Giants Win Thriller at Home, 6-5, in OT Over Royals
Published on September 27, 2025 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release
Vancouver Giants' Ryan Lin and teammates on game night
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Rob Wilton)
Langley, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants grabbed their first win of the young Western Hockey League season in style on Friday night: coming from behind to top the Victoria Royals 6-5 in overtime.
The G-Men erased deficits of 3-1 and 4-2, before taking a brief 5-4 lead late in regulation. Victoria tied the game in the final minute of play, which led to an electrifying overtime period that ended with 15 seconds left when Cameron Schmidt buried his first of the season in his first game.
Adam Titlbach found the back of the net twice for the Giants, while Ryan Lin had a goal and two assists. Ty Halaburda and Tyus Sparks also each contributed a goal and an assist, and Jakob Oreskovic had tallied two assists.
Burke Hood stopped 31 shots on the night for his first win in his first game of the season.
Victoria got goals from five different players: Ashton Brown, Henry Peterson, Miles Cooper, Reggie Newman and Roan Woodward.
GAME SUMMARY
Victoria's Brown opened the scoring just 87 seconds in off a backdoor feed, but the Giants responded just over two minutes later when Titlbach put home a rebound that came off Ethan Eskit's right pad.
The Royals scored on another odd-man rush five minutes later on Peterson's first in the WHL.
Just 3:21 after that, Cooper extended the visitors lead to 3-1 on a crease scramble goal.
Early in the second, Giants rookie Blake Chorney made a smart play in the neutral zone to cause a turnover and ended up finding Sparks on a cross-ice feed, cutting Victoria's lead to 3-2.
Newman would bring the Giants momentum to a halt with a late second period goal to make the score 4-2 for Victoria after 40 minutes.
Early in the third, the Giants began to rally.
Titlbach netted his second of the contest just 1:48 in when he quickly got off a wrist shot from the left circle.
Lin scored on a backhand in tight to tie the game 4-4 less than five minutes later.
With less than two minutes remaining, Halaburda stuffed home a loose puck after Schmidt was stopped by Eskit, giving the Giants their first lead of the game.
It was short-lived, however, after Woodward scored a power play goal with the extra attacker out with 27.8 seconds left in the third period.
In overtime, the Giants and Royals exchanged chances, before the Royals were called for a boarding penalty.
Schmidt made them pay, sniping his first of the year with 15 seconds left to give the Giants the two points.
THEY SAID IT
"We put ourselves in a position [where] we had to fight back. It was 1-0, then 3-1, then 4-2, and even giving up one late, they're on their power play late [so] it's easy to get discouraged or frustrated, but I was proud of the guys, the way they stuck with it. Obviously [it's] still early in the season and there's a lot to figure out and a lot to grow - for the coaches too - but we're happy to get the two points and kind of take a breath, get the first one out of the way, and then just adjust and be ready to go for tomorrow."- Head Coach Parker Burgess
"If at any point they're able to make it 4-1, at times that can be too tall of a hill to climb. And that's a 16 and a 17-year old [Chorney and Sparks] making a big time play in a big time moment. [The 3-2 goal] put us kind of back in it and it injected some life. And then when they got the fourth you know, I thought we were really starting to find our game. In the second period, it wasn't great. First period, not great. Second period got better, and then third period, we really started to find it. So obviously we have to focus on starting the right way and not putting ourselves at a deficit where we have to chase the game a little bit." - Head Coach Parker Burgess
"I knew we were going to come back. I have that belief in this team. I think we're building something really special here. I'm getting more and more excited every day to come to the rink and to work on my craft here. Even when we were down two, I had all that belief and no real doubts that we weren't going to come back." - Defenceman Ryan Lin
STATISTICS
SOG: VAN - 12/12/9/4 = 37 | VIC - 13/12/10/1 = 36
PP: VAN- 1/2 | VIC - 1/2
Face-Offs: VAN - 37 | VIC - 36
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Vancouver: WIN - Burke Hood (31 saves / 36 shots)
Victoria: OT LOSS - Ethan Eskit (31 saves / 37 shots)
UPCOMING
The Giants visit the Island tomorrow for a rematch with the Royals at 6:05 p.m. PT.
Stream the game for free on Victory+.
Giants single game tickets are NOW ON SALE! For the best value, grab your season ticket package, starting as low as $18.26 per game. Flex packs start at just $135 and come in six,12 or 36-ticket packs. Call the Giants Office at 604.4.GIANTS (+1 (604) 444-2687) or contact the Giants at: sales@vancouvergiants.com.
Images from this story
 Vancouver Giants' Ryan Lin and teammates on game night (Rob Wilton) |
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