Tri-Cities 4 @ Giants 2, Jan. 23

[Soundy]

On SportsNet now! Who's got it on?

Giants PP a minute in!

[Redwic]

... and the goaltending controversies/ questions continue for the Giants. Boogaard'd

[Beaner]

I was there.....

Anyway, I don't know what to say about the Giants performance tonight. Well I do, pathetic defensive zone coverage followed by brutal play by some of our supposed top players. The Giants defense tonight was in a fog all game long making absolutely brutal mistakes which led to 2 of the Americans 3 goals.

On the good, I thought the forecheck was a lot better but the decision making by the point men, was once again terrible. I dont know what is going on, the Giants are in a terrible funk right now, and I'm not 100% sure what they need to do to pull out of it.

NOTES
Price and Neufeld got the starts
Bouma, Cunningham, and Toigo were the Giants scratches
Shots were 36-35 Giants
PP's Giants 1/8, Americans 0/7

GOALS
1. TRI Reddick, (5) , 11:52 Reddick comes in witht he puck and fires a shot that Neufeld flubs and it goes into the back of the net. Bad goal.
1. TRI Yellow Horn, (32) , 19:13 Give Mikkelson the assist on this one as he wiffs on the puck right int he slot and Yellowhorn grabs it and dekes Neufled out for another goal.
2. TRI Yellow Horn, (33) (Broda, Vey), 7:15 Give Franson the assist ont his one as he just coughs it up behind his own net and the Americans get the puck and pass it cross crease to Yellowhorn on the open side and he pots it into the open cage.
2. VAN Bliznak, (8) (Thelen, McArdle), 18:11 Point shot from Thelen and Bliznak deflects it right in front of the net and it gets by Price.
3. VAN Thelen, (5) (Rabbit, Repik), 14:44 (PP) 5-4, and everyone is fighting for the puck along the boards, Rabbit ends up with the puck and he gets the pass over to Thelen going to the net and he beats Price blocker side with a wrister.
3. TRI Procyshen, (19) (Aldred), 18:55 (EN) Another assist for Mikkelson as the Giants with the extra attacker, gets the puck at the point and puts a "shot" right onto the stick of Aldred and he just moves it up to Procyshen who gets the red line and scores.

FISTICUFFS
None

OFFICIATING
Wiebe and Raphael tongiht, and I thought they did ok, a bit too much of the ticky tack stuff for my taste, but it wasnt bad.

OVERALL

I'm not sure whats wrong, but something is clearly wrong. The Team needs to pull its collective head out of its rear, and start playing like they can again. Forwards need to come back and support the D, the D needs to start playing simple hockey and not act like the allstars they think they are.

I dont know what Don is going to do to get the boys to turn this around, but I'm starting to think that some of our supposed top end guys need to see the game from a new angle. As in the press box, and lets give the young guys some time. At least with the young guys, when they make a mistake they hustle to fix it, and I can live with that.

3 STARS
1. TRI - 15 Colton Yellow Horn
2. VAN - 23 A. J. Thelen
3. TRI - 1 Carey Price

I would have given Price #2, and Thelen #3.

SHAME SHAME SHAME

I thought about this the other day, and I have to say that I am very disappointed in the Giants management for not honouring the players who played in the WJC this year. other teams do it, why aren't we? Terrible decision, and the Giants brass should be ashamed of themselves, especially after just hosting last year. :( :burningma :(

[Beaner]

... and the goaltending controversies/ questions continue for the Giants. Boogaard'd


Wasnt the goaltender tonight, one softie, and 2 defensive zone brutal turnovers by our supposed top Dmen..

No one would have had those 2nd 2 goals.

[rinkrat]

I think Franson has caught Mikkelsonitis Boogaard'd

[Kassian]

... and the goaltending controversies/ questions continue for the Giants. Boogaard'd

Once again as a whole, goaltending hasn't been a problem for this team. A lack of consistant goal scoring from our key players and shaky defense has been the Giants biggest problem.

