Giants 3-1 Win Over Wheat Kings

Sunday’s game was a 2 PM start probably to give extra time for Brandon to get farther along the highway ahead of any unforeseen weather they might encounter.

Giants “tender” Bruke Hood who was playing his hometown Wheat Kings finished with 31 saves in a 3-1 victory that allowed the G-men improve their season record to 22-16-5, while the Wheat Kings fell to 20-15-3-2.

The G-Men are now 9-3-1 in their last 13 games, four points back of fourth place in the Western Conference and are 6-1 in their last seven home games managing to outscore their opponents 28-15 during that span.

Adam Titlbach led the charge offensively for Vancouver with two goals – including one with 0.5 seconds to go in the first period – while Tyler Thorpe had the other Giants goal, his 17th of the season. 

Hood improved to 10-6-4 on the season with the victory and is now 5-1-1 in his last seven appearances.

Brandon’s lone goal came off the stick of 20-year-old Marcus Nyugen on a power play.

The Giants are on the road for two games first against Seattle Tuesday 21st then return home and hit the road for a match against Kelowna on the 25th.

They return home for an afternoon match-up against Swift Current on the 26th who currently sit 7th in the Eastern Conference (22-18-1-1) with 158 GF and 155 GA.

The Giants through 42 games have a record of 22-16-5-0 through 43 games with 49 points four behind PG who have 53 currently tied with Portland.

Mark the dates on your calendar and plan on attending one of the upcoming games.

Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the play of the game

“For me, it was kind of a strange game. We had a hard time getting any type of sustained pressure. Penalties certainly played a part of it, it broke momentum and a little bit of rhythm with our group and then we got it back again. We weren’t clicking as fluent as we wanted to be, but I liked how our kids found a way. These type of games here, ugly games so to speak, you have to find it, adapt throughout the course of the game. Really happy with the way they responded. Brandon’s a good hockey team. They’re fast. They’re fast. Speed in this game puts people on their heels and they certainly did to us tonight.” – Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros on the game overall

Following the game Giants Head Coach Manny Viveiros commented on the play of Hood “He was outstanding again this evening…What [Goaltending Coach] Paul [Fricker] does with our goaltenders: he talks about everything. Life, he talks about [different] situations, adversity, everything…his teaching makes a big difference for these kids. If you look back at the history of goalies that have come through here and how they’ve developed, he’s done an outstanding job with these kids. He’s a very hands on approach and philosophy, but more importantly he allows these kids to figure things out on their own and then when they ask questions, he’s ready and prepared with an answer…[Burke] is also learning the other parts of the game, not just the technique part, but just about how to play the position, the daily grind of playing the position. Every day practice and games.” 

Following the game Burke Hood told the media “Feels really good. Obviously went in going ‘just another game.’ Didn’t want to put too many nerves on myself and ended up coming up with the win, which was great…On Friday we had that little gap from the start, we had that lead, [but] this game was more of a tight game the whole way.”