RECAP: Giants Top Rockets 5-1 in Regular Season Finale

Category: ArticleMarch 23, 2025

Langley, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants ended their regular season on a high note on Sunday afternoon, using a four-goal first period to defeat the Kelowna Rockets 5-1 in front of 4,615 fans at the Langley Events Centre.

The Giants finish their 2024-25 regular season with a 34-26-8-0 record. Their 34 wins is the most since the 2018-19 season, when the club recorded 48 victories and went all the way to Game 7 of the WHL Championship final.

Five different Giants found the back of the net on Sunday: Jaden Lipinski (17th), Tyus Sparks (11th), Adam Titlbach (27th), Colton Roberts (6th) and Ty Halaburda (29th). Brady Smith made 32 saves on 33 shots to secure his 14th win of the season.

Jakub Stancl had the lone goal for Kelowna.

Vancouver went 6-2-0 in their final eight games of the regular season.

The sixth-seeded Giants will face off with the third-ranked Spokane Chiefs in the first round of the WHL playoffs, beginning on Friday at home at 7 p.m. Vancouver will start the series at the LEC because Spokane does not have building availability during the first weekend of the playoffs, due to Spokane Arena hosting the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

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GAME SUMMARY

The Giants scored two quick goals to get the home crowd into the game early.

Just 17 seconds in, Lipinski sniped a shot top corner on the short side off the rush to make it 1-0.

17-seconds in for number 15 ⏱️

Jaden Lipinski gets the Giants on the board.@WHLGiants | @NHLFlames | #Flames pic.twitter.com/OsDLSfQua0

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 23, 2025

Less than two minutes later, Sparks took a pass from affiliate player Blake Chorney at centre ice and one-handed the puck past defenceman Carter Kowalyk before beating him to the loose puck inside the Rockets zone, where he proceeded to smack a shot through the five hole of goaltender Rhett Stoesser.

16-year-old Tyus Sparks with his 16th of the season!!!

AND 15-year-old Blake Chorney's first career @TheWHL point!!!! pic.twitter.com/HF7Gtfc6BA

— X – Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) March 23, 2025

It was Sparks’ 11th goal in his 16-year-old season and Chorney’s first WHL point in just his third game as a call-up.

The Giants weren’t done there.

Late in the period, they scored another pair.

First, Cameron Schmidt and Titlbach played give and go after Brett Olson forced a turnover in the Rocket zone.

That Titlbach x Schmidt connection 🔥@WHLGiants | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/IYRRw0nUJb

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 23, 2025

Then, with under a minute remaining in the first period, Roberts would score on the power play to give the Giants a commanding 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Neither team would score in the second, thanks to 13 saves from Smith in the Vancouver crease.

Unfortunately, Stancl broke Smith’s shutout bid 5:03 into the third period with his 23rd of the season.

Halaburda responded with his 29th of the year 3:05 later after cleaning up loose garbage around the crease to make it 5-1, which stood up as the final score.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —16/8/10 = 34 | KEL – 7/13/13 = 33
PP: VAN—1/3 | KEL — 0/5
Face-Offs: VAN — 31 | KEL — 32

3 STARS (Graduating Players for Their Final Home Game)

1st: VAN – Jaden Lipinski – 190 career points in 260 career games, all with Vancouver
2nd: VAN – Connor Levis – 233 career points in 286 career games, split between Vancouver and Kamloops
3rd: VAN – Maxim Muranov – 128 career points in 237 career games, split between Vancouver and Calgary

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Brady Smith (32 saves / 33 shots)
Kelowna: LOSS – Rhett Stoesser (29 saves / 34 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“As soon as we came out after warmups and then after the ceremonial presentation of the awards, we saw the crowd here today – it was outstanding. The place was packed. The atmosphere was unbelievable and that got our kids going. Obviously we got off to a really good start and a lot of that had to do with our crowd.” – Manny Viveiros Head Coach on the game overall

“Over this last seven game stretch, we challenged the kids, we said “Listen, we’re going to treat it as a best-of-seven and we’re going to try to get four out of seven.” And we won three in a row and the message after that was “guys, to get that fourth game is the toughest sometimes to try to close out a team.” And then we end up losing two, but we came back in Kamloops and won that game and then we end up winning tonight too. It was kind of a bit of preparation of getting the kids in the mindset of playoffs and how it’s going to be. Having said that, everything ramps up a little more. Once that puck drops on Friday against Spokane. They’re a great hockey team. They’re fast. They get on you. They can score. They’re heavy. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a heck of a series. – Manny Viveiros Head Coach on the focus on defence

THIS AND THAT

The Giants had a +12 goal differential in their final eight games of the season, scoring 25 and allowing just 13
Mazden Leslie did not record a point on Sunday but still finished tied with Kevin Connauton for the highest scoring single season by a defenceman in franchise history with 72 points
Cameron Schmidt finished the season with 78 points, the fourth-highest total by a 17-year-old player in franchise history, trailing only Evander Kane (96 points, 2008-09), Gilbert Brule (87 points, 2004-05) and Brendan Gallagher (81 points, 2009-10)
Six Giants finished with 20+ goals in 2024-25: Schmidt (40), Halaburda (29), Thorpe (27), Titlbach (27), Levis (23), Leslie (21)
Seven Giants had 50+ points in 2024-25: Schmidt (78), Leslie (72), Halaburda (62), Lipinski (58), Levis (56), Lin (53), Thorpe (52)

UPCOMING

The Giants open the 2025 WHL playoffs on home ice on Friday, March 28 at 7 p.m. at the LEC.

See below for the first playoff schedule:

Game	Date	Away	Home	Time
1	Friday, March 28	Spokane	Vancouver	7:00 p.m. PDT
2	Sunday, March 30	Spokane	Vancouver	4:00 p.m. PDT
3	Wednesday, April 2	Vancouver	Spokane	7:05 p.m. PDT
4	Thursday, April 3	Vancouver	Spokane	7:05 p.m. PDT
5*	Saturday, April 5	Vancouver	Spokane	6:05 p.m. PDT
6*	Monday, April 7	Spokane	Vancouver	7:00 p.m. PDT
7*	Wednesday, April 9	Vancouver	Spokane	7:05 p.m. PDT

RECAP: Giants Top Rockets 5-1 in Regular Season Finale