Young Giants Impress in Preseason Opening Win vs. Cougars

Category: ArticleSeptember 8, 2023

Port Coquitlam, B.C. – The Vancouver Giants exploded offensively in their first preseason game on Friday night, scoring eight times in an 8-4 win over the Prince George Cougars at the Port Coquitlam Community Centre.

Vancouver got major performances from Ty Halaburda (2G-1A), Cameron Schmidt (1G-2A) and newly signed forward Caden Cail (2G), who signed on Friday morning and was playing in his first WHL game.

In total, seven players had mutli-point nights, including Skyler Bruce (1G-1A), Mazden Leslie (2A), Ethan McEneany (2A) and Adam Titlbach (2A), in addition to the aforementioned Halaburda, Schmidt and Cail. Also scoring for the Giants were Jaden Lipinski and Tyler Thorpe.

In goal, Matthew Hutchison played the entire game, stopping 39 of 43.

Leading the way for the Cougars was Terik Parascak, who had a goal and an assist.

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GAME SUMMARY:

The Cougars opened the scoring less than five minutes into the first period off the stick of Drew Peterson, but Vancouver responded less than two minutes later, thanks to a pretty goal that was finished off by Halaburda.

Parascak re-gave the Cougars the lead on the power play midway through the frame, but once again the Giants responded quickly, this time off the stick of Lipinski, who made it 2-2 at the 11:50 mark of the first.

That was the score until midway through the second, when Halaburda notched his second of the game to give Vancouver their first lead of the game. Less than two minutes later, Schmidt scored his first of the preseason, to make it 4-2 G-Men.

With under two minutes to go in the second period, Cail scored the eventual game-winning-goal to give the home side some insurance. While the Cougars responded 30 seconds later to cut the lead to 5-3, Thorpe made it 6-3 before the period ended, notching his first of the preseason with 8 seconds remaining in the middle frame.

Preseason game 1 highlights against @PGCougars for yall 🤗

We back at it 4 p.m. PST on Sunday against @victoriaroyals at Ladner Leisure Centre!

See you there 🫡#BeVancouver pic.twitter.com/t6vSA4bj54

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) September 9, 2023

The Giants controlled the game in the third period, at one point leading in shots 13-2. Bruce made it a 7-3 game 4:19 into the third period, before Cail sniped his second of the game coming down the right wing on an odd-man rush to put the game out of reach at the 14:27 mark of the third.

Prince George got a late goal from Arjun Bawa to make the final score 8-4.

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN — 19/15/15 = 49 | PG – 20/12/11 = 43
PP: VAN — 2/6 | PG — 1/5
Face-Offs: VAN — 40 | PG — 33

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: Matthew Hutchison (39 saves / 43 shots)
Prince George: Madde Mulawka (28 saves / 34 shots in 40 min); Brady Holtvogt (13 saves / 15 shots in 20 min)

NOTEWORTHY:

13 different Giants recorded at least one point
Five Giants were making their WHL preseason debut: Caden Cail, Aaron Obobaifo, Brett Olson, Braydon Riggall and Adam Titlbach
Mazden Leslie had a team-high seven shots on goal, closely followed by Ty Halaburda, who had five
The line of Bruce, Lipinski & Schmidt combined for six points
Samuel Honzek did not dress for Vancouver, while Riley Heidt and Koehn Ziemmer did not dress for Prince George

NEXT GAME:

The Giants continue their preseason on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Victoria Royals at the Ladner Leisure Centre. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. The game will be audio streamed on Sportsnet 650’s alternate feed.