SERIES PREVIEW: (6) Vancouver Giants vs. (3) Spokane Chiefs

If you like goals, like, a lot of goals, this might just be the series for you.

After putting together their most successful regular season in 14 years, the Spokane Chiefs look to continue their high-scoring ways as they prepare to battle the Vancouver Giants in Round One of the 2025 WHL Playoffs presented by Nutrien.

Spokane (45-20-1-2) owns the third seed entering the postseason.

Led by a formidable top line of 2025 WHL Top Scorer Andrew Cristall (48G-84A, 132PTS), Captain Berkly Catton (38G-71A, 109PTS) and WHL leading goal scorer Shea Van Olm (49G-43A, 92PTS), Spokane finished second in the league in goals for (2) while boasting the WHL’s best powerplay.

The tremendous season saw Cristall become the first WHLer in the 21st century to surpass 400 points, while Catton became the fifth player in franchise history to record back-to-back 100-plus point seasons. Veteran Van Olm set new career highs across the board in his first full season as a Chief and brings valuable experience as a 2022 WHL Champion with Edmonton and 2023 Memorial Cup competitor with Kamloops.

Twenty-year-old Brayden Crampton is also ranked third in scoring among all WHL defencemen with 10 goals and 61 assists for 71 points in 67 games.

In net, Dawson Cowan leads all WHL netminders in wins while sitting second in shutouts, sixth in goals-against average and seventh in shots faced.

Spokane Chiefs General Manager Matt Bardsley didn’t make many roster moves, but he pulled off the biggest one by landing Cristall, a highly coveted Washington Capitals prospect, at the 2025 WHL Trade Deadline.

At the other end of the ice, speedy winger Cameron Schmidt has led the charge for the G-Men with 40 goals (including seven game-winners) in his second WHL season.

Schmidt is a top prospect heading into the 2025 NHL Draft and was even slotted eighth overall in TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button’s March draft rankings.

Vancouver has six 20-goal scorers, including 6-foot-4 Montreal Canadiens prospect Tyler Thorpe, who led Vancouver with three goals against Spokane this season.

Captain Mazden Leslie also put up a career-best 21 tallies to sit second in goals among all WHL defencemen.

Rookie Ryan Lin also joined exceptional status defenceman Landon DuPont (Everett Silvertips) as the only defencemen aged 16 or younger to record 50 points in their rookie season since Hockey Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer in 1989-90.

Rookie netminder Burke Hood has faced a lot of rubber and come up with some showstopping saves. NHL Central Scouting has ranked Hood 25^th among all North American netminders in the agency’s midterm projection.

Spokane holds a 4-0-0-0 regular season record against the Giants.

A total of nine current NHL Prospects- Catton (Seattle Kraken), Cristall (Washington Capitals), Nathan Mayes (Toronto Maple Leafs), Will McIsaac (St. Louis Blues), Saige Weinstein (Colorado Avalanche), Jaden Lipinski (Calgary Flames), Tyler Thorpe (Montreal Canadiens), Connor Levis (Winnipeg Jets) and Colton Roberts (San Jose Sharks) will compete in the seiries.

This marks the sixth time these teams will meet in the postseason.

Most recently, Vancouver dispatched Spokane in five games in the 2019 Western Conference Championship.

Due to a scheduling conflict at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Games 1 and 2 will be played at the Langley Events Centre starting on Friday, March 28.

The series will move south of the border for Game 3 on Wednesday, April 2.

Every game in the 2025 WHL Playoffs will be streamed for free on Victory+.

 

2024-25 REGULAR SEASON SERIES

Spokane leads 4-0-0-0
October 25, 2025- Vancouver 3, Spokane 4 (OT)
November 23, 2025- Spokane 5, Vancouver 1
February 2, 2025- Spokane 5, Vancouver 2
February 26, 2025- Vancouver 3, Spokane 4

GAME BREAKERS

Vancouver Giants: Cameron Schmdit has become the go-to goals guy since bursting onto the scene with 31 tallies in his rookie season in 2023-24. Now that he has a taste of what the WHL – and the playoffs- are all about, he’ll look to elevate his game again after bagging 40 in his sophomore year. The Prince George, B.C. product has shrugged off a middling February to enter the postseason on a high note with goals in five of his last seven games. He also led all Vancouver skaters in points against the Chiefs with four (1G-3A).

Spokane Chiefs: C’mon. Who else was it going to be? Andrew Cristall put up 10 points (3G-7A) against Vancouver in the regular season and enters Round One on a five-game point streak. The Burnaby, B.C. product will also be competing close to home. While it’s clear Cristall excels at pretty much everything at the junior level, he hopes to cap a historic season off by proving he can also be a winner in high-stakes situations.

GOALTENDING

Vancouver Giants: 2025 NHL Draft-eligible Burke Hood has shown tremendous promise in his first WHL season. The 17-year-old picked up WHL Goaltender of the Week honours twice- including a sensational January win that saw him post back-to-back shutouts. Despite not recording a win against Vancouver this season, he had a 3.97 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in three starts and one relief appearance while averaging more than 40 shots against in each start. Hood will aim to make some noise as he makes his WHL Playoffs debut.

Spokane Chiefs: Dawson Cowan has been more than solid for a Spokane team with lofty aspirations. The 19-year-old has put up personal bests in all categories this year, surpassing 30 wins for the first time and posting four clean sheets. The Warren, Man. product is 2-0-0-0 against Vancouver in the regular season with a 2.97 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage. Cowan is on the hunt for his first WHL Playoff victory after the Chiefs were swept against the formidable Prince George Cougars in 2024.

X FACTOR

Vancouver Giants: Perennial 20-goal scorer Connor Levis has one last shot at WHL glory- and he’s going up against his former Kamloops teammate Shea Van Olm to get it. Levis, a Winnipeg Jets prospect, had 67 points (27G-40A) in 2022-23 with a red-hot Blazers squad and had a goal and three assists at the Memorial Cup that spring. Now an alternate captain for the Giants, Levis’s role is as much about leadership as it is about scoring. Levis has the second-most game-winning goals on the Giants (4) and the second-most faceoff wins on his team. The Vancouver, B.C. product has a goal and two assists against Spokane this year.

Spokane Chiefs: Shea Van Olm has the chance to do something incredibly rare- win the Ed Chynoweth Cup in his rookie year and overage season. The 21-year-old had to fight for his spot in the lineup with the 2022 Champion Edmonton Oil Kings and picked up an assist at the 2023 Memorial Cup with the Kamloops Blazers. The leadership and game-breaking qualities exhibited by his teammates over the years have rubbed off on Van Olm- and now he has a shot at being ‘the guy’. The Calgary, Alta. product had a whopping six goals and two assists against Vancouver in the regular season.

2025 WHL PLAYOFFS SERIES SCHEDULE

Game	Visitor		Home	Day	Date	Time
1	Spokane	@	Vancouver	Friday	March 28	7:00 p.m. PST
2	Spokane	@	Vancouver	Sunday	March 30	4:00 p.m. PST
3	Vancouver	@	Spokane	Wednesday	April 2	7:05 p.m. PST
4	Vancouver	@	Spokane	Thursday	April 3	7:05 p.m. PST
5*	Vancouver	@	Spokane	Saturday	April 5	6:05 p.m. PST
6*	Spokane	@	Vancouver	Monday	April 7	7:00 p.m. PST
7*	Vancouver	@	Spokane	Wednesday	April 9	7:05 p.m. PST

*- If necessary