RECAP: Giants Strong Through 40, But Fade in 3rd in Road Loss to Portland

Category: ArticleDecember 7, 2025

Portland, OR – A strong third period push from the Portland Winterhawks lifted them past the Vancouver Giants by a 4-2 score on Sunday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Vancouver falls to 12-16-1-1 with the loss, while the Winterhawk improves to 17-12-0-0.

The game was tied 2-2 after 40 minutes, but Portland scored once early in the third period and once late to grab the two points. The Winterhawks out-shot Vancouver 20-6 in the final frame and drew three penalties.

Jakob Oreskovic and Tobias Tomik each scored for the Giants.

Ryan Miller had two goals for Portland. Kyle McDonough and Alex Weirmair each found the back of the net once.

CLICK FOR THE OFFICIAL WHL BOXSCORE

GAME SUMMARY

Vancouver started quick, generating chances early, including two posts, one from Tomik and one from Ty Halaburda.

After one period, the score was 0-0, but the Giants held Portland to just five shots on goal and could have been leading themselves.

Miller opened the scoring 40 seconds into the middle frame and McDonough tapped in a spin-o-rama pass from Reed Brown 12 minutes later to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

Oreskovic responded 2:16 after McDonough’s goal to make it 2-1, when he tipped in a point shot off the stick of Lance McCloskey.

Jakob Oreskovic from McCloskey and Obobaifo!! 👏🔥 pic.twitter.com/W89z5bdlO8

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) December 8, 2025

Tomik equalized just 1:26 after that when Halaburda spotted him open heading to the net, making it a 2-2 score on his sixth goal of the season.

It’s a 2-2 game thanks to Tobias Tomik with the apples from Burd and Schmidt!! 🙂‍↕️🚨 pic.twitter.com/yQKiAVFTEd

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) December 8, 2025

The Giants were called for a holding infraction early in the third, resulting in Miller’s second of the game on a Portland power play to make it 3-2.

Weiermair hammered in a rebound from the left circle with four minutes left to make the final score 4-2.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —7/17/6 = 30 | POR – 5/14/20 = 34
PP: VAN—0/4 | POR — 1/5
Face-Offs: VAN — 26 | POR — 35

3 STARS

1st: POR – Ryan Miller – 2G, 1A, 4 SOG, +1
2nd: POR – Carter Sotheran – 3A, 3 SOG, +1
3rd: POR – Ondrej Štěbeták – 28 Saves on 30 Shots

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS – Kelton Pyne (35 saves / 39 shots)
Portland: WIN – Ondrej Štěbeták (28 saves / 30 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“It was a pretty good bounce back effort from last night in Everett. A lot of things happened between that game and now, so the boys responded well. The first 40 [minutes] was excellent. We ran into some penalty trouble in the third and we couldn’t pull away with the win.” – Giants Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson

CLICK BELOW FOR THE FULL POST-GAME INTERVIEW WITH ASST. COACH GAELAN PATTERSON

UPCOMING

The Giants have another busy upcoming weekend.

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Friday, December 12	Victoria	Save on Foods Memorial Centre	7:05 PM
Saturday, December 13	Victoria	Langley Events Centre	7:00 PM
Sunday, December 14	Spokane	Langley Events Centre	4:00 PM

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