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WHL Vancouver Giants

Oil Kings' Third Period Power Play Goal Sinks Giants

December 29, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants' Cameron Schmidt in action
Vancouver Giants' Cameron Schmidt in action
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Rob Wilton)

LANGLEY, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants lost 5-3 to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in front of a crowd of over 5,000 fans.

With the loss, the Giants' record falls to 13-20-2-0 this season. Edmonton improves to 11-20-0-1.

The Giants entered the third period all knotted up 3-3, but surrendered a power play marker at the 7:26 mark that held up as the game-winning-goal.

Vancouver forwards Cameron Schmidt (10th), Tyler Thorpe (16th) and Aaron Oboabifo (4th) provided the offence for the Giants.

The Oil Kings got goals from Ty Nash (9th), Marc Lajoie (11th), Matthew Gallant (2nd), Gracyn Sawchyn (7th) and Marshall Finnie (12th). Sawchyn had the game-winner on the power play in his first game with the Oil Kings, after being acquired in a trade earlier this week.

GAME SUMMARY:

The Oil Kings struck first in this one, in the final minute of the opening period, after Nash walked out from the goal line on the power play and fired a wrist shot just inside the far post to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead.

The lead for the visitors could have been more if not for a Matthew Hutchison miraculous save just over a minute earlier, as he reached out with the paddle to rob former Giants teammate Skyler Bruce.

After going down 1-0 after 20 minutes, Vancouver responded by scoring twice in the first six minutes of the second period.

First, at the 2:08 mark, Colton Alain took advantage of a bad Oil Kings change, firing a pass from blue line to blue line up ahead to Justin Ivanusec, who left the puck for Schmidt. Schmidt was in free and clear and snapped a shot past the glove side of Kolby Hay to tie the game 1-1.

Minutes later, Marek Howell moved the puck up ahead to Thorpe at the offensive blue line, who cut towards the middle and let a quick shot go that fooled Hay and made it 2-1 for Vancouver.

A few minutes later, Edmonton scored twice in 30 seconds.

First, after a power play had just expired, Lajoie snapped a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Hutchison on the short side to even the score 2-2.

Then, Langley native Matthew Gallant scored his second of the season off a point shot that had eyes to make it 3-2 for Edmonton.

With exactly five minutes to go, Schmidt and Obobaifo connected on the equalizer, as the former came out from behind the net on the left side and zipped a pass across to Obobaifo, who settled down the puck and beat Hay for his fourth of the season.

At the tail end of a Giants penalty kill in the third period, Edmonton would score the eventual game-winning-goal after a centering pass hit the skate of Sawchyn and redirected into the back of the net.

Finnie would add an empty-net goal to make the final score 5-3.

THEY SAID IT

"The other night we played against Victoria was a much better game. We didn't have everybody come to play tonight, that was a big thing. We had some passengers. Quite simply, we're not good enough if we don't have everybody come to play...We're in the game, we have some chances, we had some looks, but our compete level from some players was just not there and what you need at this level...This is a five-man league. You've got five guys on the ice and you can't play with three guys. The league is too good. Like I said before, at lower levels you can get away with that, you have two players who can dominate that shift, but here you can't do that. Here when you have guys who are not up to speed, then you're not going to have success. That's just the way it is and how good this league is." Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the team's effort on Friday

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 8/9/8 = 25 | EDM - 15/11/6 = 32

PP: VAN - 0/1 | EDM - 2/4

Face-Offs: VAN - 34 | EDM - 27

3 STARS

1st: EDM - Marc Lajoie - 1G, 1A, 2 SOG, +1

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

3rd: EDM - Gracyn Sawchyn - 1G, 2 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Loss - Matthew Hutchison (27 saves / 31 shots)

Edmonton: WIN - Kolby Hay (22 saves / 25 shots)

NEXT GAME:

The Giants close out their week on the road on Sunday, December 31 with a New Year's Eve clash in Portland against the Winterhawks at 5 p.m.

Their next home game is set for Wednesday, January 3 against the Calgary Hitmen, which will be their last game at the LEC until January 21, as they'll embark on a two-week road trip to Saskatchewan and Manitoba next week.

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Vancouver Giants' Cameron Schmidt in action
Vancouver Giants' Cameron Schmidt in action
(Rob Wilton)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2023


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