Vancouver Giants fell to the Kamloops Blazers 5-1 on Friday night, Sept. 29, at the Sandman Centre in their first road game of the young season.
Emmitt Finnie, Connor Levis and Shea Van Olm combined for seven points in the win, leading the way for the Blazers.
Tyler Thorpe was the lone Giant to find the back of the net, scoring his second of the season in the third period.
Blazers scored their goals in bunches on Friday, striking twice in quick succession on two separate occasions.
First, a Giants turnover led to rookie Nathan Behm being all alone in the slot. The forward snuck one just past Mirwald for his first career WHL goal with 3:21 left in the opening period. Then, just 28 seconds later, Finnie stole the puck in the left corner and centered to Levis, who made it 2-0.
The Giants had some chances in the second, including a shot that hit the post from Jaden Lipinski, but at the 12:31 mark, Harrison Brunicke worked his way off the blueline and into the slot and fired a shot past Mirwald’s blocker to make it 3-0. Just 52 seconds later, Finnie made it 4-0 off a feed from Levis.
Van Olm put the game out of reach in the third by making it 5-0 just 3:29 into the period.
Thorpe did score for Vancouver with 6:57 left to break Kieper’s shutout, when he came down the right wing and fired a shot through the five hole.
Associate Coach Adam Maglio called it “humbling.”
“Give credit to that Blazers team,” Maglio said post-game.
“It looked like they carried a lot of momentum from the Memorial Cup, their strong year last year. Our details just weren’t there tonight: puck battles, our coverage down low especially. A good learning lesson for our group.”
Next, Giants host the Wenatchee Wild at Langley Events Centre on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 4 p.m. It will be the first Save on Foods post-game family skate of the season.
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