Vancouver Giants goalie Brett Mirwald needs one thing: A playoff run

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Having skilled a championship sequence from the stands helps new Vancouver Giants beginning goalie Brett Mirwald to think about what witnessing an prolonged playoff run from the crease can be like.

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Mirwald grew up in Saskatoon and one of many WHL groups he adopted was the Regina Pats, who featured his cousin Jake Leschyshyn. The Leschyshyn-led Pats had the host berth for the 2018 Memorial Cup nationwide championships, and a 14-year-old Mirwald spent that week in Regina, watching each sport of the four-team occasion and soaking all of it in. 

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“It was loopy. These buildings are loud, however that was one other degree,” Mirwald stated of Regina’s 6,000-seat Brandt Centre, someday previous to follow this week on the Langley Occasions Centre. “When the Pats received the semifinal, that was the loudest constructing that I’d ever been in.

“I can’t wait to expertise one thing like that right here. That’s the aim, to go on a run. There’s nothing like a playoff run. Seeing that at that age — I clearly knew that I needed to play within the WHL then, however that exhibits you the way enjoyable it may be and the way the followers can get behind you. That power was one other degree.”

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Mirwald goes to get an opportunity to be a serious participant in no matter success the Giants have this season. The Vancouver brass haven’t formally named him the starter but, however that’s definitely the excitement round coaching camp.

He was the back-up final yr to Jesper Vikman with Vancouver and confirmed nicely, with a 9-9-4-1 file, a 3.15 objectives towards common, and a .910 save proportion. Included in that was a 51-save outing in a 4-2 loss to the Kamloops Blazers on Feb. 4. 

Vikman, who aged out of the WHL on the finish of the season and goes to play someplace within the Vegas Golden Knights system this yr, was 19-21-1-2, with a 3.29 objectives towards common and a .903 save proportion to supply up some comparability. 

Mirwald is one among 5 20 yr olds remaining with Vancouver. They’ll solely preserve three overages on their closing roster. Mirwald’s additionally one among three goalies left in camp, together with Matthew Hutchison, who turns 17 in three weeks, and Burke Hood, 16.

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Vancouver wraps up its preseason schedule this weekend, visiting the Kelowna Rockets on Friday after which internet hosting the Kamloops Blazers in Maple Ridge on Saturday. The common season begins Sept. 22, with the Giants internet hosting the Victoria Royals on the Langley Occasions Centre.

“I believe I have to be regular. That’s the massive one,” stated Mirwald, who celebrated his birthday Wednesday. “Being a 20, I’m clearly hope to play an excellent variety of minutes and simply be a gradual rock within the again. If our guys have a sluggish begin, I wish to give them an opportunity to get their ft underneath them, and particularly our younger guys. 

“There’s strain as a 20. Each 20 has strain, and particularly as a goalie since you’re taking over a spot even on nights you’re not enjoying. There are expectations as a 20, and the goalie can assist carry the workforce and deal with a heavy load.”

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There was an expectation of goaltenders in Vancouver typically, as nicely. The Giants’ final three starters are David Tendeck (2018, sixth spherical, Arizona Coyotes) and Trent Miner (2019, seventh spherical, Colorado Avalanche), who turned simply the second and third goalies picked in an NHL Draft straight off of the Giants’ roster within the franchise’s 22-year historical past, and Vikman (2020, fifth spherical, Vegas), the Swede who had already been drafted by the Golden Knights when he signed on with Vancouver.

“If I play my sport, I believe I will be up there with these guys,” Mirwald stated. “That’s the aim — by the top of this yr, folks have respect for my title.”

Mirwald checks in at 6-foot-1 and 180 kilos. He performed a number of sports activities rising up, and Giants goalie coach Paul Fricker believes that he has helped Mirwald alongside the best way, like together with his baseball time enhancing his glove hand.

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Mirwald was initially within the WHL with the Moose Jaw Warriors, however solely noticed 19 video games over two years and wound up for a stint within the Manitoba Junior A league with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines. Vancouver landed his rights two summers in the past, in change for a conditional sixth-round decide within the 2026 WHL Draft. 

“I’m pleased with myself to get again to the league. It’s the place I needed to be,” Mirwald stated. “Getting the full-time starter is later than I needed, however I’m going to take the chance and attempt to run with it.”

Tyson Sexsmith, who backstopped the Giants to the 2007 Memorial Cup title, was the primary netminder drafted to the NHL straight off a Vancouver roster when he was picked within the 2007 third spherical by the San Jose Sharks. Different Giants goalies, equivalent to Marek Schwarz and Adam Morrison, had been chosen by NHL golf equipment previous to becoming a member of Vancouver.

Leschyshyn, now 24, is a centre with the New York Rangers.

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