While Burke Hood made the only and likely only visit of his Western Hockey League career last week, the Vancouver Giants goaltender did his best to make sure it was just another night at the office.
His approach apparently worked, as the six-foot-four, 200-pound goalie was far and away his team's most productive player in their 4-3 loss to the Wheat Kings on Friday.
“I know in my hometown it might seem like a big game, but I wasn't there, it was my first time there, but I tried to treat it like any other game because it's the same game that I play almost every day,” Hood said. “Yeah, there was a lot of outside noise, but I tried to focus on the game ahead and tried not to think about the fact that my family was there or that they were in my hometown. I tried to go out and just play.”
Vancouver Giants goaltender Burke Hood played his first and likely only Western Hockey League game in his hometown in a 4-3 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday. Although he tried not to let the moment overwhelm him, given the presence of so many family members and friends, he enjoyed the experience. (Perry Bergson/Brandon Sun)
His father Jeff works for MNP, so they collected a common company number while playing. He estimates he had 10 or 15 other people in the crowd, so about 40 people came to see him.
Although he tried his best to put it out of his mind, that didn't mean it didn't have meaning.
“It was nice to be in Brandon, at the rink I grew up at,” Hood said. “It was nice to finally play in this rink against a team I watched growing up.”
On the ice, the 18-year-old goaltender faced Jackson Jacobson, Brady Turco and Easton Odut, three former teammates from the great AAA Wheat Kings under-18 team in 2023-24, which went 43-0-1-0, 9-0 in the AAA U18 Manitoba Hockey League regular season. playoffs to win the championship, and ultimately lost in the final at the Telus Cup in Nova Scotia.
“It was great,” Hood said. “Being on a team with these guys and getting to this point, you get to know them pretty intimately. Last year I would have played against them, but it was at home (in Langley) and it was a little different scenario… It was great playing with them, especially being in Brandon.”
On January 19, Vancouver won the game 3–1, with Hood named the first star after making 31 saves.
Hood didn't have a chance to talk to any of his former teammates before, during or after the game, in part because he had so many people to see after it ended.
The scoresheet shows Jacobson had two assists and Turco scored a power-play goal, but Hood made 34 saves, some of which were stunning. On one occasion, he deflected Jordan Gavin's confident goal with the inside of his elbow as he slid across to save a backdoor one-timer.
Giants assistant coach Wacey Rabbitt said Hood was especially good late in the game as Brandon outshot Vancouver 25-12 in the final 40 minutes.
“You saw him in the second and third,” said Rabbit. “He had some behind-the-scenes penalty chances that I would say 99 percent of goalies couldn't make. He's a calming presence there. He kept us in it in the third period. He's getting better and better every game. There's a reason he's an NHL draft pick.”
As a rookie last season, he played behind Matthew Hutchinson, who was traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Jan. 7 with a pair of draft picks for 19-year veteran Brady Smith. Following Hutchinson's departure, Hood took over the managerial role and in 42 games, Hood posted a 3.13 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage and three shutouts for a 19-13-6-0 record.
This year he became the number one anointed one.
“I just go out and do my job,” Hood said. “I know what I need to do, I know what I'm capable of, I can't let any of these expectations get into my head. I just need to go out and play the game that I know I can play.”
The Giants got off to a slow start, with a 3-6-0-0 record that landed them in 10th place in the Western Conference. The two big challenges are team discipline and quality of shots, but Hood is confident they can overcome that challenge.
“Looking at our group, I think we are capable of something big,” Hood said. “Last year, the Medicine Hat Tigers, who won it all, were 1-5 in their first six games. When we look at our team on paper, we have a team that can be something big. There are a lot of new guys and a lot of different guys that come and go, and we have a whole new coaching staff, so it's going to take a minute to figure it out, they want it.” everything was there and what the culture was like.
“Culture is a big part of it. We've come in in the past and lost in the first round. That's what they want to come in and change the culture. Even if we have to lose some guys along the way, if we have guys that buy into the culture and the systems, we can be a great team.”
In seven games this season, he has a 4.55 goals-against average and an .854 save percentage, but the young team in front of him has only played at home twice.
That road work included an annual six-game move to the Eastern Conference, where this year they played six games in nine days against East Division teams. They went 2-4-0-0.
“It's definitely tough,” Hood said. “At the end of the trip we had four out of five, and that's not easy. It's a lot of games, a lot of travel. You probably can't get a good night's sleep on buses or in hotels. You're just not used to it.”
At least he had some new country to look at.
During the trip, he played for the first time in three buildings: the Art Hauser Center in Prince Albert, the SaskTel Center in Saskatoon and the InnovationPlex in Swift Current.
“It was nice to get in,” Hood said. “Now I’ve officially been to every rink in the league.”
