Giants 1 @ Cougars 3 Feb 16th

[Beaner]

Well, I only listened to the last half due to work, thus missing all the goals, except the empty netter. LOL.

Kraus had a chance late to tie it, with a SH breakaway, 5-3, but lost the handle on the puck.

Bonner had a bit of a tirad at the end of the game talking about the "quality" CN ice, saying it was known as the worst in the league.

Anyway I''ll leave the game thoughts to those who watched the game.

NOTES
Sexsmith and Butler go the Starts
Hunt, Bliznak and Cunningham were the Giants scratches.
Toigo was in the lineup for the Gmen playing Forward.
Shots 26-16 Giants
PP's 1/7 Giants, 0/8 Cougars

GOALS
1. VAN Watt, (28) (Kraus, Blum), 8:00 (PP)
2. P.G Tyrell, (21) , 6:46
2. P.G Gardner, (8) (Patterson, Sagert), 11:09
3. P.G Fuller, (8) , 19:53 (EN)

FISTICUFFS
None

OFFICIALS
Andy Thiessen (11), Referee
Ryan Agar (70), Referee

3 STARS
1. P.G - 21 Greg Gardner
2. VAN - 26 Michal Repik
3. P.G - 9 Kalvin Sagert

[Swando]

"Snakebitten" is my word for tonight! Outplay the oppostion, kill 2 (5 on 3) lengthy penalties..controlling the game and then ie: Franson trips on his blueline causing a rare 2 on 1 and bingo the Cougars score. Tonight , not like in TriCities it is hard to fault Sexsmith as he made a number of great saves on the PK BUT in saying that he didn't stop the rare chances they did have ala Tyrells goal.
You have to start looking at the + - on our D. I'd be playing the heck out of Festerling and Blum as Franson was a minus 3 tonight and a minus 4 against TriCities. His defensive stats are brutal and I now know why he road the pine in the World Jrs the last 3 games.
I'd be tempted to play Milkkelsen at forward instead of Toigo as well--to shake things up.
From what I've been seeing we may have a vast choice of 20 yr olds next year that are not ready for the AHL or ECHL

[smileyjones]

First off, the game was pretty even. The Giants badly outplayed the Cougars for the first 10 minutes of the first, while the Cougars outplayed the Giants badly for long stretches in the second and third.

Earlier in the year (when the giants came back from 4-1 in the last 5 minutes) they never let up regardless of the score. Last night, they sagged quite a bit after the tying goal and couldn't seem to get it back.

Pretty funny that Bonner was *****ing about the ice. Does he complain every time the Giants miss a breakaway? Kraus got the breakaway the same way Tyrell got his, the d-man stumbled at the point. The only reason he missed was that he got in too close to make a good move and lost the handle on the puck. Yep...it was the ice. Maybe Bonner is just frustrated that the trades for Rabbit, McArdle, and Thelen aren't paying off.

Question on Thelen. What exactly is this guy supposed to bring to your team? Looks pretty ordinary to me.

[Knuckles Muldoon]

The Giants have now lost two road games where they've allowed the home team a total of 36 shots (20 in TC and 16 in PG). Meanwhile the Giants muster up 65 themselves (39 in TC and 26 in PG) and score just three goals? Are we getting poor goaltending, or are we lousy shooters? Scoring 3 goals on 65 shots isn't a very flattering stat. I'm not sure how to carve this information up to make it look good. It's great to outshoot and outplay teams in their own rink, but it's hard to feel good about losses like these.

[smileyjones]

Speaking based on last nights game only, a lot of the Giants shots were from long range and were fairly routine stops. By contrast, the Cougars had 3 or 4 really good chances where they shot wide, etc.

[PGFlyfisher]

Giants definitely dominated first part of the game then the Cougars started to come around. Then it was a pretty entertaining hockey game and fairly evenly matched, IMO. I' d give the edge in pressure to the Giants, but give the edge in quality scoring chances to the Cougars.
Goaltenders were big most of the night. Sexsmith flashed the mitt and absolutely robbed the Cougars on 2 occasions in our end of the rink alone! Bowles was big when needed to be as well.
The "bus legs" looked like they were a factor against the Giants and I suspect we' ll see a better effort tonight.
As for the ice conditions, can' t deny it' s been an issue this season, but BOTH teams were playing on it so can' t see it giving an edge to either team.
Should be another good game tonight.

