PREVIEW: Giants Host Wild Saturday for First Time Since October

PHOTO BY: ROB WILTON

Langley, B.C. – Tonight at 7 p.m. the Vancouver Giants (23-24-3-0) look to keep the good times rolling when they welcome a rare opponent to the Langley Evrents Centre in the Wenatchee Wild (27-20-4-0), who haven’t visited since October 1.

The Giants enter action following a 3-1 road win over Seattle on Friday, which increased the team’s point streak to seven games (6-0-1). Vancouver is also 10-3-1 in their last 14 games.

The Wild, meanwhile, lost on home ice on Friday night to the Everett Silvertips by a 6-2 score, which was the team’s fourth consecutive loss.

Wenatchee is still seven games above .500 and sits in fourth place in the Western Conference, but they are just 3-6-1 in their last 10 games.

The Giants sit in 7th place in the Western Conference standings, just two points back of the 6th-place Kelowna Rockets.

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HOW TO TUNE IN Date | Time  Saturday, February 10 | 7:00 pm PT Place Langley Events Centre Video Stream watch.chl.ca Listen Sportsnet 650 | Pre-Game begins at 6 p.m. Live Stats Click Here Social Media Twitter | Facebook  | Instagram | TikTok

LAST TIME OUT

Brett Mirwald stonewalled the Seattle Thunderbirds yet again on Friday night, stopping 35 of 36 shots thrown his way to help the Vancouver Giants to a 3-1 win at the accesso ShoWare Center, grabbing his 20th win of the season in the process.

Mirwald is now 3-0 against Seattle this season with a .968 save percentage and 1.00 G.A.A. (90 saves on 93 shots).

Providing the Giants’ goals on Friday night was Kyren Gronick (6th), Mazden Leslie (12th) and Sam Honzek (8th). Also of note was the PK that went 6-for-6.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

This is the third of four head-to-head meetings this season.

The home team has won all three contests thus far.

The Giants won the first matchup on October 1 by a score of 6-2, but then fell 4-0 in Wenatchee on October 20 and 3-2 in Wenatchee on November 3.

These teams have been headed in different directions the past six weeks. The Giants are 10-3-1 since the calendar flipped to 2024, while the Wild are just 4-8-1 during that same time period. Wenatchee has also dropped four straight, most recently a 6-2 loss on home ice last night to Everett. They are 3-6-1 in their last 10.

One thing to keep in mind is Wenatchee sold at the trade deadline, moving both Conor Geekie and Matthew Savoie to Eastern Conference clubs in order to recoup draft capital that was lost when the former Winnipeg ICE franchise went all in the past two seasons.

The player to watch from the Giants is forward Cameron Schmidt, who has six goals and nine points in his last eight games. Twelve of his 16 goals this season have come on home ice. He also had the game-winning-goal the last time these teams met in Langley back on October 1.

The player to watch from the Wild is forward Kenta Isogai, who sits ninth in WHL scoring with 73 points. The 19-year-old from Japan had a 12-game point streak from December 31 to February 4, during which he recorded 26 points on eight goals and 18 assists. In two games against Vancouver this season, Isogai has four points (1G-3A).

TALE OF THE TAPE

VANCOUVER	STAT	WENATCHEE
23-24-3-0 (47 Pts)	RECORD	18-27-2-0 (38 Pts)
4th	DIV. RANK	3rd
7th	CONF. RANK	4th
7-2-1-0	PAST 10	3-6-1-0
3W	STREAK	4L
12-10-2-0	HOME	19-8-1-0
11-14-0-0	AWAY	8-12-3-0
150 (3.00 – 20th)	GF (/G)	196 (3.84 – 9th)
188 (3.76 – 14th)	GA (/G)	194 (3.80 – 16th)
36-for-169 (21.3%)	PP%	37-for-188 (19.7%)
171-for-216 (79.2%)	PK%	143-for-179 (79.9%)
Thorpe (23-21-44) Halaburda (15-29-44) Lipinski (14-30-44)	LEADERS	Isogai (25-48-73) Sward (11-48-59) Alarie (24-30-54)

SEASON SERIES VS. WENATCHEE (1-2-0; 4 H2H)