Rockets Down Giants, 5-2
Published on November 2, 2025 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release
Vancouver Giants battle the Kelowna Rockets
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Rob Wilton)
Langley, B.C. - The Vancouver Giants were defeated 5-2 by the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night at Langley Events Centre.
The loss drops the Giants' overall record to 7-8-0-1, while the Rockets improve to 5-5-1-1.
Ethan Mittelsteadt and Aaron Obobaifo scored the Giants goals, both of which came on the power play.
The Giants found themselves down 3-1 entering the third period and pushed hard to tie the game, firing 19 shots on goal, but 4-2 was as close as they'd get. Kelowna goaltender Josh Banini finished the night with 31 saves on 33 shots.
Carson Wetsch had two goals for Kelowna - one of which was into the empty net - while Jacob Henderson, Tomas Poletin and Tij Iginla had the other Rockets' goals.
The Rockets scored the first goal less than three minutes in, when Wetsch beat Pyne on a low shot from the right circle.
Vancouver tied it on a power play a few minutes later off a point shot from Mittelsteadt.
Kelowna pushed back and controlled the remainder of the first period, eventually getting rewarded at 13:37 when Henderson's point shot changed direction on its way through to give Kelowna a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Fifty-six seconds into the middle frame, Poletin extended the visitors' lead to 3-1 on the power play when his pass from the goal line went off a Giants stick and into their own net.
Six minutes later, Kelowna scored another power play goal, this time when Iginla rushed the net and took a great pass from Poletin before deking and scoring his third of the season to make it 4-1.
Obobaifo gave the Giants some life late in the third period when he snuck one under the arm of Banini from the bumper position during 6-on-4 action.
Wetsch added an empty-net goal to make the final score 5-2. STATISTICS
SOG: VAN - 7/7/19 = 33 | KEL - 12/8/13 = 33
PP: VAN- 2/6 | KEL - 2 /5
Face-Offs: VAN - 23 | KEL - 34 3 STARS
1st: KEL - Josh Banini - 31 Saves on 33 Shots
2nd: VAN - Tobias Tomik - 1A, 1 SOG
3rd: KEL -Tomas Poletin - 1G, 1A, 2 SOG GOALTENDING BATTLE
Vancouver: LOSS - Kelton Pyne (28 saves / 32 shots)
Kelowna: WIN - Josh Banini (31 saves / 33 shots) THEY SAID IT
"We found our game in the third period, but I thought kind of a B game in the first and second period and we were a little bit flat. Their goalie played well. We just weren't able to generate enough. A couple bad bounces on [their] second and third goals. You've got to earn your luck. Their goalie made some saves. We had a few go off guys and things like that. I thought d-zone coverage we were good. We didn't give up a lot. At the end there when it got a little loose and we were trying to create some offence on the power play, we gave up a few breakaways, but the margin for error in this league is so tight so you've got to be ready to start. And I thought just not enough urgency right off the bat."
UPCOMING
The Giants host Prince George tomorrow.
Date Opponent Time Location
Sunday, November 2 Prince George 4:00 PM PDT Langley Events Centre
Friday, November 7 Tri-City 7:05 PM PDT Toyota Center
Saturday, November 8 Seattle 6:05 PM PDT Accesso ShoWare Center
Stream all Giants games for free on Victory+.
The Giants next home game is Saturday, November 1 against the Kelowna Rockets! Grab your seats at VancouverGiants.com/tickets.
Images from this story
 Vancouver Giants battle the Kelowna Rockets (Rob Wilton) |
Western Hockey League Stories from November 2, 2025
- Oil Kings Looking to Keep Offence Rolling, Host Broncos - Edmonton Oil Kings
- Game Preview: Game 17 VS Americans - Medicine Hat Tigers
- Big Game Bauer: Dumanski Seals OT Win in Seattle - Prince George Cougars
- Americans Downed by Hurricanes in Overtime - Tri-City Americans
- Rockets Down Giants, 5-2 - Vancouver Giants
- Preview: Americans at Tigers - November 2, 2025 - Tri-City Americans
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.
