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WHL Vancouver Giants

Warriors Special Teams The Difference In Win Over Giants

January 13, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vancouver Giants News Release


Vancouver Giants battle the Moose Jaw Warriors
Vancouver Giants battle the Moose Jaw Warriors
(Vancouver Giants, Credit: Nick Pettigrew)

The Warriors got the opening goal in the final minute of the first period, after Savoie entered off the rush and dished to Firkus, who one-timed it quickly from the high slot.

Yager would score his 19th of the season at the 6:46 mark of the second period off a tap-in on the power play to make the score 2-0.

Vancouver responded with a power play tally of their own, after Leslie's point shot was deflected past Jackson Unger by Halaburda.

Moose Jaw then responded less than two minutes later, as Mateychuk ripped a snap shot from the top of the circle right off a face-off to restore the Warrior's two goal advantage.

Early in the third period, Vancouver had some jump, but Unger made two big stops - one of them an incredible diving stick save on Levis - to keep the home team ahead 3-1.

Then, on an ensuing Giants power play, Savoie would score his first goal as a Warrior shorthanded to make the score 4-1.

A few minutes after that, Savoie would score again, this time on the power play, to make it 5-1.

Subject got the Giants back to within three when he threw the puck on net from the right boards for his first Western Hockey League goal at the 7:34 mark of the third period.

At that point, it appeared the Giants were out of gas, as Moose Jaw added two late goals to make it a 7-2 final.

First, Firkus scored on the power play for his 32nd goal of the season, and then Schmidt put home a lively bounce off the end boards to make it 7-2 with 2:02 remaining in the game.

THEY SAID IT

"I thought there were moments throughout the game where we played pretty well. I think if we capitalized on a couple of the chances, it's going to be a different game. But unfortunately it just seemed like we ran out of gas in the third. We got down 5-2 and we just seemed like we were tired. It's been a long trip for the guys, obviously, but there were spurts there. I thought our start was quite good, our first period, and then it just looked like we didn't have our legs, made some mental errors and they capitalized." - Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game as a whole

"We talked about at the beginning of the trip, building momentum and just bonding as a group can be really rewarding for a team. And when you go through a trip and you get three wins of five, I think for sure it can be a good momentum booster moving forward here for us and we look forward, like we talked about, getting these new guys acclimated a little bit more through a week of practice and going into a couple of big games against Kelowna next weekend." Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the trip as a whole

"Yeah I think that's something we'll definitely show the group, is that we can play with them 5-on-5. You look at the even strength part of the game and we were right in it. Again, if we capitalize on a couple of those chances, it would have been interesting to see where this game would have gone. There will be some learning stuff we'll pull out of this, but overall, like Bill said, a pretty successful trip here." Giants Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game at 5-on-5

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN - 11/5/9 = 25 | MJ - 15/20/13 = 48

PP: VAN - 1/2 | MJ - 3/5

Face-Offs: VAN - 23 | MJ - 39

3 STARS

1st: MJ - Matthew Savoie - 2G, 3A, 6 SOG, +2

2nd: MJ- Jagger Firkus - 2G, 2A, 4 SOG

3rd: MJ - Brayden Yager - 1G, 1A, 3 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Loss - Brett Mirwald (41 saves / 48 shots)

Moose Jaw: WIN - Jackson Unger (23 saves / 25 shots)

NEXT GAME:

The Giants have now completed their five-game East Division road trip. Their next contest is on the road in Kelowna on Friday, January 19.

Vancouver's next home game is Sunday, January 21 at 2 p.m. against the Kelowna Rockets.

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Images from this story

Vancouver Giants battle the Moose Jaw Warriors
Vancouver Giants battle the Moose Jaw Warriors
(Nick Pettigrew)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from January 13, 2024


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