WHL NOTEBOOK: Hood brings Giant presence to hometown
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While Burke Hood made the one and likely only visit of his Western Hockey League career last week, the Vancouver Giants netminder did everything he could to make it just another night at the office.
His approach apparently worked, because the six-foot-four, 200-pound goaltender was easily his team’s most impactful player in their 4-3 loss to the Wheat Kings on Friday.
“I know it might have seemed like a big game in my hometown and I haven’t been there, it was my first time there, but I tried to treat it as every other game because it’s the same game I play almost every day,” Hood said. “Yes, there was a lot of outside noise but I tried to focus on the game at hand and tried not to think about my family being there or it being in my hometown. I tried to go out and just play.”

Vancouver Giants goalie 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. While he tried not to let the moment overwhelm him with lots of family and friends in attendance, he enjoyed the experience. (Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun)
His father Jeff works at MNP, so they packed the company’s shared suite at the game. He estimates he had 10 or 15 more people out in the crowd, so around 40 people were there to see him.
While he did his best to put that out of his mind, it didn’t mean it wasn’t meaningful.
“It was nice to be in Brandon, the rink I grew up being in and out of,” Hood said. “It was nice to finally play in that rink against the team I watched growing up.”
On the ice, the 18-year-old goalie was facing Jaxon Jacobson, Brady Turko and Easton Odut, three former teammates from the great under-18 AAA Wheat Kings squad in 2023-24 that went 43-0-1-0 in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League’s regular season, 9-0 in the playoffs to win the championship and eventually lost in the final at the Telus Cup in Nova Scotia.
“It was great,” Hood said. “Being on a team with those guys and making it so far you get to know them quite a bit. Last year I would have played against them but that was at home (in Langley) and it was a little different scenario … It was cool to play them, especially being in Brandon.”
Vancouver won that game 3-1 on Jan. 19, with Hood being named first star after making 31 saves.
Hood didn’t have a chance to chat with 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 will show Jacobson had two assists and Turko pounded in a power-play one-timer, but Hood made 34 saves, several of which were absolutely dazzling. In one instance, he took a sure goal from Jordan Gavin with the inside of his elbow when he slid across to deny a backdoor one-timer.
Giants assistant coach Wacey Rabbit said Hood was especially good later in the game as Brandon outshot Vancouver 25-12 in the final 40 minutes.
“You saw him in the second and third,” Rabbit said. “He had some backdoor chances on the penalty kill that I would say 99 per cent of goalies can’t get to. He’s a calming presence back there. He kept us in it in the third period. Every game, he’s getting better and better. He’s an NHL draft pick for a reason.”
As a rookie last season, he played behind Matthew Hutchinson, who was traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors with a pair of draft picks on Jan. 7 for 19-year-old veteran Brady Smith. With Hutchinson gone, Hood took over the top job, and in 42 games, Hood posted a 3.13 goals-against average a .910 save percentage and three shutouts with a record of 19-13-6-0.
This year, he came in as the anointed number one.
“It’s just go out there and do my job,” Hood said. “I know what I have to do, I know what I’m capable of doing, I can’t let any of those expectations get in my head. I just need to go out there and play the game I know I can play.”
The Giants are off to a slow start, with a 3-6-0-0 record that has them 10th in the Western Conference. Two big issues are team discipline and the quality of shots they allow, but Hood is confident they can sort it out.
“Looking at our group, I think we could be capable of something big,” Hood said. “Last year, the Medicine Hat Tigers, who won it all, were 1-5 in their first six games. Looking at our team on paper, we have a team that could be something big. There are a lot of new guys and a lot of different guys coming in and out, and we have a whole new coaching staff, so it will take a minute to get out they want things to be and how the culture is.
“The culture is a big part of it. In the past, we’ve come in and lost in the first round. That’s something where they want to come in and change the culture. Even if we have to lose some guys during it, if we have guys who buy into the culture and the systems, we can be a great team.”
In seven appearances this season, he has a 4.55 goals-against average and a .854 save percentage, but the young team in front of him has only played twice at home.
That road work included their annual six-game swing through the Eastern Conference, which this year had them playing six games in nine days against East Division squads. They went 2-4-0-0.
“It’s definitely tough,” Hood said. “To end the trip we had four in five, which isn’t easy. It’s a lot of games, a lot of travel. You’re probably not getting the greatest sleeps on the buses or in the hotels. You’re just not used to it.”
At least he had some new country to look at.
During the trip, he played in three buildings for the first time, the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon and the InnovationPlex in Swift Current.
“It was nice to get inside those,” Hood said. “I’ve officially been inside every rink in the league now.”

Burke Hood handles the puck as the Vancouver Giants came to Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday for a game against the Brandon Wheat Kings. (Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun)
On Saturday, Hood only had to make 11 saves as the Giants ended their road trip with a 4-1 victory over the Regina Pats.
