RECAP: Giants Grind Out 3-1 Win Over Royals, Stretch Win Streak to 4

Category: ArticleMarch 14, 2025

Victoria, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants extended their winning streak to four games on Friday night following a 3-1 road win over the Victoria Royals at the Save on Foods Memorial Centre.

The Giants improve to 32-24-8-0 on the season and are now tied with the Portland Winterhawks for fifth place in the Western Conference with 72 points each. Both teams have four games remaining.

Cameron Schmidt had a pair of first period goals, his 37th and 38th tallies of the season, while Tyler Thorpe hit the empty net with 1:26 to go to ensure the victory. Burke Hood was dialled in again, stopping 33 of 34 shots to improve to 18-12-6 on the season. He is 8-2-1 over his last 11 starts with a .939 save percentage.

Brayden Boehm had the lone Royals goal.

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GAME SUMMARY

Schmidt opened the scoring on an odd-man rush, after Adam Titlbach dished the puck to him at the offensive blue line and he wristed one from the top of the right circle past Johnny Hicks on the blocker side.

Cameron Schmidt sets the tone with his 37th on the season! 🤩

From Adam Titlbach to Cameron Schmidt, the Giants open the scoring!@TheWHL | #NHLDraft https://t.co/plXoVs015M pic.twitter.com/1GxXPR6XN6

— X – Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 15, 2025

After Titlbach drew a hooking penalty, the Giants cashed in on the power play midway through the period, needing only 10 seconds of the man advantage to work the puck to Leslie on the left side and then Schmidt in the right circle, who made no mistake for his 38th goal of the season.

SHEEEEEESH! CAMERON SCHMIDT WITH HIS SECOND OF THE NIGHT!

Jaden Lipinski ➡️ Mazden Leslie ➡️ Schmidty ➡️ 2-0 us!@TheWHL | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/I1nsIYq1Dd

— X – Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 15, 2025

The draft-eligible Schmidt now has a five-game point streak, with nine points during that span (4G-5A). He also has goals in three straight for the first time since January.

Early in the second period, the Royals cut the Giants lead in half when Boehm scored on a breakaway, backhanding it through the five hole of Hood.

In the third period, Vancouver came through with back-to-back clutch penalty kills midway through the frame before Thorpe scored on the empty net from centre ice.

Then with 1:17 remaining, the Giants had to kill of a 6-on-4 for the remainder of the game and were able to come through.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —8/12/5 = 25 | VIC – 13/11/10 = 34
PP: VAN—1/3 | VIC — 0/3
Face-Offs: VAN — 21 | VIC — 34

3 STARS (Three Graduating 20-Year-Olds for Final VIC Home Game)

1st: VIC – Brandon Lisowsky – 283 career WHL games
2nd: VIC – Brayden Boehm – 211 career WHL games
3rd: VIC – Kenta Isogai – 119 career WHL games

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Burke Hood (33 saves / 34 shots)
Victoria: LOSS – Johnny Hicks (22 saves / 24 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“Hood made some key saves when we needed him to, so that kept us in it early. I thought we got better. On the road, not getting our matchups, I thought all the lines did a really good job and the ‘D’, kind of playing against guys maybe they’re not typically seeing when we’re at home. So I thought a pretty good job with our matchups. Real solid effort by the group tonight.” – Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the game overall

“Credit to the group. We’ve been stressing not just limping into the playoffs [but] playing the right way. You could feel in that last second half of the third, there was some real desperation and urgency in our game and that really was a big step for us tonight.” – Associate Coach Adam Maglio on the third period urgency

“His tracking has been unbelievable. The way he’s getting ahead of plays – that’s what has made him so good in my opinion. And then obviously his rebound control I think has also really, really improved. He’s feeling it. Credit to him. He puts a ton of work in. Hood is one of our hardest workers every day. We could feel this was coming for him. He deserves it. He puts in the work every day and another great performance tonight.” – Associate Coach Adam Maglio on Hood

THIS AND THAT

Mazden Leslie recorded two assists on Friday, becoming just the third Giants defenceman in franchise history to reach 70 points in a single season, joining Kevin Connauton (72, 2009-10) and Bowen Byram (71, 2018-19)
Schmidt is two goals shy of becoming just the sixth Giant to record 40 or more goals in a single season. The five that accomplished it are: Ty Ronning (61), Evander Kane (48), Brendan Gallagher (44, 41, 41), Adam Courchaine (43) and Jordan Martinook (40)

UPCOMING

The Giants host the Royals on Saturday and then wrap up the weekend with a matinee in Portland on Sunday.

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Saturday, March 15	Victoria	7:00 PM PST	Langley Events Centre
Sunday, March 16	Portland	4:00 PM PST	Veterans Memorial Coliseum