Giants youngster Schmidt closes gap on 30-goal mark as season nears end
Four goals in the Vancouver Giants' final five regular-season games would propel Cameron Schmidt into esteemed territory.
It would give Schmidt 30 goals in his 16-year-old campaign in the WHL, and heading into this season, only five players in the past 30 years in the league had managed to hit that milestone.
Connor Bedard (51 goals with the Regina Pats in 2021-22), Brayden Yager (34 goals with the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2021-22), Patrick Marleau (32 goals with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1995-96), Nolan Patrick (30 goals with the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2014-15) and Brett Connolly (30 goals with the Prince George Cougars in 200809) all went on to become early first-round selections in the NHL draft.
Yager (No. 14 overall, 2023) was the latest choice in the bunch. Schmidt — a five-foot-eight, 150-pound speedster originally from Prince George — is eligible for the 2025 NHL draft. The Giants have had only six first-rounders in franchise history.
Medicine Hat Tigers winger Gavin McKenna, who is at 31 goals with two weekends left in the WHL regular season, joined that group recently as well.
He's not eligible for the NHL draft until 2026 because of his late birthday. Players can't be regulars in the WHL until their 16-year-old season.
Vancouver has a three-in-three weekend coming up, starting with a Friday visit from the Kamloops Blazers, and then closes out the regular season the following weekend with a home-and-home set against the Kelowna Rockets.
Schmidt comes into this last stretch on a roll, with nine goals and 16 points in his past 10 games. That has pushed him to 26 goals and 50 points on the season.
“It would be insane,” Giants winger Ty Halaburda said of Schmidt possibly hitting the 30 mark this year.
“He's pretty close.” Defenceman Mazden Leslie added: “It's crazy. He's going to be a really good player for a lot of years.”
Schmidt had a chance to take a shot at an empty net in the late stages Tuesday night when he tracked down a puck along the left wing boards deep in Tri-City Americans territory with the TriCity goalie on the bench in favour of an extra attacker and Vancouver leading 3-1. He instead fed Jaden Lipinski in the middle for an easy tap in. Vancouver added another goal after that and wound up with a 5-1 win.
The fact that Schmidt was out on the ice in the waning moments helping protect a lead speaks to his development. He has become more diligent defensively as the season has played out, and he has
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gained more trust from coach Manny Viveiros.
“He's matured in front of our eyes, and he's absorbing what the coaches are telling him,” Giants general manager Barclay Parneta said of Schmidt, who celebrated his 17th birthday in January.
Gilbert Brule's 25 goals had stood up as the Giants' record for 16-year-olds since the 2003-04 campaign.
Schmidt tied Brule's mark midway through the third period of Vancouver's Friday visit to face his hometown Cougars. Schmidt won a puck battle with six-foottwo, 205-pound Prince George defenceman Viliam Kmec on the left side and then cut to the net and waited out Cougars goalie Joshua Ravensbergen before sliding a shot home.
Schmidt bagged his team-record 26th goal later in the frame, batting down a clearing attempt and then bobbing and weaving through traffic in the slot before wiring one just under the crossbar.
“He's a fun player to play with,” said Halaburda, who's been teaming
with Schmidt to flank centreman Lipinski on a line of late. “He thinks the game so well. And there's obviously the jets on him.”
Vancouver (30-29-4-0) woke up Wednesday morning seventh in the Western Conference, one point behind the sixth-place Victoria Royals (28-27-5-4) with a game in hand. They were two in back of the fifth-place Rockets (31-28-3-1).
Kelowna was set to host the second-place Cougars (43-15-1-3) Wednesday night. The top eight teams make the playoffs.
Giants players and staff have been decidedly open about wanting to wind up in the fifth spot.
If the playoffs began Wednesday, the Royals would be facing
the third-place Everett Silvertips (41-18-2-3) and the Rockets would be taking on the fourth-place Wenatchee Wild (32-26-4-0). Everett is 19 points up on Wenatchee.
“It's no secret that our goal is to get fifth place,” Halaburda reiterated.
Vancouver visits the last-place Rockets (20-37-3-3) on Saturday before heading back to the LEC on Sunday afternoon to host Prince George. The Rockets have a homeand-home with Everett this weekend. Kelowna is 5-1-0-0 against Vancouver so far this season.
The Spokane Chiefs (27-30-51) are eighth, four points behind Vancouver.