They left Regina late Saturday evening and pulled back into Vancouver around 4:30 on Sunday afternoon after a 1,700-kilometre drive.
“It was nice,” Hood said. “It was a long two weeks. It was nice to be back in the home province and have some family close by but it’s good to be back and out of the hotels and the hotel food. You get a little sick of it after while so it’s good to be home and have some home-cooked meals.”
It’s been an impressive few months for Hood, who was taken in the sixth round of the National Hockey League in June with the 170th overall pick by the New York Islanders. After joining Canada for the IIHF U18 World Championship — he didn’t see any action — Hood has since enjoyed his first taste of pro hockey.
“It was great,” Hood said. “Dev (development) camp in the summer was a great experience, I got on the ice a little bit and got to see the city a little bit. Then, it was rookie camp in the fall and staying for a little bit of main camp was a great experience. “You get to see the guys that were all the way up in rookie camp and then once you get to main camp, you get to see those guys who are there, and how they are around the rink and on the ice and their habits.”
While turning pro is likely a couple of seasons away, Hood has learned from the experience and gotten better because of it. And while he doesn’t dwell on it, the fact he’s been there never leaves him.
“It’s definitely huge,” Hood said. “In my head, coming back here I don’t focus on it at all. I focus on being a Vancouver Giant but having that in the back of my mind and knowing that ‘Wow, I got drafted,’ which is something go dreamed of since I was a kid, it’s definitely a huge accomplishment.”
THIS AND THAT
• QUIZ — Back in 1994-95, WHL player of the year Marty Murray, most sportsmanlike player Darren Ritchie, executive of the year Kelly McCrimmon and the Brandon Wheat Kings fell to the Kamloops Blazers in the league final. Which team had more future NHL players skate for them that season?
• WEEKLY AWARDS — The player of the week is 17-year-old Swift Current Broncos forward Noah Kosick of Victoria, B.C. He had six points in three games, including a pair of assists against the Wheat Kings on Sunday. The goaltender of the week is 19-year-old Saskatoon Blades goaltender Evan Gardner of Fort St. John, B.C., who won both his starts and posted a shutout.
The rookie of the week is 17-year-old product Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Carter Casey of Grand Rapids, Minn., who recorded a 31-save shutout on Saturday in a 5-0 victory over the visiting Portland Winterhawks.
• TRADE FRONT — On Tuesday, the Saskatoon Blades acquired 19-year-old hometown defenceman Tyrone Sobry from the Prince Albert Raiders for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2029 … The Calgary Hitmen sent 19-year-old goaltender Anders Miller of Anchorage, Alaska to the Everett Silvertips on Monday for a third-round pick in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2029.
• SIN BIN — Five suspensions were levied from Friday’s slate of games. Red Deer’s Matthew Gard got two games for a cross-checking major and game misconduct against Moose Jaw and goalie Peyton Shore received one game, while so did Moose Jaw’s Connor Schmidt … Medicine Hat’s Jonas Woo was assessed one game for a checking-to-the-head major and game misconduct at Calgary, and Victoria’s Reggie Newman earned one game for a kneeing major and game misconduct versus Everett.
• ALUMNI GLANCE — Luka Burzan has moved to UTE of the Erste Liga, the top league in Hungary and Romania. In seven games, he has four goals and an assist. He played 161 regular season games over two-and-a-half seasons with Brandon after being acquired in the Kale Clague trade, contributing 84 goals and 77 assists.
He spent the shortened 2020-21 season in the American Hockey League, but primarily skated the next two-and-a-half seasons in the ECHL before moving to Sweden’s Kalmar HC in the HockeyAllsvenskan during the 2023-24 campaign. Last season, he split the campaign between HK Dukla Trencin in Slovakia and the Odense Bulldogs in Denmark.
• THE WEEK AHEAD — The Wheat Kings host the Kamloops Blazers in an uncommon Thursday night game at 7 p.m., and then head out on the road to meet the Regina Pats on Saturday at 8 p.m. (CDT).
• ANSWER — The Blazers, who were an outstanding team, win that matchup 12-10.
The Blazers had Jarome Iginla (1,554 NHL games played), Shane Doan (1,540), Darcy Tucker (947), Jason Strudwick (674), Brad Lukowich (658), Tyson Nash (374), Hnat Domenichelli (267), Nolan Baumgartner (143), Jason Holland (81), Cam Severson (37), Rob Skrlac (8) and Ryan Huska (1), The Wheat Kings had Bryan McCabe (1,135), Wade Redden (1,023), Oleg Tverdovsky (713, he played seven games mid-season for Brandon), Peter Schaefer (572), Chris Dingman (385), Mike LeClerc (341), Marty Murray (261), Sven Butenschoen (140), Justin Kurtz (27) and Alex Vasilevsky (4).