Sports stats



Vancouver Giants

Mirwald Records First Shutout as Giants Blank Chiefs 3-0

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


Vancouver Giants battle the Spokane Chiefs
Vancouver Giants battle the Spokane Chiefs
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Larry Brunt/Spokane Chiefs)

Spokane, WA - The Vancouver Giants scored three times in the first period and got 33 saves from Brett Mirwald on Wednesday night, as they blanked the Spokane Chiefs 3-0 at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Giants' record improves to 9-12-2-0 this season.

It was Mirwald's first career Western Hockey League shutout, as he was named the first star and closed the game out with 14 third period stops. Scoring for the Giants was Julian Cull, Aaron Obobaifo and Adam Titlbach, all at even strength.

The Giants penalty kill remained strong, going 3-for-3.

CLICK FOR THE OFFICIAL WHL BOXSCORE

GAME SUMMARY:

Cull opened the scoring for Vancouver just 2:44 into the game, after he made a move to the inside and then cut back outside to his forehand and whacked a shot past Dawson Cowan for his second goal of the season.

With just under five minutes remaining in the opening period, Obobaifo beat everyone to a loose puck just inside the offensive zone and quickly fired a shot past the glove side of Cowan to double Vancouver's lead to 2-0.

Before the first period came to a close, Titlbach backhanded in a loose puck at the side of the goal off a feed from Kyren Gronick to make it 3-0 Giants after 20 minutes.

The Giants carried their strong play into the second period, but couldn't add to their lead, despite several good chances.

After 40 minutes, the score remained the same: 3-0 Giants, and they led on the shot clock 25-19.

In the third period, Vancouver faced some adversity when they had to kill off two penalties in the first 10 minutes, but they were up to the task, coming away unscathed.

In the end, all 14 shots on goal in the third period from Spokane were stopped by Mirwald, as the Giants came away with a 3-0 win, with Mirwald earning his first WHL shutout.

CLICK FOR ONLINE RECAP WITH GOAL CLIPS

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 11/14/7 = 32 | SPO - 11/8/14 = 33

PP: VAN - 0/2 | SPO - 0/3

Face-Offs: VAN - 33 | SPO - 42

THEY SAID IT

"I thought it was by committee tonight. I really liked our five-man game on the ice. I thought the guys were committed, especially being up by three goals - I just thought our attention to detail was there tonight for the most part away from the puck. It was nice to see the guys get rewarded." - Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game as a whole

"He was outstanding, again. It's kind of surprising it's his first shutout because of the way he's played. He's been on pretty much every game, so it was nice seeing him get that reward tonight. I thought he was really good." - Associate Coach Adam Maglio on Mirwald's performance

NOTEWORTHY:

The Giants PK went 3-for-3 on Wednesday and is now 27-for-29 in the last six games (93.1%)

Mirwald now ranks third in the WHL in saves with 574

With his two assists, Roberts enters the top-20 in the WHL in scoring amongst defencemen with 15 points (5G-10A)

Cull's second goal of the season gives him 10 points on the year, which is already more than he had all of last season (nine in 67 games)

After two points in his first 10 career WHL games, Obobaifo now has six points in his last 12 (3G-3A)

3 STARS

1st: VAN - Brett Mirwald - 33-Save Shutout

2nd: VAN - Aaron Obobaifo - 1G, 1 SOG, +1

3rd: VAN - Colton Roberts - 2A, 4 SOG, +2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Win - Brett Mirwald (33 saves / 33 shots)

Spokane: Loss - Dawnson Cowan (29 saves / 32 shots)

NEXT GAME:

Vancouver will play in Kamloops on Friday, before returning home Saturday for a date with the Tri-City Americans.fer-Encoding: Ewi//9k--0000000000003018c6060acca619--

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Vancouver Giants battle the Spokane Chiefs
Vancouver Giants battle the Spokane Chiefs
(Larry Brunt/Spokane Chiefs)		   

• Discuss this story on the Western Hockey League message board...

Western Hockey League Stories from November 23, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central