scored for Spokane.

GAME SUMMARY:

The Giants got on the board first, doing so midway through the opening period after Colton Roberts put home a juicy rebound from the high slot for his first of the season.

Vancouver took that 1-0 lead into first intermission, where they also led on the shot clock 13-10.

In the second, Cameron Schmidt doubled the Giants lead thanks to a seeing-eye shot on the man advantage, giving him his third goal of the season.

The Chiefs got a goal back a few minutes later, off the stick of Connor Roulette, who netted his fifth goal of the season at the 8:06 mark of the period.,

Less than three minutes later, however, the Giants caught Spokane on a bad line change when Adam Titlbach found Ty Halaburda all alone at the offensive blue line, who went in all alone and made no mistake for his second goal in two games.

After 40 minutes, Vancouver was out in front 3-1.

Early in the third period, Patrik Kral and Cameron Schmidt combined for a goal off a 2-on-1 rush, after Schmidt's shot went off a stick and missed, but Kral was able to put home the rebound after it ricocheted off the end boards.

The Chiefs wouldn't go away easy however, responding with two goals to cut Vancouver's lead to 4-3. First, Roulette scored his second of the game, and then Layton Feist got on the board with his fourth of the season.

With the goalie pulled, Vancouver's Tyler Thorpe got an unassisted empty-net goal, after he defended Berkly Catton very well, forcing him outside the blueline and beating him to the loose puck, before depositing it into the empty net.

THEY SAID IT

"I really liked the way we battled. Tough with the back end of three games in two and a half days here. Our kids battled hard. Fatigue was a factor for both teams, but I like the way we grinded out that win here and did a lot of things really well. This whole weekend I thought we did really well, how we played and I saw a lot of positives. Even though we only got one win, it was a good weekend for us." - Head Coach Manny Viveiros post-game

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 13/11/13 = 37 | SPO - 10/8/19 = 37

PP: VAN - 1/4 | SPO - 0/5

Face-Offs: VAN - 37 | SPO - 25

3 STARS

1st: VAN - Cameron Schmidt - 1G, 1A, 5 SOG

2nd: SPO - Connor Roulette - 2G, 1A, 6 SOG

3rd: VAN - Colton Roberts - 1G, 1A, 2 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Win - Brett Mirwald (34 saves / 37 shots)

Spokane: Loss - Dawson Cowan (32 saves / 36 shots)

NOTEWORTHY:

10 different Giants recorded a point on Sunday, the same number as Saturday

Vancouver now has 10 goals in their last two games, after scoring just seven in the previous three

The Giants now have power play goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season

Cameron Schmidt was the first star thanks to the first multi-point game of his career (1G-1A), while also tying his career-high of five shots on goal (second time this season)

Colton Roberts' two-point performance was the third multi-point game of his young career

Tyler Thorpe scored his ninth goal of the season into an empty net, giving him nine goals and zero assists through nine games. He also had a team-high six shots on goal

NEXT GAME:

The Giants will have another 3-in-3 next weekend, starting with a home contest on Friday, October 27 against the Victoria Royals. On Saturday they'll travel to Victoria for the rematch, before heading home for a Sunday matchup with Kamloops for the annual Trick or Suite night.

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Spokane Chiefs' Brayden Crampton versus Vancouver Giants' Brett Mirwald
Spokane Chiefs' Brayden Crampton versus Vancouver Giants' Brett Mirwald
(Rob Wilton)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from October 23, 2023


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