Vancouver Giants Assistant Coach Gaelan Patterson called it ‘a little bit of a track meet.’
It was another close game, and another loss, for the G-Men, who fell 5-4 to Portland Winterharks Saturday, Jan. 3.
Giants were ahead 3-2 after 20 minutes and 4-3 after 40, but surrendered two third period goals, including a late marker on a power play, to come up just short in regulation.
Patterson said it was a hard fought game.
“The first 10 minutes I thought we played excellent. Very structured, very detailed and we worked extremely hard. As the game went on, it kind of went a little bit back and forth, a little bit of a track meet, but overall I think a lot of guys played with their heart on their sleeve tonight and it’s a really, really tough loss for sure.”
Giants fall to 16-22-1-1 following the loss and have dropped three straight, while the Winterhawks improve to 20-17-1-0.
The line of Ty Halaburda, Cameron Schmidt and Jakob Oreskovic led the way for the Giants, with the three combining for eight points.
Schmidt registered two goals and two assists to reach 60 points on the season (27G-33A), while also increasing his point streak to 20 games (15G-19A-34P). He sits at 99 career goals.
Halaburda recorded a goal and an assist, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the fourth consecutive season. He now has 220 career points, two back of Craig Cunningham for third all-time in franchise history.
Oreskovic also had a goal and an assist.
Giants 15-year-old rookie Louis-Oscar Holowaychuk registered his first career Western Hockey League point with a primary assist on Schmidt’s second goal of the night.
Nathan Brown led the way for Portland with a hat-trick – including the game-winner. Reed Brown and Luke Christopherson also found the back of the net.
Next Giants are back home at Langley Events centre to host Tri-City on Friday, Jan. 9. and Wenatchee on Saturday, Jan. 10. Both start at 7 p.m.