dondo
02-08-2007, 12:59 AM
A bit of bitterness in this recap as I did not see enough of what I would like to begin to see from the Giants as a team, the operative word here being team.
Good to get the win, but we did not have to fight for this win it pretty much feel into our laps. Rather boring game over-all.
Reffing was very picky but even. A lot of soft calls which could have been let go, but they called the game the same way the whole game and for both sides so the players knew what to expect. No phantom calls either, and some non-calls that might have been called in another game -- so in the end the officiating was predictable and consistent and you can't ask for any more than that.
Some flashes from individuals as well as some decent puck-handling in traffic, but some poor decisions, failure to clear their zone and the anemic PP really got to me tonight. It could be the cold talking though.
Hope you enjoy it -- feel free to argue :thumb:
Giants Tame Cats
Vancouver 3 Prince George 2
Giants Tame Cats Feb 7th (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_7th_GiantsbkTamebkCats_97.html)
The Vancouver Giants were, yet again, lucky to come out with a win tonight as they once more squandered their PP chances with poor passing and soft play. The Prince George Cougars are on a bit of run lately and could have beat the Giants were the home team not able to put some pucks behind Bowles who was merely average tonight at the Pacific Coliseum. The Giants don’t seem willing these days to put in the effort it takes to dominate the other guys, which they should have done tonight. The one time they got traffic in front of the net the puck found its way to the twine, but they had many more opportunities to create that same situation only seemed more comfortable playing perimeter hockey, than to pay the price. The home team managed to play five minutes in the first, five minutes in the second and then go on to squander all of their PP chances in the third and squeak out a win.
Milan Lucic opened the scoring just 34 seconds into the game with some great effort and which foreshadowed the kind of game the Giants played versus the Winterhawks, but that effort lasted all of five minutes to start the game and then petered off as the G-Men handed back the momentum after killing two PPs and then wasting their first PP of the game. Lucic rushed in with speed down the right side and cut across the net. Bowles made the stop and the Cougar D-man cleared the rebound right onto Michal Repik’s stick in the slot. Repik got a quick shot off which caromed off of Bowles pad and into the open where Lucic gathered it up and put it into the open cage. The Giants took a couple of penalties before getting the chance to be on their own man-advantage and could not really even manage to gain the zone for the full two-minutes. Their second opportunity found them making soft chip passes at their own blue-line consistently coughing up the puck as they failed to have any pressure at the goal mouth and gave the Cougars no reason to collapse their defensive box. The shots were 9-8 for the Cougars at the end of one and other than that flash of skill and fortitude the Giants did nothing to change that for the rest of the period.
The Cougars continued to play their trappy game, clogging up the neutral zone and limiting ice and room for the G-Men and it eventually paid off. The Cats had some good pressure going in the Giants end and got the puck to Greg Gardner at the point. With traffic in front of Tyson Sexsmith, Gardner threaded the puck through the grid-lock to find the twine, tying the game with just under ten minutes gone in the middle stanza. The G-Men managed their first shot of the second at 11:36 and it found the back of the net. Wacey Rabbit chipped the puck up Lucic who drifted away from the side-boards and fed Michal Repik coming down the slot. Repik one-timed the puck past Bowles who had no time to react before it was behind him. The Vancouver squad padded their lead just under two minutes later when they finally managed to get some traffic in front of the net. Cody Franson garnered his 13th goal of the season with Kendall McArdle and Tim Kraus creating a traffic jam on top of the blue paint, Kraus and Spencer Machacek got the assists. The low hard shot found its way through the traffic and tickled the twine at 13:20 of the middle frame. The Giants limited the Cougars to 4 shots in the second, but only managed to get 6 of their own on the PG net.
