Vancouver won the first of three scheduled games against the Victoria Royals Tuesday night, Dec. 27, in front of 3,507 fans at Langley Events Centre (LEC), scoring three goals in a row to take an insurmountable lead.

A late-in-the game surge by Victoria came up short, making it the the fourth win in a row against the Royals this season for the Giants, who currently rank fifth in the WHL western conference. Royals are ninth.

Giants opened the scoring at 7:58 of the first period, when, seconds after completing a penalty kill, Ty Halaburda sniped home the first goal of the game on a partial break. Jaden Lipinski had the assist.

In the second period, Ty Thorpe doubled the Vancouver lead at 8:43, assisted by Matthew Edwards.

Ty Thorpe had a goal and an assist for the Vancouver Giants Tuesday, Dec. 27, as the G-Men won their fourth in a row over Victoria Royals 3-2. (Rob Wilton/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Then, Jaden Lipinski redirected home a Carson Haynes shot on a power play 4:18 later. Ty Thorpe also assisted.

Victoria finally got on the board in the third, when Riley Gannon intercepted a breakout pass midway through the third and got the Royals on the board.

Alex Thacker tapped home a back-door pass from Jake Poole with 0:57 left in the game but it wasn’t enough, and the Giants would hold on for the victory.

Final Score: Vancouver 3 – Victoria 2.

Once again, netminder Jesper Vikman was a big part of the Giants game, blocking all but two as the Royals outshot the Giants 36-19.

Vikman was named first star of the game, with Lipinski and Thorpe second and third stars.

Vancouver forward Ty Halaburda opened the scoring for the home team at Langley Events Centre on Tuesday, Dec. 27, striking at the 7:58 mark of the first to make it 1-0. Giants went on to win 3-2. (Rob Wilton/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Both teams were to meet again tonight (Wednesday, Dec. 28) at the LEC at 7 p.m. and again on Friday, Dec. 30, when the Giants travel to Victoria for their third game in a row against the Royals at Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena

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