RECAP: Giants Grab Point in OT Loss to Broncos

Category: ArticleJanuary 26, 2025

Langley, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants brought a complete effort on Sunday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre against the Swift Current Broncos, but only managed to grab a single point in a 3-2 overtime defeat.

The loss drops Vancouver’s record this season to 23-17-6, while the Broncos improve to 24-18-1-1.

The G-Men are 10-4-2 in their last 16 games. They are three points back of Prince George for 5th place in the Western Conference and six points back of the division-leading Victoria Royals.

Ty Halaburda (18th) and Tyler Thorpe (19th) each scored for Vancouver, while Burke Hood stood tall with 32 saves, including a jaw-dropper in the second period when the game was 1-1 by going to post-to-post to deny what looked to be a sure goal from Trae Wilke.

Brady Birnie scored the overtime winner for the Broncos, while Josh McGregor and Wilke each scored in regulation time.

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GAME SUMMARY

The Giants opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game, when Cameron Schmidt’s neutral zone pass created a 2-on-1 for the Giants, with Levis centering the puck to Halaburda, who slid it between the pads of Joey Rocha.

Ty Halaburda cashes in with the feed from Connor Levis!@WHLGiants pic.twitter.com/Q4w6hZk7CI

— The WHL (@TheWHL) January 27, 2025

The Broncos tied the contest 1-1 at the 12:12 mark of the first period when McGregor’s shot found its way past Hood.

After exchanging goals in the opening period, the two opponents would do the same in the second period.

Before that, however, Hood would make a miraculous save for the Giants to keep the score knotted at 1-1.

Not long after, Broncos forward Wilkie was the beneficiary of a dump-in that changed direction and went to Carlin Dezainde, who quickly found Wilkie in front to make it 2-1.

But the Giants got a late shorthanded marker from Thorpe to send the two clubs tied once again heading into the intermission.

Tyler Thorpe saw the spot, and took the shot 😮‍💨@WHLGiants | @CanadiensMTL | #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/plhnX1uol1

— The WHL (@TheWHL) January 27, 2025

Neither team found the back of the net in the third period, sending the game to extra time.

Both teams had chances to end it, but eventually it would be Birnie’s wrist shot from the top of the right circle that found the top corner to give Swift Current the 3-2 overtime win.

THEY SAID IT

“We executed our game plan tonight against a real good hockey team. I thought we did a really good job. The kids were dialled in. They were working; they competed. We did everything we possibly could to mitigate some of the speed that they have and take away some of their high end skill. I thought we did a really good job…only time we got in a little bit of trouble was we knew that their defencemen get up in the rush quite a bit – they’re quite mobile. It’s going to happen sometimes – you’re going to get caught deep in the zone and they beat us up ice, but for the most part I thought there wasn’t a whole lot of room out there for either team.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the game overall

“We had some looks. We had a look in overtime: Cameron [Schmidt] right by the post. We had some other looks: Hoilett hit a post in the second period. It’s one of those games where we could be sitting here with the two points instead of the one.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on generating enough chances

FULL INTERVIEW WITH COACH VIVEIROS BELOW

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —8/6/6 = 20 | SC – 11/9/11/4 = 34
PP: VAN—0/1 | SC — 0/3
Face-Offs: VAN — 34 | SC — 25

3 STARS

1st: SC – Brady Birnie – GWG, 3 SOG
2nd: VAN – Burke Hood – 32 Saves on 35 Shots
3rd: SC – Carlin Dezainde – 2A, 3 SOG, +1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS – Burke Hood (32 saves / 35 shots)
Swift Current: WIN – Joey Rocha (18 saves / 20 shots)

THIS AND THAT

With an assist on Sunday, captain Mazden Leslie extedned his point streak to 10 games (5G-12A). He also has 22 points in his last 14 games (5G-17A)
With a goal on Sunday, Tyler Thorpe now has four goals in his last six games
With an assist on Sunday, Cameron Schmidt now has 14 points in his last 10 games (6G-8A)
With 32 saves on Sunday, Burke Hood has now made 30 or more saves in five of his last seven contests. He has a .926 SV% over his last nine appearances, dating back to New Year’s Day

UPCOMING

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Friday, January 31	Seattle	7:05 PM PST	accesso ShoWare Center
Saturday, February 1	Kamloops	7:00 PM PST	Langley Events Centre
Sunday, February 2	Spokane	4:00 PM PST	Langley Events Centre