[GF71]

I think Franson has caught Mikkelsonitis Boogaard'd

LOL this is Hilarious. People that sit around me all call Mikkelson Captain Cough-Up. Gotta feel bad for him...he is a great guy off the ice, but wow...some bad mistakes this year.

[N.W. Bruin]

So three of the top four D-men flub it.

[Knuckles Muldoon]

LOL this is Hilarious. People that sit around me all call Mikkelson Captain Cough-Up. Gotta feel bad for him...he is a great guy off the ice, but wow...some bad mistakes this year.
An old guy who sits behind me complains about Mikkelson at least 10 times a game. When he gets bored with Mikk, he starts in on Franson.

[Soundy]

Ever turn around and *****slap him?

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Ever turn around and *****slap him?
No. Sometimes the ol' boy is right.

[Soundy]

No. Sometimes the ol' boy is right.

Well, granted... but it's gotta get pretty tiring after a while.

Not as bad as the guy who sat behind me once, whining endlessly in a cheezy frog accent about how lame the Dub game is compared to the QMJ... hey pal, some of us are actually enjoying the game, if you knew before you came here it was going to suck, why are you here in the first place?

[rinkrat]

Sometimes it gets pretty frustrating sitting behind the visitors bench,you get alot of the brainless twits trying to taunt the visitors.Some fans are creative and funny,but others are just drunk twits who haven't been to a rink in decades.Last game was one of those,I guess because it was unused ticket night.I wish the ushers wer more strict.I had a teenage kid throwing popcorn at the players in the tunnel,he only got a warning.Also had Jethro from the trailer park screeching at Pickard,the back up goalie all night,he even ran down the stairs and screamed at him through the space in the glass at the players bench,then we had mr tough guy teenager running over to the tunnel screaming at Reddick,making fun of his name in a very profane way.Not once but twice.
Also the 13 year old girls chanting endlessly,lets go "insert Americans player name here",even mispronouncing names,went through the roster several times,lasted the entire third period.Not even Tri cities fans as they were wearing giants jerseys.

I guess thats what happens when you have cheap tickets.I swear I almost had to leave the game early for the first time in my life.
There should be ZERO tolerance for throwing things at players.

[old_time_hockey]

Ever turn around and *****slap him?

There is a person in my section that I might just do that to. His coments are so far off base 99% of the time. And most of the time he is drunk.

Beer and hockey go together. I enjoy 1 or 2 at a game. But this guy buys his max 2 before the game, 1st intermission and 2nd intermission. Brutal

Then I have some real stoners that sit a few rows down. If you don't mind the smell of pot, they are pretty good guys.

[Soundy]

Then I have some real stoners that sit a few rows down. If you don't mind the smell of pot, they are pretty good guys.

Yeah, you don't usually get rowdy stoners :)

[Kassian]

There should be ZERO tolerance for throwing things at players.

Unless it's Kyle Beach. :D

[old_time_hockey]

Unless it's Kyle Beach. :D

Well that just kinda goes without saying

[byrdman25]

An old guy who sits behind me complains about Mikkelson at least 10 times a game. When he gets bored with Mikk, he starts in on Franson.

Too funny I sit in Z and there is a few out there too. there is a few there, before it was Slade they hammered now its Mikkelson/Franson I guess once they retire they gotta yell to release that boredom. lol.

But yes they need to shape up, maybe change something around, sit some people. The one positive is Franson is trying to hit people lately, the one area I though IMHO that he needed to work on, so thats a plus. It looks like Mikkelson is lost out there with Regner, maybe try him with Franson, they played well together before opening space, although they were a turnover waiting to happen. Anything to lite a fire under there back sides. Rabbit looks like he'll fit just nicely, a little bruleish in his style, just not quite as good, still better than most.

Price was absolutely on fire too, man watching him live, he just covers his angle so well, pretty good rebound control too, was truly a treat. Plus he is big. Thought Neufeld looked good, his rebounds, at least in the second, were handled pretty well. He doesn't leave that juicy dangler for an easy rebound, plus when he holds onto it he uses that stick well to control the puck, ie. the poke check in Kelowna. A good pickup to fill that hole from the selfish hoopstash S@&(^.