McArdle took a late period penalty in the second putting the Cougars on the PP coming into the third period. Failure to clear their zone, a habit which has become toxic lately, caused the Giants to scramble in their own zone on the PK and take another penalty putting them down by two bodies. The Cougars capitalised off of a won face-off as Devin Setogutchi and Ty Wishart were allowed to play catch at the point. Setogutchi set-up Wishart for the one-timer and he made no mistake powering it through Sexsmith with a blast from the point. To the Giants credit they went into shut-down mode for the majority of the rest of the third limiting the Cougar chances and only allowing the Cats two shots on Sexsmith total. The Vancouver squad limited chances while drawing penalties. The G-Men did not, however, put traffic in front of the net so some of the fancy stick-handling through traffic and attempted passes went for nought. The Cats pulled their goalie with under a minute left and even though the Giants continued to pass up opportunities to get it out of the zone, the Cougars were not able to get a game tying goal. Brett Festerling missed an open look from centre ice for the empty netter, but the Giants got the job done, got the two points they wanted, but also looked pretty tight doing it.
The shots were 22-16 in favour of the Giants, and the home team went 0 for 7 on the PP, while allowing their opponent to get 1 for 6 against the best PK in the dub. Some nice individual work by players like Lucic and Repik and flashes from McArdle, Machacek and Garet Hunt (who laid out a few solid hits), but for the most part another lack-lustre effort by the G-Men who are either gripping the lumber too tight, or indifferent or possibly a combination of both. There were times tonight where the Giants put on the hardhats, but it was too infrequent for my liking. The thing is that if we show up on Friday the way we showed up tonight we will still be winless versus the Blazers. I am fully aware a win is a win and to be thankful for that win, but this season I hold these guys to a completely different standard and what would be a fantastic season other years is merely an average one this season. Don Hay said on the radio that they need to look at the PP again as they are trying some things which aren’t working, so I am hoping that we return to Giants hockey soon, where players aren’t embarrassed to get the greasy goals and are willing to pay the price to make the play.
The Giants next game is versus, what are becoming a hated rival, the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants have yet to notch a tally in the win column versus their BC Division counterparts this season and they should be hungry to change that on Dash For Cash night where 10,000 loonies are thrown onto the ice and selected fans are encouraged to scrabble for the cash. The puck drops on Friday Feb 9th, at Pacific Coliseum at 7:30pm.
Three Stars
1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Devin Setogutchi
3 – Michal Repik
Good to get the win, but we did not have to fight for this win it pretty much feel into our laps. Rather boring game over-all.
Reffing was very picky but even. A lot of soft calls which could have been let go, but they called the game the same way the whole game and for both sides so the players knew what to expect. No phantom calls either, and some non-calls that might have been called in another game -- so in the end the officiating was predictable and consistent and you can't ask for any more than that.
Some flashes from individuals as well as some decent puck-handling in traffic, but some poor decisions, failure to clear their zone and the anemic PP really got to me tonight. It could be the cold talking though.
Hope you enjoy it -- feel free to argue :thumb:
Giants Tame Cats
Vancouver 3 Prince George 2
Giants Tame Cats Feb 7th (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_7th_GiantsbkTamebkCats_97.html)
The Vancouver Giants were, yet again, lucky to come out with a win tonight as they once more squandered their PP chances with poor passing and soft play. The Prince George Cougars are on a bit of run lately and could have beat the Giants were the home team not able to put some pucks behind Bowles who was merely average tonight at the Pacific Coliseum. The Giants don’t seem willing these days to put in the effort it takes to dominate the other guys, which they should have done tonight. The one time they got traffic in front of the net the puck found its way to the twine, but they had many more opportunities to create that same situation only seemed more comfortable playing perimeter hockey, than to pay the price. The home team managed to play five minutes in the first, five minutes in the second and then go on to squander all of their PP chances in the third and squeak out a win.
