RECAP: Halaburda Shines as Giants Win 3rd Straight

Category: ArticleDecember 29, 2024

Langley, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants marched to a 3-1 win over the Kelowna Rockets on Sunday afternoon on Star Wars Night at the Langley Events Centre, much in part thanks to the play of forward Ty Halaburda.

The Giants wore all-white Stormtrooper uniforms, with Halaburda leading the charge thanks to a two-goal, three-point performance.

The win was Vancouver’s third in a row and improves their record this season to 16-13-4. The Rockets, who were held to just 23 shots on goal, fall to 13-16-2-1.

Giants goaltender Matthew Hutchison won his third straight start, finishing with 22 saves. Jaden Lipinski also scored for the G-Men.

Rockets captain Max Graham had the lone goal for Kelowna.

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GAME SUMMARY

The Giants scored on their very first power play opportunity, after Cameron Schmidt hit Mazden Leslie with a cross-seam pass in the right circle, who then threw the puck along the ice to the front of the net looking for a tip from Halaburda. The puck went off Halaburda’s stick to the slot, where Lipinski was there to pot it home less than three minutes in.

Power plays, galaxy ways. 🌟

Jaden Lipinski opens the scoring for the G-Men!@TheWHL | @NHLFlames | #Flames pic.twitter.com/ynNJklY2fk

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) December 30, 2024

Just a few minutes later, the Rockets responded with a power play goal of their own, when Graham stuffed home a rebound after an Andrew Cristall shot was stopped from the right circle.

The two rivals went into the first intermission tied 1-1.

Halaburda would score the only goal of the second period, giving the G-Men a 2-1 lead with his fourth career shorthanded goal, sniping on a 2-on-1 rush from the right circle 12:08 into the middle frame.

Ty Halaburda with the go-ahead shorthanded tally.@WHLGiants pic.twitter.com/tAafuK7oPS

— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 30, 2024

That goal would stand up as the game-winner, as the only other tally was an empty-net marker from Halaburda to put the icing on the cake with 34 seconds remaining.

The Giants held Kelowna to just 14 shots in the final two periods. In fact, all eight of their third period shots came in the first half of the third.

THEY SAID IT

“It was another tough game tonight. A hard fought game all over the ice. I really liked our game. I really did. I thought we played well in all areas of the game. [Hutchison] was really good again tonight. He gave us a chance – he made some big saves at the right times for us. Some big efforts from some players, but really pleased with everyone: they played really well.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the game overall

“Our kids looked forward to it and we like [special jerseys] too. And I thought these were outstanding. They looked really good tonight – the way the jerseys looked on the ice. And again we had an outstanding crowd tonight too. It was loud and there was a lot of excitement in the building. You love to playing in front of full houses, so it was good. I’m really happy that we were able to put on a pretty good show.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros

“It was really cool. All the fans, seeing them show up, it was a pretty crazy atmosphere too. It was a good night. The [uniforms] were insane…The lines that were on [Andrew] Cristall, huge props to them. They did an amazing job. I think we’re coming together. We just can’t get too high or too low right now. We’ve just got to stay even and just keep working every day…” – Giants Forward Ty Halaburda

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —10/11/6 = 27 | KEL – 9/6/8 = 23
PP: VAN—1/6 | KEL — 1/4
Face-Offs: VAN — 25 | KEL — 21

3 STARS

1st: VAN – Ty Halaburda – 2G, 1A, 5 SOG, +2
2nd: VAN – Matthew Hutchison – 22 Saves on 23 Shots
3rd: KEL – Rhett Stoesser – 24 Saves on 26 Shots

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Matthew Hutchison (22 saves / 23 shots)
Kelowna: LOSS – Rhett Stoesser (24 saves / 26 shots)

THIS AND THAT

It was Halaburda’s first multi-goal game of the season. He is now three points shy of 150 in his WHL career, with 147 in 210 games (58G-89A). This season he is 5th in team scoring with 28 points (11G-17A)
Hutchison is now 3-0-0 in his last three starts with a .944 SV% (85 saves on 90 shots)
Leslie’s power play assist was his 148th career point, putting him two back of Bo Byram for 3rd all-time among Giants defenceman. Leslie has 43 goals and 105 assists 245 career games.

UPCOMING

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Tuesday, December 31	Victoria	2:05 PM PST	Save on Foods Memorial Centre
Wednesday, January 1	Victoria	2:00 PM PST	Langley Events Centre
Friday, January 3	Wenatchee	7:00 PM PST	Langley Events Centre

B.C. Division