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Five Giants score in win against Victoria

Vancouver Giants got goals from five different players in a 5-3 preseason win over the Victoria Royals on Sunday afternoon in Port Coquitlam.

Vancouver Giants got goals from five different players in a 5-3 preseason win over the Victoria Royals on Sunday afternoon in Port Coquitlam.

Kyren Gronick, Aaron Obobaifo, Jakob Oreskovic, Colton Roberts and Mazden Leslie each had a goal for the G-men, while Burke Hood made 19 saves on 22 shots for his first preseason win.

Vancouver's power play went 2-for-6.

The Royals got goals from Koltin Herfst, Layne Schofield and Reggie Newman.

Victoria's Koltin Herfst got the visitors on the board first just over six minutes into the game after a point shot snuck through some traffic.

Gronick tied the game about 10 minutes later, after he backhanded home a loose puck in tight, with assists going to Hoilett and Obobaifo.

With under one second left in the opening period, Hoilett centred a pass from the right corner to Obobaifo, who quickly one-timed it past Kraus on the blocker side to give the G-Men a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Early in the second period, the Royals evened the score after Schofield let a low shot go from a tight angle that found the back of the net.

Vancouver regained the lead on the power play late in the middle frame, after Tyus Sparks' shot from the right circle created a rebound for Oreskovic, who buried it to make it 3-2.

Before the period was done, Giants scored yet another buzzer beater, this time when Roberts wrist shot from the left point zipped right to the top corner with 0.4 seconds left in the period.

The Giants had plenty of chances to extend their lead in the third period, but Newman's breakaway goal with 3:48 remaining made it a one-goal contest.

Moments after Victoria made it 4-3, Adam Titlbach took a stretch pass and drew a slashing penalty, which Vancouver was able to cash in on. It was Leslie who got the goal, after he took a drop pass from Roberts at the left point and weaved his way through some traffic before beating Michnik on the glove side to make it 5-3.

"Coming back and playing with the same guys I played with last year – Obo and London there – they make the game so easy for me,"  Kyren Gronick said.

"We were just playing our normal game: getting pucks in deep, playing hard hockey and fore check, back check. And then find the back of the net, we were lucky to do that today." 

I think we played better as a group today," commented Jakob Oreskovic. "We had a lot of good track moments and I think we were well connected today."  

G-Men have two more preseason games, against the Kelowna Rockets, on Saturday, Sept. 14 in Kelowna and Sunday, Sept. 15 in Ladner.

Their first regular season game is set for Sept. 20, against Seattle at 7 p.m. in the Langley Events Centre. 



About the Author: Langley Advance Times Staff

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