RECAP: Giants Outlast Blades 7-6 on Home Ice

Category: ArticleNovember 1, 2024

Langley, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants defeated the Eastern Conference leading Saskatoon Blades 7-6 on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre, improving to 8-4-2 on the season.

Six different Giants scored in the win, including Cameron Schmidt, whose two tallies moved him back into sole possession of the goal scoring lead in the Western Hockey League with 14.

Tyler Thorpe (7th), Tyson Zimmer (4th), Connor Levis (7th), Jaden Lipinski (1st) and Adam Titlbach (5th) each scored as well.

Burke Hood was busy all night, finishing with 42 saves on 48 shots.

The Blades got two goals from European import David Lewandowski, plus single tallies from Hudson Kibblewhite, Rowan Calvert, Tyler Parr and Brandon Lisowsky.

CLICK FOR THE OFFICIAL WHL BOXSCORE | CLICK FOR STANDINGS

GAME SUMMARY

The Blades took an early lead just over five minutes after Lewandowski fired one from the goal line that snuck through, but that was the only lead the Blades had all game.

Just 2:25 later, the Giants equalized on a power play when Thorpe found the bouncing back off a missed shot and put it home.

Tyler Thorpe stays HOT! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Vancouver with a PP goal.@TheWHL | @CanadiensMTL | #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/4kdbvHvRXX

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 2, 2024

Less than three minutes later, Schmidt poked the puck off the stick of Tanner Molendyk inside the Giants zone and went the full length of the ice the other way, finishing upstairs on the backhand on the breakaway to make it 2-1 for Vancouver.

FYI: Cameron Schmidt got wheeeeeels 💨💨

Schmidty with his 13th of the season.@TheWHL | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/zIHe9bfeG0

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 2, 2024

The Blades tied the game 2:01 later off the stick of 17-year-old Kibblewhite.

Once again, the Giants responded quickly, when Schmidt one-timed his second of the game off a centering pass from Ty Halaburda.

A BEAUTIFUL dish by Ty Halaburda and Cameron Schmidt finds the back of the net with his second of the night!! 🤌🤌

3-2 us.@TheWHL | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/8b6HyggpfX

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 2, 2024

Saskatoon tied the game before the first period came to a close, making it 3-3 on Calvert’s ninth goal of the season.

Zimmer gave the Giants a 4-3 lead early in the second period when he converted on a penalty shot, after he beat Gardner with a simple shot on the glove side.

calm, cool & collected. Tyson Zimmer™️.

4-3 VAN. pic.twitter.com/HHL7ulq9H6

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 2, 2024

The Blades would get even again thanks to their second power play goal of the night, this one from Parr on a shot from the top of the right circle.

Only 1:33 into period three, Vancouver went back ahead by one when Thorpe centered to Levis, who shovelled home his seventh of the season to make the score 5-4.

Connor Levis makes it a 5-4 game!@TheWHL | @NHLJets | #GoJetsGo pic.twitter.com/ZclaA2UaYn

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 2, 2024

With under seven minutes left in regulation, Lewandowski scored his second of the night to tie the game 5-5.

The G-Men got a clutch goal three and a half minutes later, when Thorpe’s shot from the high slot hit Lipinski in front and went past the blocker of Gardner.

Titlbach would score into the empty net to make it 7-5 with 1:13 left.

Lisowsky got the visitors to within one with 18.8 seconds left, but that was as close as they would come.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN — 6/10/10 = 26 | SAS – 18/14/16 = 48
PP: VAN—1/2 | SAS — 2/4
Face-Offs: VAN — 39 | SAS — 31

THEY SAID IT

“Probably from both teams, that’s kind of a one-off. Both team were pretty loose in a lot of areas of their game – I know we were. We didn’t have our best in some areas tonight, but I love the way we competed. That’s the biggest thing. Things weren’t flowing properly at times, but our kids just dug in and kept working and kept working and they weren’t going to be denied, so that was really positive from our group here. We can correct those other mistakes…if there’s a lack of effort in some of the mistakes, then you have an issue, but everythign w ewere doing tonight, our kids were working. It was just one of those games.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the game overall

“We’ve got quite a few guys out of the lineup right now and some of the other kids that came in and stepped in tonight and played extra minutes that they’re not used to, I thought they did a really good job. One of them was Tyus Sparks, I thought he had an outstanding game…Not just him, other guys also, they came in and played really well.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on playing without London Hoilett, Ryan Lin, Aaron Obobaifo and Brett Olson

3 STARS

1st: VAN – Tyler Thorpe – 1G, 2A, 6 SOG
2nd: SAS – David Lewandowski – 2G, 2 SOG
3rd: VAN – Cameron Schmidt– 2G, 2 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Burke Hood (42 saves / 48 shots)
Saskatoon: LOSS – Evan Gardner (19 saves / 25 shots)

UP NEXT

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Saturday, November 2	Moose Jaw Warriors	7:00 PM PT	Langley Events Centre
Saturday, November 9	Prince George Cougars	6:00 PM PT	CN Centre
Sunday, November 10	Prince George Cougars	2:00 PM PT	CN Centre

B.C. Division