RECAP: Hood, Leslie Lift Giants to Win Over Wild

Category: ArticleMarch 2, 2025

Langley, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants are on the verge of clinching their fourth consecutive playoff berth after a tight 3-1 win over the visiting Wenatchee Wild on Sunday afternoon on RE/MAX presents Nickelodeon Night at the Langley Events Centre.

The win improves Vancouver’s record this season to 29-24-8-0, while Wenatchee drops to 21-31-7-1. With 66 points on the season, the Giants are now either one point or a Wenatchee loss away from officially clinching a berth in the 2025 WHL playoffs. Wenatchee plays next on Wednesday; Vancouver faces Kamloops on Saturday.

Mazden Leslie scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season for the G-Men on Sunday – one of which was the game-winner – while Tyler Thorpe also found the scoresheet with his 26th tally of the season. Burke Hood was phenomenal again with 39 saves and was named the first star, picking up the 15th win of his rookie season in the process.

Brendan Dunphy had the lone goal for the Wild.

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GAME SUMMARY

Dunphy opened the scoring for the Wild 30 seconds into their first power play of the game, snapping a shot from the high slot to make it 1-0 at the 9:55 mark of the opening frame.

Late in the first, the Giants got the equalizer off the rush when Thorpe went around the diving defender at the right circle and roofed it past Gee.

Big brain moves

@WHLGiants | @CanadiensMTL pic.twitter.com/2DIowh3VyI

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 3, 2025

The second period was full of some great stops from both goaltenders, as Hood and Gee continued to impress in their respective creases.

With under five minutes left in the second, the Giants took their first lead of the game after Cameron Schmidt connected with Leslie on a cross-ice pass on the power play, with Leslie finishing short side from the left circle.

Just playing hide and seek in the corner 🫣

@WHLGiants pic.twitter.com/frl14DNzmb

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 3, 2025

Wenatchee pushed back in the third period, firing 13 shots on net, but Hood turned away each and every one of them, including on a brief 6-on-4 after Vancouver was whistled for delay of game with 3:47 left in the game.

Leslie hit the empty net from his own zone during 6-on-5 play with 1:22 remaining to make the final score 3-1.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —14/13/6 = 33 | WEN – 14/13/13= 40
PP: VAN—1/7 | WEN — 1/4
Face-Offs: VAN — 38 | WEN — 26

3 STARS

1st: VAN – Burke Hood – 39 Saves on 40 Shots
2nd: WEN – Brendan Gee – 30 Saves on 32 Shots
3rd: VAN – Mazden Leslie – 2G (incl. GWG), 4 SOG, +1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Burke Hood (39 saves / 40 shots)
Wenatchee: LOSS – Brendan Gee (26 saves / 28 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“We didn’t have the energy that we had our other three games this week and same with Wenatchee, they’re tired too, they’re coming off a three-in-three too, but I think we did enough good things to get the win. I thought Burke [Hood] was outstanding again tonight for us. When teams get tired, you make mistakes…you could see that on both teams tonight, but I really liked the way our guys dug in and found a way to get it done. Should we have got better results earlier this week on our road trip? Certainly, I thought we played some really good hockey on that road trip…but our kids really dug in and I thought some of our big boys so to speak were really good again tonight.” – Head Coach Manny Viveiros

“I know it wasn’t the start that we wanted this evening here, but that [1-1 goal] kind of just allowed us to exhale again and get back. But I thought we got better as that period went along. We knew Wenatchee was going to come in here – they’re fighting for a playoff position. They’re right there. They’re not going to quit, I don’t care how tired they are…but our message is that everything we’re doing here is to get better and better towards the playoffs. Whether it’s one [goal] behind or one ahead, I liked the way our kids responded [after allowing the first goal].” – Head Coach Manny Viveiros

“It was obviously a tight game. They’re battling to make the playoffs. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We just stuck with it. Killing off that penalty at the end was huge…We played some of the top teams in the league on our road trip. I thought we played honestly not too bad, just couldn’t get a win, so big to snap the losing streak before we have a little bit of a break.” – Captain Mazden Leslie

THIS AND THAT

With two goals, Leslie passed Neil Manning for sole possession of 2nd on the Giants all-time points list for defenceman. Leslie has 184 points (55G-129A), 20 behind all-time leader Jonathon Blum. Leslie’s 184 points are also tied for the 11th-most amongst all skaters in Giants franchise history
With 66 points on the season, Leslie is now six away from tying the Giants franchise record for most points in a single season by a defenceman, set by Kevin Connauton in 2009-10 (72)
With an assist, Jaden Lipinski recorded his 185th career point, which is T-9th all-time for points by a Giants skater (tied with Gilbert Brule). Lipinski has nine points in his last seven games (4G-5A)

UPCOMING

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Saturday, March 8	Kamloops	6:00 PM PST	Sandman Centre
Sunday, March 9	Prince George	4:00 PM PST	Langley Events Centre