RECAP: Schmidt Hat-Trick Leads Giants Past Warriors

Category: ArticleNovember 2, 2024

Langley, B.C. – Vancouver Giants forward Cameron Schmidt scored his 15th, 16th and 17th goals of the season on Saturday night to lead the Giants to a 6-2 win over the defending champion Moose Jaw Warriors at the Langley Events Centre.

The G-Men are now 9-4-2 on the season, including a run of 4-0-2 over their last six contests. The Giants outshot the Warriors convincingly on Saturday 34-21, which was a new season-best in shots allowed.

Tyus Sparks scored his first career Western Hockey League goal in the first period, while Adam Titlbach (6th) and captain Mazden Leslie (6th) also found the back of the net.

Matthew Hutchison picked up his sixth win of the season with 19 saves.

The Warriors got goals from Rilen Kovacevic and Ethan Hughes.

CLICK FOR THE OFFICIAL WHL BOXSCORE | CLICK FOR STANDINGS

GAME SUMMARY

Titlbach opened the scoring for the Giants thanks to a great backdoor feed from Leslie at the 12:40 mark of the first.

Captain Maz 🤝 Titlbach

Your Giants open the scoring! pic.twitter.com/J1eKz1kfbc

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 3, 2024

The Warriors responded just 17 seconds later off the stick of 20-year-old forward Kovacevic, but Vancouver regained the lead just 1:27 after that on Sparks’ first of his career.

Zimmer started things with a hit on the forecheck in the left corner, and then got the puck to Roberts, who saw Sparks backdoor and tried to hit him with a pass. The puck ended up hitting the skate of defenceman Vojtech Port and sitting in the crease, where Sparks easily tapped it home.

WELCOME TO @TheWHL, TYUS SPARKS!

Sparks with his first career WHL goal! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Thao9IMi6S

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 3, 2024

Less than three minutes later, the Giants worked the puck around effortlessly at the tail end of a power play, and eventually Jakob Oreskovic got the puck to Schmidt in the slot, who beat a sprawling Jackson Unger to make it 3-1. Technically the goal was an even-strength marker, as Kalem Parker had come out of the penalty box five seconds before the goal.

17-year-old Cameron Schmidt is now at 15 GOALS on the season!!! 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Vancouver is up by two!@TheWHL | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/COmaxqBSht

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 3, 2024

The Giants scored twice in a span of 19 seconds early in the third period to take a commanding 5-1 lead.

First, Ty Halaburda sprung Schmidt for a breakaway coming down the left wing, where he calmly snapped it over the glove of Unger.

what comes after 15 goals? that's right. 16 GOALS!!!

Cameron Schmidt with his second of the night, extending the Giants lead to 4-1!@TheWHL | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/MF4rhHM6n3

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 3, 2024

Not long after, Titlbach found Leslie at the top of the right circle, who pulled the puck towards the high slot and then sniped his sixth of the season.

aye aye CAPTAIN! 🫡

Mazden Leslie with his second of the night ✌️
5-1 us!!! pic.twitter.com/Ky9Nhs2Kfw

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) November 3, 2024

Moose Jaw’s Hughes would score a pretty goal early in the third, but Schmidt’s hat-trick goal on a 2-on-1 sealed the deal with under five minutes to go, making the final score 6-2.

Cameron Schmidt seals the deal on the hat trick 🧢@WHLGiants | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/RgrXhMhrbq

— The WHL (@TheWHL) November 3, 2024

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN — 10/12/12 = 34 | MJ – 6/7/8 = 21
PP: VAN—0/4 | MJ — 0/3
Face-Offs: VAN — 36 | MJ — 18

THEY SAID IT

“We’re at home, we feel real comfortable, there’s no question about it. Tonight the crowd was outstanding again. I think it was close to a sellout tonight and it was electric. Whether we’re up a goal or down a goal, or whatever, the crowd is always into it. It gives our kids an extra boost. We love playing at home.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the home crowd

“I thought we played really good tonight. Completely different game. We put up seven last night and tonight six here, but our game tonight – as we had talked about last night, we went over it and talked to the kids and we challenged them. We said we’re going to clean some things up in our game and they certainly did tonight. It was a solid game. We caught a team that is tired, but we’ve been on that side of it too, so you don’t feel sorry for that – you’ve got to go out and play the game. They competed hard, but I thought structurally our game was really solid tonight.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the difference between Friday’s 7-6 win and Saturday’s 6-2 win

“I was really excited. A little bit of a blank, then I was pumped for the rest of the game…We were just playing our structure very well and not allowing a lot of shots on our own net.” – Giants forward Tyus Sparks on his 1st goal & team success

3 STARS

1st: VAN – Cameron Schmidt – 3G, 5 SOG, +2
2nd: VAN – Adam Titlbach – 1G, 1A, 2 SOG, +2
3rd: VAN – Tyus Sparks – 1st WHL Goal, 4 SOG

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: WIN – Matthew Hutchison (19 saves / 21 shots)
Moose Jaw: LOSS – Jackson Unger (9 saves / 14 shots). Dimitri Fortin (19 saves / 20 shots)

BY THE NUMBERS

Schmidt’s hat-trick was his sixth multi-goal game of the season. His 17 goals are first in the WHL; his 26 points are T-2nd
Schmidt has at least one point in 14 of 15 games this season, after starting the year on a 12-game point streak
Leslie continued his torrid start to the season with his sixth multi-point game of the season. His 19 points (6G-13A) rank first amongst all defenceman in the WHL
The Giants have eight different skaters producing at a point-per-game or better: Schmidt, Leslie, Thorpe, Zimmer, Levis, Halaburda, Lin and Obobaifo
Vancouver is averaging 4.53 goals per game, second-best in the WHL. On home ice, they are averaging 5.86 goals per game

UP NEXT

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Saturday, November 9	Prince George Cougars	6:00 PM PT	CN Centre
Sunday, November 10	Prince George Cougars	2:00 PM PT	CN Centre
Friday, November 15	Kamloops Blazers	7:00 PM PT	Langley Events Centre

B.C. Division