nivek_wahs
04-20-2007, 04:52 AM
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54619&Itemid=160
[edit: I wasn't sure which forum to post this... lol]
Giants have their hands full with Cats
JIM SWANSON
Citizen Sports Editor
(Sports) Thursday, 19 April 2007, 22:09 PST
Can the team name be changed? Forget Cats, might as well call this group the Prince George Underdogs.
The Prince George Cougars, as it will be for as long as this playoff run continues, start another series on the road tonight, which means in this case home-ice advantage belongs to the Vancouver Giants.
That may actually bode well.
The Giants, the B.C. Division champions of the regular season, are one of those rare groups that plays better on the road than at home. Take the current playoffs as a snapshot -- the Giants are 8-2 overall, both losses coming at the Pacific Coliseum, one to Chilliwack, the other to Seattle. Both, notably, came early in those series.
The Cougars did the same thing a year ago facing Vancouver in the opening round, splitting the opening weekend. Problem was, the Cats couldn’t hold at home and lost both games, losing the series in five games when Gilbert Brule and Co. overwhelmed Prince George en route to the league playoff title.
This is a different Cougars team, but one that will have to deal with the fact it lost seven of eight regular season meetings with Vancouver. This is a different Giants team, albeit one that has strung together 12 straight road playoff wins dating back to last spring -- impressive indeed. When Game 3 arrives, something will have to give because the Cougars are 5-0 at CN Centre in these playoffs, winning games in so many different ways.
“P.G. hasn't faced a physical team like Vancouver in these playoffs,” an NHL scout told the Vancouver Province.
“Kamloops thought they could beat them on skill and couldn’t, and Everett tried to rely on their system and there were breakdowns. Then again, if I was Vancouver, I probably would have rather played Everett. I think that might have been an easier series overall. Everett lacked in team toughness.
“To me, this is a lot like the WHL final last year, when Vancouver played a high-scoring Moose Jaw team. The difference is that Prince George has better defence and stronger goaltending that Moose Jaw.”
Prince George won’t be sneaking up on anyone anymore, not after knocking off the heavily-favoured Silvertips.
“I think it was a surprise to everyone,” Giants coach Don Hay said in the Vancouver Sun. “Everett was the No. 1 team in the CHL. It really speaks to the hunger of the Cougars.”
Because of video technology, and because the Cougars and Giants met eight times this season, Prince George head coach Drew Schoneck doesn’t expect to see any new wrinkles out of Vancouver.
“Vancouver’s a team where you know what you’re going to get,” said Schoneck.
“They’re not going to change a lot because they come at you in waves and do the same things. Everett was a team that had something different coming at you line-by-line, but Don Hay is more straight-forward. They approach it the way we want to, tell the guys to go out and play our game and challenge teams to beat us.”
In detail, here’s a breakdown of the series:
Goaltending
Neither Real Cyr of the Cougars or Tyson Sexsmith of the Giants had played a minute of playoff hockey prior to this season, but both have been tested now. Sexsmith started slowly and was being skewered for the way the Chilliwack series started, but he’s since rebounded and leads the WHL in goals-against average at 1.83. Cyr has been phenomenal -- 8-1, with a .919 save percentage that is second only to Taylor Dakers of the Kootenay Ice. There is no question who will play goal for Vancouver, right through their hosting of the Memorial Cup, and now there is no question in Prince George. If the Cougars win, Cyr will be a major factor, but the Giants may win without Sexsmith being tested.
ADVANTAGE: Cougars
Defence
This, folks, is the biggest mismatch of the series. The Giants have depth, proven by overager A.J. Thelen, a first-round NHL pick, playing on the third pairing. The Giants don’t have an answer for the hulking body of Vladimir Mihalik, though their depth and skill on the back end makes up for that. Cody Franson is similar to Ty Wishart, but better; Brett Festerling is similar to Kalvin Sagert, but better; Jonathan Blum and Brendan Mikkelson are light years ahead of Curtis Patterson, Chris Vanduynhoven, Garrett Thiessen and Lance Redden.
