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WHL Vancouver Giants

Rockets' Strong 2nd Period Propels Them to 8-3 Win Over Giants

November 23, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Kelowna Rockets' Marek Rocak and Jake Pilon battle Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach
Kelowna Rockets' Marek Rocak and Jake Pilon battle Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor )

Kelowna, B.C. - The Kelowna Rockets exploded for six second period goals on Friday night in an 8-3 win over the Vancouver Giants at Prospera Place.

The Giants' record falls to 9-7-4 this season, while the Rockets improve to 9-9-1-1.

Cameron Schmidt tallied a goal and an assist - his league-leading 23rd tally of the year - while Adam Titlbach (7th) and Tyler Thorpe (9th) also scored.

Kelowna was led by Andrew Cristall, who tallied a goal and four assists. Cristall now has 38 points in just 14 games (11G-27A). The Rockets got goals from seven different players: Cristall, Jakub Stancl, Michael Cicek, Hiroki Gojsic, Max Graham, Nate Corbet and Kayden Longley, who had two.

GAME SUMMARY

The Giants struck first in this one, after Mazden Leslie spotted Schmidt open at the left circle and zipped a pass to him from the top of the right circle. Schmidt made no mistake, waiting for goaltender Jake Pilon to slide too far before roofing it home. It was Schmidt's 11th goal in the last seven games and Leslie's 100th career assist.

Leslie currently sits fourth in franchise scoring amongst defencemen with 142 points (42G-100A), eight back of Bo Byram (150).

The Rockets evened the score during 4-on-4 play just a couple minutes later when Cristall dished to Stancl in front of the net.

Not long after Kelowna's equalizer, the Giants regained the lead after Schmidt forced a turnover just inside the Rockets zone and got the puck to Connor Levis, who saw Titlbach open in the slot and got the puck to him. Titlbach quickly fired a low shot past Pilon to make it 2-1 for Vancouver midway through the first period.

The Rockets scored twice early in the second period to take a 3-2 lead, first Cicek and then Cristall just 2:04 later.

It remained tight for another several minutes before the Rockets opened the floodgates with four more goals in the final seven and a half minutes of the second period. Goijsic made it 4-2 on a great individual effort, before Graham, Longley and Corbet followed suit to make it 7-2 Kelowna after two periods.

The teams exchanged goals in the third period, including Thorpe's shorthanded marker, but the game was well out of reach by then.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 9/10/9 = 28 | KEL - 9/12/10 = 31

PP: VAN- 0/1 | KEL - 1/3

Face-Offs: VAN - 31 | KEL - 28

THEY SAID IT

"I thought we had a real good first. We started and we were executing. I thought our puck management was really good and then the wheels fell off in the second. I thought we were a little careless with the puck. Kind of handed them a couple gifts. Unfortunately, you're not going to rebound from a second period like that. I don't know if we felt too good about our first, coming out in the second, but certainly careless mistakes cost us...In the second, we started maybe trying to do too much on our own and those mistakes obviously end up in the back of our net in a hurry." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio

"It's sticking to a plan through 60 minutes. It showed tonight. Obviously, you can't play 20 minutes of hockey and win a game." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio

3 STARS

1st: KEL - Andrew Cristall - 1G, 4A, 4 SOG

2nd: KEL - Kayden Longley - 2G, 3 SOG

3rd: KEL - Hiroki Gojsic - 1G, 1A, 3 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS - Matthew Hutchison (14 saves / 21 shots). Replaced by Carter Capton (9 saves / 10 shots)

Kelowna: WIN - Jake Pilon (25 saves / 28 shots)

UP NEXT

Date Opponent Time Location

Saturday, November 23 Spokane Chiefs 7:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre

Sunday, November 24 Prince George Cougars 4:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre

Friday, November 29 Everett Silvertips 7:00 PM PT Langley Events Centre

Check out the Vancouver Giants Statistics




Images from this story

Kelowna Rockets' Marek Rocak and Jake Pilon battle Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach
Kelowna Rockets' Marek Rocak and Jake Pilon battle Vancouver Giants' Adam Titlbach
(Steve Dunsmoor )		   

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