Giants Prospect Hood Wins Silver Medal at Telus Cup
Membertou, NS – Vancouver Giants goaltending prospect Burke Hood won a Silver Medal at the 2024 Telus Cup on Sunday afternoon, as he helped the U18 Brandon Wheat Kings reach the Gold Medal Game, where they lost 4-1 to the Cantonniers de Magog.
Hood played five of the seven games in the tournament, making the second-most saves of any goaltender (149) and posting the third-best save percentage (.920).
In the semifinal against the Calgary Buffaloes, Hood was tremendous, making 35 saves on 36 shots, including stopping all 15 shots he saw in the third period.
Burke Hood stood tall literally and figuratively for the @3Awheatkings tonight helping them to a 4-1 win over @BuffsHockey and a spot in the @HockeyCanada #TelusCup gold medal game tomorrow.
He chatted with our @shawnmullin after the win. pic.twitter.com/DMMGPsGUXP
— HNLive (@HNLiveCA) April 28, 2024
“This group of guys has worked so hard to get here,” Hood said after the semifinal win. “It took us a while to get our game going. We hadn’t played in over two weeks, so it just took us a bit to get our legs under us.
“There’s a lot of good teams here, but I think our offence has really taken us to where we are.”
The U18 Wheat Kings had a phenomenal season, going 43-0-1 in the regular season and then 12-1 in the playoffs. Their run to the TELUS Cup – their first appearance since winning it all in 2004 – included a streak of 42 consecutive victories.
Hood went 21-0-1 in the regular season with a 1.99 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. He went 5-0 with a .944 save percentage in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League playoffs, before going 2-0 with a .982 save percentage in the West Regionals, including a 1-0 shutout win in the final over the Saskatoon Blazers, which booked Brandon’s ticket to the Telus Cup.
The Giants would like to congratulate Burke and the Wheat Kings on an incredible season!