Hood Records 2nd Consecutive Shutout as Giants Crush Rockets 7-0
January 5, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release
Vancouver Giants' Burke Hood versus Kelowna Rockets' Kayden Longley
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor )
Kelowna, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants thumped the Kelowna Rockets 7-0 on Saturday night on the road, with rookie goaltender Burke Hood recording his second consecutive shutout.
The Giants have now won six of their last seven games, while the win improves Vancouver's record this season to 19-14-4. The Rockets, meanwhile, fall to 14-18-2-1.
Hood hasn't allowed a goal in his last 149 minutes and 42 seconds of action, as he stopped 25 shots in relief against Victoria prior to his back-to-back shutouts on Friday and Saturday.
The G-Men got goals from plenty of sources on Saturday: Adam Titlbach scored the first two goals of the game, followed by second period goals from Cameron Schmidt, Tyler Thorpe and Tyson Zimmer. Jaden Lipinski and Jakob Oreskovic each scored in the third.
The Rockets outshot the Giants 44-31, but Vancouver had plenty of high danger chances in each and every period.
GAME SUMMARY
Adam Titlbach scored two first period goals to give the Giants a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
First, just over five minutes in, he buried a rebound after Thorpe took a low shot on a 2-on-1.
Then in the final minute of the first period, Leslie led a 3-on-1 odd-man rush and dished to Levis, who found Titlbach open backdoor to make it 2-0.
Hood made 19 first period saves.
Early in the second, Schmidt banked one in off a Rockets player from the corner on the power play to extend Vancouver's lead to 3-0.
Late in the middle frame, Thorpe intercepted a pass from Caden Price on a Rockets power play just inside the defensive zone and outraced Cristall the other way to create a shorthanded breakaway, where he finished on the glove side to make it 4-0.
Less than two minutes later, Zimmer banged in a one-timer off a feed from Leslie to make it 5-0.
In the third, Lipinski and Oreskovic would each score to make the final 7-0.
THEY SAID IT
"Tonight it just felt like it was clicking. Guys were really baring down around the net. Power play I believe two or three goals. So special teams were good tonight. We liked our game here....for whatever reason we come in this building and we play on our heels and tonight it was just getting to our game, our identity, playing on our toes, putting pressure all over the ice and we got rewarded for it." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game overall
"Everyone was going and it's nice to see. Same as the goaltending, when you get contributions from everyone. Even the Olson line. They had a ton of good looks; a ton of good chances tonight. Whether they were scoring or not, they were building momentum for us. And again, back to Titlbach, Leslie, Lipinski, Thorpe - they were all good tonight." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on a full team effort
"Hood was outstanding again tonight and he was outstanding last night. I think having that kind of goaltending, which has been really good for the most part here in this last stretch, gives a lot of belief too to the group and we're just feeding off it. We're building our game. We kind of had one lapse there against Victoria at home, but other than that a real good stretch here." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio STATISTICS
SOG: VAN - 12/9/10 = 31 | KEL - 19/15/10 = 44
PP: VAN- 3/4 | KEL - 0 /3
Face-Offs: VAN - 28 | KEL - 26 3 STARS
1st: VAN - Burke Hood - 44 Saves for 2nd straight shutout
2nd: VAN - Adam Titlbach - 2G, 3 SOG, +2
3rd: VAN - Mazden Leslie - 3A, 1 SOG, +1 GOALTENDING BATTLE
Vancouver: WIN - Burke Hood (44 saves / 44 shots)
Kelowna: LOSS - Rhett Stoesser (16 saves / 21 shots [40 Min.]). Jake Pilon (8 saves / 10 shots [20 Min.]) THIS AND THAT
Since coming back from the holiday break, Hood is 3-0-0 with a .965 SV%
Hood is the first Giants goaltender to record back-to-back shutouts since Trent Miner had three in a row on March 28, April 4 and April 5 of 2021 in the bubble season. Miner faced a combined 64 shots in those three starts
The 7-0 win represents the largest margin of victory the Giants have ever had in Kelowna
12 different Giants recorded at least one point on Saturday
Schmidt remains tied for the WHL-lead in goals, now with 28, with Swift Current Broncos forward Luke Mistelbacher
Leslie is now 4th in scoring in the WHL among defencemen with 37 points (7G-30A). He has 9A and is a +10 in his last 7 GP
Lipinski increased his point streak to six games, now with 3G-8A during that span UPCOMING Date Opponent Time Location Tuesday, January 7 Prince George 7:00 PM PST CN Centre Wednesday, January 8 Prince George 7:00 PM PST CN Centre Friday, January 10 Kamloops 7:00 PM PST Sandman Centre
Images from this story
 Vancouver Giants' Burke Hood versus Kelowna Rockets' Kayden Longley (Steve Dunsmoor ) |
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