Milan Lucic opened the scoring just 34 seconds into the game with some great effort and which foreshadowed the kind of game the Giants played versus the Winterhawks, but that effort lasted all of five minutes to start the game and then petered off as the G-Men handed back the momentum after killing two PPs and then wasting their first PP of the game. Lucic rushed in with speed down the right side and cut across the net. Bowles made the stop and the Cougar D-man cleared the rebound right onto Michal Repik’s stick in the slot. Repik got a quick shot off which caromed off of Bowles pad and into the open where Lucic gathered it up and put it into the open cage. The Giants took a couple of penalties before getting the chance to be on their own man-advantage and could not really even manage to gain the zone for the full two-minutes. Their second opportunity found them making soft chip passes at their own blue-line consistently coughing up the puck as they failed to have any pressure at the goal mouth and gave the Cougars no reason to collapse their defensive box. The shots were 9-8 for the Cougars at the end of one and other than that flash of skill and fortitude the Giants did nothing to change that for the rest of the period.
The Cougars continued to play their trappy game, clogging up the neutral zone and limiting ice and room for the G-Men and it eventually paid off. The Cats had some good pressure going in the Giants end and got the puck to Greg Gardner at the point. With traffic in front of Tyson Sexsmith, Gardner threaded the puck through the grid-lock to find the twine, tying the game with just under ten minutes gone in the middle stanza. The G-Men managed their first shot of the second at 11:36 and it found the back of the net. Wacey Rabbit chipped the puck up Lucic who drifted away from the side-boards and fed Michal Repik coming down the slot. Repik one-timed the puck past Bowles who had no time to react before it was behind him. The Vancouver squad padded their lead just under two minutes later when they finally managed to get some traffic in front of the net. Cody Franson garnered his 13th goal of the season with Kendall McArdle and Tim Kraus creating a traffic jam on top of the blue paint, Kraus and Spencer Machacek got the assists. The low hard shot found its way through the traffic and tickled the twine at 13:20 of the middle frame. The Giants limited the Cougars to 4 shots in the second, but only managed to get 6 of their own on the PG net.
McArdle took a late period penalty in the second putting the Cougars on the PP coming into the third period. Failure to clear their zone, a habit which has become toxic lately, caused the Giants to scramble in their own zone on the PK and take another penalty putting them down by two bodies. The Cougars capitalised off of a won face-off as Devin Setogutchi and Ty Wishart were allowed to play catch at the point. Setogutchi set-up Wishart for the one-timer and he made no mistake powering it through Sexsmith with a blast from the point. To the Giants credit they went into shut-down mode for the majority of the rest of the third limiting the Cougar chances and only allowing the Cats two shots on Sexsmith total. The Vancouver squad limited chances while drawing penalties. The G-Men did not, however, put traffic in front of the net so some of the fancy stick-handling through traffic and attempted passes went for nought. The Cats pulled their goalie with under a minute left and even though the Giants continued to pass up opportunities to get it out of the zone, the Cougars were not able to get a game tying goal. Brett Festerling missed an open look from centre ice for the empty netter, but the Giants got the job done, got the two points they wanted, but also looked pretty tight doing it.
The shots were 22-16 in favour of the Giants, and the home team went 0 for 7 on the PP, while allowing their opponent to get 1 for 6 against the best PK in the dub. Some nice individual work by players like Lucic and Repik and flashes from McArdle, Machacek and Garet Hunt (who laid out a few solid hits), but for the most part another lack-lustre effort by the G-Men who are either gripping the lumber too tight, or indifferent or possibly a combination of both. There were times tonight where the Giants put on the hardhats, but it was too infrequent for my liking. The thing is that if we show up on Friday the way we showed up tonight we will still be winless versus the Blazers. I am fully aware a win is a win and to be thankful for that win, but this season I hold these guys to a completely different standard and what would be a fantastic season other years is merely an average one this season. Don Hay said on the radio that they need to look at the PP again as they are trying some things which aren’t working, so I am hoping that we return to Giants hockey soon, where players aren’t embarrassed to get the greasy goals and are willing to pay the price to make the play.
The Giants next game is versus, what are becoming a hated rival, the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants have yet to notch a tally in the win column versus their BC Division counterparts this season and they should be hungry to change that on Dash For Cash night where 10,000 loonies are thrown onto the ice and selected fans are encouraged to scrabble for the cash. The puck drops on Friday Feb 9th, at Pacific Coliseum at 7:30pm.
Three Stars
1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Devin Setogutchi
3 – Michal Repik