Thorpe: Leading the Village

(Vancouver Giants/Twitter)

If you look up ‘Thorpe’ in the dictionary you will find that it is a variant of the Middle English word for a small village. It’s only fitting that 2002-born forward Ty Thorpe (Brandon, MB) is the leader of the small village consisting of the Vancouver Giants. Ty Thorpe has been the captain of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants for the past four games dating back to Wednesday, January 11.

Thorpe replaced Zack Ostapchuk, who was traded to the Winnipeg ICE upon completing the World Juniors. Vancouver acquired a trio of first-round draft picks (2024, 2025, 2026), 2003-born forward Skyler Bruce (Winnipeg, MB), 2005-born forward Connor Dale (St Albert, AB), prospects Owen Brees (2022 5th Rounder) and Hudson Landmark (2022 8th Rounder), and a 2024 5th round draft pick in the exchange.

The trade marked the second consecutive season that Giants’ General Manager Barclay Parneta traded away his captain at the trade deadline – Justin Sourdif was dealt to Edmonton last season. Ostapchuk replaced Sourdif as the team’s leader, and the captaincy spot opened up again after the team dealt with Ostapchuk.

Beginning his career in the 2018-19 season with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Thorpe spent 136 games in Manitoba, picking up 30 points (10-20) in that span. Acquired via trade in the offseason before the 2021-22 season, Thorpe had more points (16-28-44) in his first season with the G-men (62 games) than in his entire career with the Wheat Kings. In 103 regular season games and 12 playoff games, he has 100 points as a Giant. 

The 20th captain in team history entered the game on Friday with a three-game point streak, which included four goals and an assist. Thorpe scored Vancouver’s lone goal last night, extending his point streak to four. In the four games Thorpe has been captain, Vancouver has lost 6-3 to the Kamloops Blazers, 4-2 to the Spokane Chiefs, 7-3 to the Tri-City Americans, and 4-1 to the Kelowna Rockets. 

The Giant’s record may not look good under the leadership of Thorpe so far, but Vancouver is still without Samuel Honzek, who was injured at the World Junior’s, and finding it challenging to deal with the loss of Ostapchuk. Ty Thorpe is a player who will give his all and has done all he can to give his team a chance at success.

This season, the 6’0”, 180lb forward has appeared in 41 games registering 24 goals and 24 helpers for 48 points. Thorpe leads Vancouver with 10 powerplay goals and 137 shots on goal. His work ethic and ability to make the players around him better were qualities that made it easy for Head Coach Michael Dyck to pass the torch over to Thorpe.

Vancouver is seventh in the Western Conference with 38 points and a record of 16-20-4-2 in 42 games. The top eight teams make the playoffs from each conference. The Giants are set to battle the Kelowna Rockets in five of the next six games, which are huge for playoff seedings for both clubs. The Rockets have played two fewer games than Vancouver and are currently seven points back of the G-men, putting Kelowna in the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference. 
The Giants won’t have much time to rest after a 4-2 defeat at home to the Rockets as they square off later tonight in Kelowna. Ty Thorpe hopes to guide his team to their first win with him as captain.