ADVANTAGE: Giants, by a whole lot
Forwards
The flash vs. the forecheck. The Cougars have the better offensive players in Devin Setoguchi, Nick Drazenovic and Dana Tyrell, although Kenndal McArdle and Wacey Rabbit are no slouches. The challenge for the Cougars falls to Jared Walker, Chris Durand, Evan Fuller, Greg Gardner and Richard Rapac to match the physical play of J.D. Watt, Milan Lucic and Spencer Machacek. Thanks to a stifling pressure game, the Giants averaged 33.8 shots on goal per game in the regular season and controlled the play so convincingly that the opposition managed an average of 21.2 shots per game -- that’s a huge difference. Vancouver has crowed about controlling the top lines of the Bruins and Thunderbirds, but the one-two punch of the Setoguchi and Drazenovic lines is another world. How have the Cougars won four games since captain Eric Hunter went down? It’s surprising, and impressive.
ADVANTAGE: Cougars, but it’s close
Coaching, special teams
Poor Schoneck. All he does is beat Dean Clark, then Kevin Constantine, and now he’s matched up with Hay, who has held two NHL head coaching jobs. While Hay deserves all the respect he gets, it’s also time to put a final end to any questioning of Schoneck’s ability. Even critics have to come around and recognize Schoneck and Dallas Thompson have found the right buttons to push, and have managed to limit damage with injuries to Hunter and Jesse Dudas, both key players.
A clash to watch will be between the Giants penalty killing, the best in the WHL in the regular season at 90.4 per cent, and the Cougars’ power play, which is tops among remaining playoff clubs at 22.6 per cent. The Giants will try to limit what Setoguchi and Wishart can initiate from the points, and it’s possible this matchup will determine the series winner.
ADVANTAGE: Giants, on consistency.
Overall
Can the Cougars win this series? Yes. But the same can be said for the Giants, who expect to see players like Franson, Lucic and Watt play better against Prince George than they did in the first two rounds. The Cougars are firing on all cylinders, and it’s not wrong to wonder if they can play any better than they did against Everett. Maintaining their level of play will give them a shot if Vancouver is off its game even a small amount. If both teams play at their highest level, the favoured team will prevail.
CITIZEN PREDICTION: Giants in 6.
[edit: I wasn't sure which forum to post this... lol]
Giants have their hands full with Cats
JIM SWANSON
Citizen Sports Editor
(Sports) Thursday, 19 April 2007, 22:09 PST
Can the team name be changed? Forget Cats, might as well call this group the Prince George Underdogs.
The Prince George Cougars, as it will be for as long as this playoff run continues, start another series on the road tonight, which means in this case home-ice advantage belongs to the Vancouver Giants.
That may actually bode well.
The Giants, the B.C. Division champions of the regular season, are one of those rare groups that plays better on the road than at home. Take the current playoffs as a snapshot -- the Giants are 8-2 overall, both losses coming at the Pacific Coliseum, one to Chilliwack, the other to Seattle. Both, notably, came early in those series.
The Cougars did the same thing a year ago facing Vancouver in the opening round, splitting the opening weekend. Problem was, the Cats couldn’t hold at home and lost both games, losing the series in five games when Gilbert Brule and Co. overwhelmed Prince George en route to the league playoff title.
This is a different Cougars team, but one that will have to deal with the fact it lost seven of eight regular season meetings with Vancouver. This is a different Giants team, albeit one that has strung together 12 straight road playoff wins dating back to last spring -- impressive indeed. When Game 3 arrives, something will have to give because the Cougars are 5-0 at CN Centre in these playoffs, winning games in so many different ways.
“P.G. hasn't faced a physical team like Vancouver in these playoffs,” an NHL scout told the Vancouver Province.
“Kamloops thought they could beat them on skill and couldn’t, and Everett tried to rely on their system and there were breakdowns. Then again, if I was Vancouver, I probably would have rather played Everett. I think that might have been an easier series overall. Everett lacked in team toughness.
“To me, this is a lot like the WHL final last year, when Vancouver played a high-scoring Moose Jaw team. The difference is that Prince George has better defence and stronger goaltending that Moose Jaw.”
Prince George won’t be sneaking up on anyone anymore, not after knocking off the heavily-favoured Silvertips.
