Mirwald adds to pro prospects but Giants’ season left on the brink

Article content

Brett Mirwald keeps adding lines to his resume in his bid to play pro hockey next year. And that’s the end of the good news portion of our Vancouver Giants’ programming for the time being.

Article content

Mirwald, who’s Vancouver’s 20-year-old goalie, made 53 saves in a 4-1 loss to the Everett Silvertips Friday night at the Langley Events Centre that gave Everett a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven opening round WHL playoff series.

Article content

Vancouver needs a win in Game 5 in Everett Sunday (4 p.m.) to extend their season. Game 6, if necessary, would be Tuesday at the LEC.

Friday was the second 53-save outing for Mirwald in this series between the No. 6 seeded Giants and the No. 3 Silvertips, to go with his efforts in a 2-1 loss in Game 2 in Everett. He’s stopped 176 of 189 shots (. 931 save percentage) sent his way by the Silvertips in the four games. That’s 44 saves per game for those scoring at home.

As of Saturday morning, he was leading the playoffs in saves (Red Deer’s Chase Wutzke and Prince Albert’s Max Hildebrand both had 165 in five games apiece) and save percentage among goalies with more than two appearances (Swift Current’s Reid Dyck was at .927, thanks to a 127-of-137 effort).

Article content

Article content

Mirwald is in his final season of junior eligibility. He lingered in the net for an extended period after the final buzzer on Friday.

He’s talked about wanting to play pro next season. Both he and Giants brass have stayed quiet about whether he’s receiving any interest from pro teams.

He doesn’t have the frame that pro teams seem to covet with their goalies, coming in at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds.

He doesn’t have a lengthy resume either. This was his first season as a starter in the WHL. He was playing in the Manitoba Junior A league two years ago, and the Giants landed his rights two summers ago in a trade with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Mirwald backed up Jesper Vikman with Vancouver last season.

He has delivered all season long. The Giants named Mirwald their team’s most valuable player in the regular season, and he’s the B.C. Division nominee for the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy, which goes to the WHL’s top netminder. Mirwald led the WHL in minutes (3,190) and saves (1,888) and tied for third in save percentage (. 913). He was fourteenth in goals against average (3.10). He had a 29-22-3-0 record.

Article content

Mirwald had 10 outings with 40 or more saves, including a pair with 50 or more. He was named the WHL goalie of the week five times. No other netminder took the award more than three times.

Harrison Meneghin (2.59, .919, 27-20-5-0) of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Jackson Unger (3.08, .908, 35-15-0-2) of the Moose Jaw Warriors and Jan Spunar (2.12, .913, 25-6-2-1) of the Portland Winterhawks are the other three goalies up for the honour.

The trio combined for 12 games with 40 or more stops and three goalie of the week honours.

Vancouver is going to have to find their offence to get back in this series. They scored four goals in the first period of their 6-4 Game 1 win in Everett and have tallied five times in the 11 periods since. Their power play is 0-for-12 since going 3-for-3 in Game 1 as well.

Article content

Vancouver is 1-7-0-0 in Everett the past five regular seasons, but they’re 3-2-0-0 there in their past two playoff series. The No. 8 seeded Giants upset the No. 1 Silvertips in the first round in six games two years ago. Vancouver rallied from 2-1 series deficit in that set.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content