RECAP: Late Power Play Goal Sinks Giants in Portland

Category: ArticleJanuary 3, 2026

PORTLAND, OR – The Vancouver Giants dropped a tight one-goal contest to the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night, falling 5-4 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Giants had a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes and 4-3 lead after 40, but surrendered two third period goals, including a late marker on a power play, to come up just short in regulation.

The Giants fall to 16-22-1-1 following the loss and have dropped three straight, while the Winterhawks improve to 20-17-1-0.

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The line of Ty Halaburda, Cameron Schmidt and Jakob Oreskovic led the way for the Giants, with the three combining for eight points. Schmidt registered two goals and two assists to reach 60 points on the season (27G-33A), while also increasing his point streak to 20 games (15G-19A-34P). He sits at 99 career goals. Halaburda recorded a goal and an assist, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the fourth consecutive season. He now has 220 career points, two back of Craig Cunningham for third all-time in franchise history. Oreskovic also had a goal and an assist.

Giants 15-year-old rookie Louis-Oscar Holowaychuk registered his first career Western Hockey League point with a primary assist on Schmidt’s second goal of the night.

Nathan Brown led the way for Portland with a hat-trick – including the game-winner. Reed Brown and Luke Christopherson also found the back of the net.

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GAME SUMMARY

Halaburda opened the scoring for Vancouver 3:43 into the first period when he jammed in a loose puck in the crease.

Burd taps the first one in with the assists from Schmidt and Oreskovic! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/CnTFq0REtT

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 4, 2026

Portland evened the score roughly four minutes later, when Luke Wilfley connected with Reed Brown on a cross-ice feed.

A few minutes later, Portland grabbed their first lead of the game off the rush when Brown came down the right week and snapped home his ninth goal of the season.

The Giants responded shorthanded with less than five minutes left in the period, when Lin recovered a puck moments after just missing the net on a shorthanded chance. The defenceman simply threw the puck at the net, which created a rebound that went right to Schmidt, who deposited his 26th of the season to tie the game 2-2.

A shorty from Schmidty with the assist from Lin!! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/xT6wIw6wIA

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 4, 2026

Just 1:49 later, Holowaychuk came out of the penalty box to create a 2-on-1 rush for Vancouver, where he proceeded to make a perfect pass to Schmidt for the 3-2 lead and his first WHL point.

Schmidt’s 2nd goal of the night and Louis-Oscar Holowaychuk’s 1st WHL point!! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/XFA9Y0F5dO

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 4, 2026

Brown tied the game midway through the second on a bank shot from the goal line, but Oreskovic gave the Giants back the lead just 66 seconds later when he one-touched a backdoor pass from Schmidt past goaltender Cruz Chase.

Oreskovic taps one in with the feed from Schmidt and Burd! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lTRYZcPo6L

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) January 4, 2026

Although the Giants had a 4-3 lead heading into the third period, they only managed four shots on goal and surrendered 14.

Christopherson tied it 4-4 at the 9:37 mark of the third period.

Brown would then complete the hat-trick by finding a loose puck in the crease behind goaltender Kelton Pyne with 2:31 left to make the final score 5-4.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN —16/13/4 = 33 | POR – 13/12/14 = 39
PP: VAN—0/1 | POR — 1/3
Face-Offs: VAN — 29 | POR —30

3 STARS

1st: POR – Nathan Brown – 3G, 7 SOG, +2
2nd: VAN – Cameron Schmidt – 2G, 2A, 6 SOG, +4
3rd: POR – Luke Christopherson – 1st Career WHL Goal, 2 SOG, +2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS – Kelton Pyne (34 saves / 39 shots)
Portland: WIN – Cruz Chase (29 saves / 33 shots)

THEY SAID IT

“It was a hard fought game for sure. The fist 10 minutes I thought we played excellent. Very structured, very detailed and we worked extremely hard. As the game went on, it kind of went a little bit back and forth, a little bit of a track meet, but overall I think a lot of guys played with their heart on their sleeve tonight and it’s a really, really tough loss for sure.” – Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson on the game overall

“You can’t be pointing the finger at all. So we have to reflect and move on from this. The effort that was there at times – and I say it all the time – but it has to be there for every game, for 60 minutes. That’s how you put yourself in a spot to win more hockey games.” – Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson on the message after the game

Click below for the full post-game interview with Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson

UPCOMING

The Giants face the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night to close out the weekend.

Date	Opponent	Location	Time
Friday, January 9	Tri-City	Langley Events Centre	7:00 PM
Saturday, January 10	Wenatchee	Langley Events Centre	7:00 PM
Sunday, January 11	Wenatchee	Town Toyota Center	4:00 PM

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