Wednesday Night in the Dub: Victoria and Vancouver ready for heated rematch

Category: ArticleJanuary 1, 2025

Sound the alarm.

We’re in for a major rematch, folks.

It looked like the Victoria Royals would be flying high into the New Year after taking a 4-0 lead in the first period against the Vancouver Giants on December 31, but the Giants would end up scoring four goals in the final 12 minutes of the match to tie things at six and force a shootout.

That’s where rookie Tyus Sparks clinched a shootout win for the G-men and set the stage for today’s return of Wednesday Night in the Dub.

The B.C. Division rivals are on opposite trajectories as of late, with Victoria dropping three of their past 10 games in a shootout, while Vancouver rides a four-game win streak.

But don’t sleep on the Royals.

They own a 2-0-0-1 record against the Giants this year and have 16 goals in those matches, including a hat trick from Victoria’s Teydon Trembecky.

The Giants have 10 goals over that stretch, including four from towering Montreal Canadiens prospect Tyler Thorpe, a key feature on Vancouver’s special teams with four powerplay goals and two shorthanded markers to his name this season.

Top 2025 NHL Entry Draft prospect Cole Reschny, who was given an ‘A’ rating by NHL Central Scouting in the agency’s preliminary player list, scored his 100th WHL point on Tuesday (along with alternate captain Reggie Newman).

The two-way centreman is third in points among draft-eligible players.

On the flip side, Vancouver standout Cameron Schmidt may have gotten a ‘B’ rating from NHL Central Scouting initially, but many draft experts are projecting him as a potential first-round pick thanks to his near-unstoppable scoring touch.

Schmidt is tied for second in the WHL goals race with 26 and has eight multi-goal games this season (including one hat trick)- though he just scored his first goal against Victoria this season in their third meeting on December 31.

The duo shined at November’s CHL USA Prospects Challenge, where both scored a game-winning goal in the two-game series.

The match also features two of the most highly-touted rookies of this season’s incoming class.

Royals blueliner Keaton Verhoeff leads all rookie defencemen with 12 goals and has another 13 assists to sit fifth in the rookie points race.

Vancouver rearguard Ryan Lin has racked up a stunning 22 assists in his first season (two of which came in last night’s win) and has a goal to sit third in scoring among rookie defenders.

Between the pipes, NHL Draft-eligible Jayden Kraus ranks seventh among all starters in goals-against average and save percentage, while earning his first WHL shutout against Vancouver on December 13.

On the other side, Vancouver’s Matthew Hutchison has handled an increased workload admirably with some of the best performances of his WHL career, highlighted by three wins with 30 or more saves.

All Wednesday Night in the Dub featured games will be free to stream on WHL Live and the WHL’s YouTube Channel.

STAT PACK

	Victoria Royals	Vancouver Giants
Record	17-11-3-4 (2nd B.C.)	17-13-4-0 (3rd B.C.)
Leading Scorers	Cole Reschny (11G, 30A, 41PTS) Teydon Trembecky (18G, 20A, 38 PTS) Brayden Boehm (9G, 20A, 29PTS)	Cameron Schmidt (26G, 14A, 40PTS) Mazden Leslie (7G, 26A, 33PTS) Connor Levis (14G, 18A, 32PTS)
Leading Goaltender	Jayden Kraus (12-6-3-3, 2.87 GAA, .908 save percentage)	Matthew Hutchison (10-7-1-0, 3.76 GAA, .878 save percentage)
Powerplay	24% (7th)	22.6% (13th)
Penalty Kill	73.4% (16th)	72.6% (18th)