Former Sockeye Tyler Thorpe Sends Teddy Bears Flying

The home-and-home series for the Vancouver Giants proved that there was indeed a “Grinch” that helped the visiting Victoria Royals improve their record to 17-10-3-2 while the Vancouver Giants record sits at 13-13-4.

Each year the Giants (as do other teams) host their Annual Teddy Bear Toss and this year’s game was played in front of 4,522 die hard fans that saw them bring various size Bears to the game

The previous game the night prior saw the Royals blank the Giants by a 4-0 margin that had the G-men enter this game wanting goals or sugarplums and not “lumps of coal” to entertain their fans.

The game itself was a late start due to the wild wind that hammered the lower mainland knocking out power in various areas of the  lower mainland which affected several fans to arrive at the game late.

In addition both teams arrived late for the 7 pm game which was officially a late 8 pm start in which the fans were extremely patient while they were being entertained by a mini-minor hockey game.

Patient can be a virtue for many and it’s just possible that the long wait took a toll on the Royals who got off to a sluggish start in a contest that saw former Richmond Sockeye and current Vancouver Giants Tyler Thorpe opening the scoring.

Not only did he score one, he also got the Giants second goal of the opening period, but the first was the one that brought the fans to their feet throwing their Bears to the ice which involved a lengthy delay.

The first goal was scored while the G-men were on the PP that was hammered home from the slot while his (Thorpe) second was after Titleback worked on splitting the “D” that saw Thorpe jump on the loose puck for his second of the game.

Despite the late game start the Royals managed to bring some fans to the game cheering them on with their first goal of the game late in the first cutting the Giants lead by one.

To the surprise of Giants fans the Royals grabbed their first lead of the game as they managed to score two goals just 22 seconds apart early in the second. 

The first came off the stick of Kipkie when he sent a backhanded shot that went under the arm of Burke Hood followed by their second at 3:27 of the second that put an end to Hood’s night.

The Giants managed to get the equalizer just before the second period came to an end that saw a bouncing puck that saw Alain pepper one in the top corner from the right circle that saw him collect his first career WHL goal.

The third was more of a back and forth period that remained tied but only until the Royals Matthews put the Royals up 4-3 lead with 7:05 left in the third. 

As if that wasn’t enough it was three minutes later that saw Royals Verhoeff score the insurance marker with Brayden Boehm getting the helper making it 5-3 for the visitors followed by an empty-net marker from Misskey giving the visiting Royals a 6-3 win.

Regardless of the score the game was entertaining from the opening face-off in  a game that the “high-lite” of the game being the pre-game mini-minor game as well as the Teddy Bear Toss.

The Giants played one final game prior to the Christmas break against the Tri-City Americans

STATISTICS

SOG: VAN — 5/5/5 = 15 | VIC – 5/18/10 = 33
PP: VAN —1/3 | VIC — 0/3
Face-Offs: VAN — 27 | VIC — 30

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Vancouver: LOSS – Matthew Hutchison (22 saves / 24 shots) / Burke Hood (5 saves / 8 shots)
Victoria: WIN – Jayden Kraus (12 saves / 15 shots)

3 Stars

1st: VIC – Keaton Verhoeff – 1G, 1A, 5 SOG, +2
2nd: VAN – Tyler Thorpe – 2G, 3 SOG
3rd: VAN – Colton Alain – 1st WHL Goal, +2

UPCOMING