[N.W. Bruin]

The first post title actually is "Giants 1 @ Cougars 3 Feb 16th" but the actual title showing says "Giants 1 @ Cougars 2 Feb 16th".

[Beaner]

I screwed up somehow Bruin. Tis fixed now.

[Sput]

NOTES
Sexsmith and Butler go the Starts

When did te Butler/Bowlestadehappen? and would it still be allowed??

Just gotta get my digs in on ya Beaner. I also didn't get to the game.....work got in the way AGAIN. Heard the Cats goals, but didn't hear Watt's in the first.

I agree with pgflyfisher....I expect the Giants to be a tougher team tonight, and the Cougs can' have a elt-downlike they usually have at some point of the game.

[old_time_hockey]

trades for Rabbit, McArdle, and Thelen aren't paying off.

Question on Thelen. What exactly is this guy supposed to bring to your team? Looks pretty ordinary to me.

Rabbit through 18 games has 20 pts and a +7 .and 2 tonight in the win against your team. That and he brings the intangible qualities of a leader with 19 playoff games on a Blades team that wasn't that great. How can you say he isn't paying off? How many Cougars players can boast the same stats or experience? Hunter who is the captin, no. Seto who came from the same Blades team and is your star, no.

McArdle....is having a hard time. He creates chances with his speed that usually someone else has to finish for him. If he could finally get a shot on net when set up, the Giants probably win last night as well.

[dondo]

Question on Thelen. What exactly is this guy supposed to bring to your team? Looks pretty ordinary to me.

Thelen is supposed to have a booming shot from the point, which he does, but it rarely finds the net, and he's defensively irresponsible - Frankly I would have preferred to upgrade with a player who has the same kind of qualities that Flatters had, but with more foot-speed, but hindsight is 20/20, so meh..

Thelen does not strike me as a team guy who's willing to play back -- imo he and Franson are too similar and I'd much rather see Regner playing with Franson -- although that would put Thelen with Mikks (yikes) - however Mikks without the puck is better than Mikks with the puck so it could work..

Sounds like the G-Men phoned this one in and after losing to Tri-City you'd expect them to be a whole lot hungrier.

Watt Kraus and McArdle were on the ice for all three goals against - ditto for Franson -- this is getting too common and speaks of a lack of defensive responsibility. No excuse for not fighting it out in a 2-1 game throughout the third. Not very impressed with this kind of effort. 26 shots on goal is not really what we usually tally, and Sexsmith allowing two goals on 16 shots just isn't good enough.

Now albeit I didn't hear any of this game, and I am just looking at the box score but I can see it was a pretty damn boring game, and with the plethora of holding penalties the refs were either too quick with the whistle or it was clutch-fest.

[PGFlyfisher]

Question on Thelen. What exactly is this guy supposed to bring to your team? Looks pretty ordinary to me.

I didn' t think he stood out either, but I don' t think I could form an honest opinion based on only having seen him play twice.

One player who did stand out, IMO, was Repik. If he plays like that all the time, you folks down there in Vancouver get a real treat on home game nights! That kid was very entertaining to watch.

[Kassian]

Thelen has been pretty damn good, IMO. Maybe not in either Prince George games but as a whole he's definitely been an asset. Much better than Flatters needless to say.

[dondo]

I hear you on Repik PGflyF.. and yes he plays most games like that, he really upped his level of play around December and hasn't looked back.

I was hoping to see that out of Repik from the start but it seemed to take him a few months to get into the swing of things and bring that game every night. Its really nice to see him taking the shot as I had him pegged to replace the scoring we lost with Brule gone and I think Michal is going to have a monster playoffs.

Watching him hold his own in the line brawl versus the Blazers was especially impressive to see him do, considering Euros usually don't bring that kind of game..

Kassian I don't know what Thelen you've been watching, but he's not usually the first guy back into his zone, is a bit soft hitting imo, and isn't consistently geting that big shot on net. I like elements of his game, but being a 20yr old first round NHL pick I admit I expected much more.

[Kassian]

Kassian I don't know what Thelen you've been watching, but he's not usually the first guy back into his zone, is a bit soft hitting imo, and isn't consistently geting that big shot on net. I like elements of his game, but being a 20yr old first round NHL pick I admit I expected much more.