Burke Hood holds the puck as the Vancouver Giants come to Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday for their game against the Brandon Wheat Kings. (Perry Bergson/Brandon Sun)
Hood only needed to make 11 saves on Saturday as the Giants completed their road trip with a 4-1 win over the Regina Pats.
They left Regina late Saturday night and returned to Vancouver around 4:30 Sunday afternoon, having traveled 1,700 kilometers.
“It was nice,” Hood said. “It's been a long two weeks. It's been nice to be back in my home province and to be close to my family, but it's nice to be back and away from hotels and hotel food. It gets a little boring after a while, so it's good to be home and eat home-cooked food.”
It's been an impressive few months for Hood, who was drafted in the sixth round, 170th overall, by the New York Islanders in June of the National Hockey League. After joining Canada at the IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship (he didn't see any action), Hood has since gotten his first taste of professional hockey.
“It was great,” Hood said. “Summer development camp was a great experience, I got to get out on the ice a little bit and explore the city a little bit. Then it was rookie camp in the fall, and being at main camp for a while was a great experience. You get to see the guys who went all the way to rookie camp, and then once you get to main camp, you see the guys that are there and how they live at the rink, on the ice and their habits.”
While he's likely a couple of seasons away from turning pro, Hood has learned from the experience and become a better player because of it. And although he doesn't dwell on it, the fact that he was there never leaves him.
“It’s definitely huge,” Hood said. “In my head, coming back here, I don't focus on that at all. I focus on being a Vancouver Giant, but to keep that in the back of my mind and know that, 'Wow, I got drafted,' which is what I've dreamed about since I was a kid, it's definitely a huge accomplishment.”
THIS AND THIS
• CONTROL SURVEY – Back in 1994-95, WHL Player of the Year Marty Murray, Most Athletic Player Darren Ritchie, Executive of the Year Kelly McCrimmon and the Brandon Wheat Kings lost to the Kamloops Blazers in the league finals. Which team had more future NHL players playing for that season?
• WEEKLY REWARDS – The player of the week is 17-year-old Swift Current Broncos forward Noah Kosik from Victoria, British Columbia. He has six points in three games, including a pair of assists against the Wheat Kings on Sunday. Goalie of the Week was 19-year-old Saskatoon Blades goalie Evan Gardner of Fort St. John, British Columbia, who won both starts and scored a goal.
The Rookie of the Week was 17-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Carter Casey of Grand Rapids, Minn., who recorded 31 saves in a 5-0 win over the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday.
• TRADE FRONT — On Tuesday, the Saskatoon Blades acquired 19-year-old hometown defenseman Tyrone Soubry from the Prince Albert Raiders for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2029 draft… On Monday, the Calgary Hitmen sent 19-year-old goaltender Anders Miller from Anchorage, Alaska to Everett Silvertips for a 2027 third-round draft pick and a 2029 fifth-round draft pick.
• BIN BIN — Five suspensions were issued for Friday's games. Red Deer's Matthew Gard was assessed two games for cross-checking and a game violation against Moose Jaw, and goaltender Peyton Shore was assessed one game, while Moose Jaw's Connor Schmidt… Medicine Hat's Jonas Wu was assessed one game for heading and a game violation in Calgary, and Victoria's Reggie Newman was assessed one game for hitting knee and game violation against Everett.
• ALUMNI VIEW — Luka Burzan joined UTE from the First League, the top league in Hungary and Romania. In seven games, he has four goals and an assist. He played 161 regular season games in two and a half seasons with Brandon after being acquired in the Cale Clague trade, scoring 84 goals and 77 assists.
He spent the shortened 2020-21 season in the American Hockey League, but spent the next two and a half seasons mostly in the ECHL before moving to Sweden's Kalmar with HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2023-24 season. Last season he split the campaign between HC Dukla Trencin in Slovakia and Odense Bulldogs in Denmark.
• UPCOMING WEEK— The Wheat Kings will host the Kamloops Blazers in an oddball matchup Thursday night at 7:00 pm and then travel on the road to face the Regina Pats on Saturday at 8:00 pm (CT).
• REPLY – The Blazers, who were an outstanding team, won that game 12–10.
The Blazers included Jarome Iginla (1,554 NHL games played), Shane Doan (1,540), Darcy Tucker (947), Jason Strudwick (674), Brad Lukovich (658), Tyson Nash (374), Hnath Domenicelli (267), Nolan Baumgartner (143), Jason Holland. (81), Cam Severson (37), Rob Skrlak (8) and Ryan Haska (1), the Wheat Kings had Brian McCabe (1,135), Wade Redden (1,023), Oleg Tverdovsky (713, he played seven midseason games for Brandon), Peter Schaefer (572), Chris Dingman (385), Mike Leclerc (341), Marty Murray (261), Sven Butenschen (140), Justin Kurtz (27) and Alex Vasilevskiy (4).