“I think it was a surprise to everyone,” Giants coach Don Hay said in the Vancouver Sun. “Everett was the No. 1 team in the CHL. It really speaks to the hunger of the Cougars.”
Because of video technology, and because the Cougars and Giants met eight times this season, Prince George head coach Drew Schoneck doesn’t expect to see any new wrinkles out of Vancouver.
“Vancouver’s a team where you know what you’re going to get,” said Schoneck.
“They’re not going to change a lot because they come at you in waves and do the same things. Everett was a team that had something different coming at you line-by-line, but Don Hay is more straight-forward. They approach it the way we want to, tell the guys to go out and play our game and challenge teams to beat us.”
In detail, here’s a breakdown of the series:
Goaltending
Neither Real Cyr of the Cougars or Tyson Sexsmith of the Giants had played a minute of playoff hockey prior to this season, but both have been tested now. Sexsmith started slowly and was being skewered for the way the Chilliwack series started, but he’s since rebounded and leads the WHL in goals-against average at 1.83. Cyr has been phenomenal -- 8-1, with a .919 save percentage that is second only to Taylor Dakers of the Kootenay Ice. There is no question who will play goal for Vancouver, right through their hosting of the Memorial Cup, and now there is no question in Prince George. If the Cougars win, Cyr will be a major factor, but the Giants may win without Sexsmith being tested.
ADVANTAGE: Cougars
Defence
This, folks, is the biggest mismatch of the series. The Giants have depth, proven by overager A.J. Thelen, a first-round NHL pick, playing on the third pairing. The Giants don’t have an answer for the hulking body of Vladimir Mihalik, though their depth and skill on the back end makes up for that. Cody Franson is similar to Ty Wishart, but better; Brett Festerling is similar to Kalvin Sagert, but better; Jonathan Blum and Brendan Mikkelson are light years ahead of Curtis Patterson, Chris Vanduynhoven, Garrett Thiessen and Lance Redden.
ADVANTAGE: Giants, by a whole lot
Forwards
The flash vs. the forecheck. The Cougars have the better offensive players in Devin Setoguchi, Nick Drazenovic and Dana Tyrell, although Kenndal McArdle and Wacey Rabbit are no slouches. The challenge for the Cougars falls to Jared Walker, Chris Durand, Evan Fuller, Greg Gardner and Richard Rapac to match the physical play of J.D. Watt, Milan Lucic and Spencer Machacek. Thanks to a stifling pressure game, the Giants averaged 33.8 shots on goal per game in the regular season and controlled the play so convincingly that the opposition managed an average of 21.2 shots per game -- that’s a huge difference. Vancouver has crowed about controlling the top lines of the Bruins and Thunderbirds, but the one-two punch of the Setoguchi and Drazenovic lines is another world. How have the Cougars won four games since captain Eric Hunter went down? It’s surprising, and impressive.
ADVANTAGE: Cougars, but it’s close
Coaching, special teams
Poor Schoneck. All he does is beat Dean Clark, then Kevin Constantine, and now he’s matched up with Hay, who has held two NHL head coaching jobs. While Hay deserves all the respect he gets, it’s also time to put a final end to any questioning of Schoneck’s ability. Even critics have to come around and recognize Schoneck and Dallas Thompson have found the right buttons to push, and have managed to limit damage with injuries to Hunter and Jesse Dudas, both key players.
A clash to watch will be between the Giants penalty killing, the best in the WHL in the regular season at 90.4 per cent, and the Cougars’ power play, which is tops among remaining playoff clubs at 22.6 per cent. The Giants will try to limit what Setoguchi and Wishart can initiate from the points, and it’s possible this matchup will determine the series winner.
ADVANTAGE: Giants, on consistency.
Overall
Can the Cougars win this series? Yes. But the same can be said for the Giants, who expect to see players like Franson, Lucic and Watt play better against Prince George than they did in the first two rounds. The Cougars are firing on all cylinders, and it’s not wrong to wonder if they can play any better than they did against Everett. Maintaining their level of play will give them a shot if Vancouver is off its game even a small amount. If both teams play at their highest level, the favoured team will prevail.
CITIZEN PREDICTION: Giants in 6.