Much has been said about Giants goaltender Jesper Vikman this season, especially this week as the Vegas Golden Knights prospect was named the CHL goaltender of the week. Selected eighth overall by the Vancouver Giants in the first round of the 2021 WHL Import Draft, Vikman stopped 58 of 60 shots that he faced this weekend in a double-header over the Prince George Cougars. The 2002-born Swedish netminder from Stockholm was named the first star of both games which does a pretty decent job of summing up how the weekend went for the Giants superstar. The Giants were able to snap a six-game losing streak as Jesper Vikman added two more wins to his 15-12-1-0 record and improved his other stats by finishing the weekend with a 3.13 goals-against average, a .901 save percentage, and two shutouts in the 29 games that he has played with the G-men so far this season. Vikman did his job in the net, but so did Giants’ forward Ty Thorpe who scored three goals over the weekend which was the most of any Vancouver player.
The Giants in conjunction with @TheWHL are pleased to announce that @GoldenKnights prospect Jesper Vikman has been named WHL Goaltender of the Week after going 2-0 in PG last weekend with a .967 Save percentage and a 1.00 GAA.
Congrats Jesper!
More đź“Ž: https://t.co/adFZkdg6ur pic.twitter.com/QeMMri7S04
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) February 14, 2022
With his three goals, Thorpe was one of three Giants forwards to finish the weekend with three points as Zack Ostapchuk recorded three assists and Payton Mount scored once and was credited with two helpers.
Payton Mount tallied three points against the Cougars last weekend. Photo taken by James DoyleThorpe is a 2002-born forward who is in his first season with the Giants and fourth in the WHL. Originally selected by the Victoria Royals in the 2017 WHL Draft, Thorpe spent his last three seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings and was able to play 136 games in Brandon while registering thirty points (10G-20A) in that time. The right-handed centreman has more points (13G-22A-35P) in 39 games with the G-men this season than he ever recorded with Brandon. Thorpe scored his eleventh and twelfth goals of the season in his team’s 4-1 victory over the Cougars on Friday and notched his thirteenth in the 3-1 Saturday night victory. Despite Thorpe not hearing his name called in the NHL Draft, he is still having a remarkable year and a year that he hopes many NHL clubs will take notice of.
Thorpe and Vikman aim for another successful weekend as the Giants (18-23-2-0) head back home for a Friday night battle at the Langley Events Centre against a team that already has six wins in eight meetings against Vancouver this season in the Victoria Royals (12-28-4-1). Vancouver is then scheduled to head to Kamloops to take on the Blazers (33-12-1-0) at the Sandman Centre for a 7:00 p.m. tilt on Saturday to top off the weekend.