I disagree. Thelen has been fairly solid in his own zone and while he hasn't gotten his shot on net as often as I'd like the same could be said for every defenseman on the team. Especially Franson. I won't even get started on Franson not getting back into his zone. He's the worst on the team in that aspect. If you were expecting Thelen to be more physical I can understand why you might be disappointed in him. But that isn't his game and it never has been. So personally I wasn't expecting that.

All in all he's definitely an upgrade on Flatters. I liked Flatters but he wasn't physical enough consistantly and didn't drop the mitts enough to really help the team. I wanted the Giants to acquire a physical defenseman at the deadline to replace Flatters but unfortunately we're stuck with what we have at this point.

[dondo]

exactly but if you read what I wrote about Thelen I said I would have rather dealt for a defenseman who had the qualities which Flatters brought, but with more foot-speed.

Namely a stay at home D, who had a physical side, and was rock in front of his own net.

This pairing would have suited Franson as well -- both of these D are very similar in style and often duplicate one another without enhancing the other's strengths. -3's two nights in a row for this pairing be-speaks a need for them to be split up imo.

[Kassian]

exactly but if you read what I wrote about Thelen I said I would have rather dealt for a defenseman who had the qualities which Flatters brought, but with more foot-speed.

I did read what you wrote. And I agree, I would've rather gotten a physical stay at home defenseman as well. But that being said I'd still rather have Thelen than Flatters. I'm guessing the Giants tried to get a physical defenseman but who knows. Sometimes those players are the kind of players teams don't want to trade.

As far as Franson and Thelen being broken up no argument from me. The question is who else do you pair him up with? Franson hasn't looked good at all this season, IMO.

[dondo]

I think you put a player like Regner with Franson and Mikks with Thelen .. as least its a bit more balanced.

actually Cody was great until he went away to the WJC, and since getting back he's seemingly been moping and dragging his heels -- his focus is shot and I don't know why that is.

But Regner gives that defensive backing for Franson so that Cody can use his best skills -- and Mikks is playing better without the puck these days and could act a good back-up for Thelen.

The problem with getting Thelen is that there's an ego-thing there, not everyone can have tons of ice-time, and we have less and less D-man willing to play the Festerling unsung hero role on the blue-line. So I would rather kept Flatters, Lamb and Deck - considering what the situation is -- but as hindsight is 20/20 I would have probably drooled all over that deal all over again as I did on trade day.

It feels like our blue-line has lost a cohesiveness, and chemistry and we need to get that back. Playing good hockey only to make dumb give-aways help us not in the least.

[Kassian]

actually Cody was great until he went away to the WJC, and since getting back he's seemingly been moping and dragging his heels -- his focus is shot and I don't know why that is.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Cody has not been the same at all this season. He didn't look good at the start of the season, IMO and he's looked even worse after the WJC. Of course he would have a good game here and there but definitely not the Cody Franson we were all used to from last season.

[dondo]

I think a lot of that comes from not having Albers around, but if you look at Cody's point production before and after the WJC you'll get to what I am referring.

His numbers up until the WJC started were pretty good and he wasn't dragging around the kind of minuses he seems to have on an every other game basis now-a-days ... so from a pure numbers point of view he was playing better then, but that said he has not looked quite as dominant or poised this season as he did last season.

[rinkrat]

perhaps the other teams are focusing on shutting down Cody and singling him out more than last year.Don't forget,its not always our guys not performing,its sometimes a good strategy/checking job done by other teams.
I believe other teams are pressuring our D way more than last year,that was where our success came from last year,the back end and points.This year other teams are forcing the Giants down low and its working for them.
Don needs to adjust,far be it for me to critisize the mighty Don,but he's part of the machine,and must be as accountable as the players.

[Kassian]

I think a lot of that comes from not having Albers around, but if you look at Cody's point production before and after the WJC you'll get to what I am referring.

I agree. Losing Albers has hurt Franson more than I expected it to. And I'm not saying Franson isn't having a good year because of his point total. It's more his all around play in particular his defensive play.


perhaps the other teams are focusing on shutting down Cody and singling him out more than last year.Don't forget,its not always our guys not performing,its sometimes a good strategy/checking job done by other teams.

Fair enough. And I agree with you there. Like I said previously, I wasn't necessarily speaking offensively as to why I don't feel Franson has been very good this season. I am talking more about his defensive play. I don't remember it being that bad last season. Not to mention he's pretty lazy out there and always makes his partner whether it's Mikkelson or Thelen chase the puck in the defensive zone.