nivek_wahs
04-26-2007, 04:17 AM
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sports/story.html?id=8a35544e-b0e7-49e2-aa32-ebefa9ea0353
Room for improvement
Better players have more to give
Steve Ewen, The Province
Published: Thursday, April 26, 2007
PRINCE GEORGE -- The best thing about the Vancouver Giants' playoff run is that many of their better guys have more to give.
Clever centre Tim Kraus is in that category, something he readily admits.
Kraus, who is up there with winger Michal Repik in terms of naturally-skilled guys on the Giants, had two goals and six assists in 12 games going into Wednesday night's game. More telling is that there have been evenings when his line, which features Michael Wuchterl and J.D. Watt on the wings, is hard to notice.
"It's terrible," Kraus shrugged when asked what it felt like to think you're underachieving. "When it's the playoffs and you want to do something, and when you're not, it's frustrating."
Kraus, Watt and Wuchterl had a meeting with coach Don Hay prior to this series against the Prince George Cougars, and Kraus admits that the unit is yet to grasp some sort of identity.
Vancouver's top line, with Wacey Rabbit centring Michal Repik and Milan Lucic, is the scoring line. The second trio, featuring Mario Bliznak between Kenndal McArdle and Spencer Machacek, is a checking unit that happens to be producing offence, and the fourth line, with Mitch Czibere centring Lance Bouma and Craig Cunningham, is an energy group.
Making it worse, too, is that the Kraus line is the oldest of the quartet, with Kraus having just turned 20 and Wuchterl and Watt with that birthday approaching.
"We're going to have to be a grind-it-out line," said Kraus. "We don't have a ton of skill on the line.
"We can grind it out, and when I get a chance to make a play, I've got to.
"I think we just have to keep it simple."
Watt, Vancouver's leading goal scorer in the regular season with 34, had two goals and two assists in 12 games going into Wednesday, while Wuchterl had two goals and three assists in 10 games.
steve.ewen@gmail.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007
Room for improvement
Better players have more to give
Steve Ewen, The Province
Published: Thursday, April 26, 2007
PRINCE GEORGE -- The best thing about the Vancouver Giants' playoff run is that many of their better guys have more to give.
Clever centre Tim Kraus is in that category, something he readily admits.
Kraus, who is up there with winger Michal Repik in terms of naturally-skilled guys on the Giants, had two goals and six assists in 12 games going into Wednesday night's game. More telling is that there have been evenings when his line, which features Michael Wuchterl and J.D. Watt on the wings, is hard to notice.
"It's terrible," Kraus shrugged when asked what it felt like to think you're underachieving. "When it's the playoffs and you want to do something, and when you're not, it's frustrating."
Kraus, Watt and Wuchterl had a meeting with coach Don Hay prior to this series against the Prince George Cougars, and Kraus admits that the unit is yet to grasp some sort of identity.
Vancouver's top line, with Wacey Rabbit centring Michal Repik and Milan Lucic, is the scoring line. The second trio, featuring Mario Bliznak between Kenndal McArdle and Spencer Machacek, is a checking unit that happens to be producing offence, and the fourth line, with Mitch Czibere centring Lance Bouma and Craig Cunningham, is an energy group.
Making it worse, too, is that the Kraus line is the oldest of the quartet, with Kraus having just turned 20 and Wuchterl and Watt with that birthday approaching.
"We're going to have to be a grind-it-out line," said Kraus. "We don't have a ton of skill on the line.
"We can grind it out, and when I get a chance to make a play, I've got to.
"I think we just have to keep it simple."
Watt, Vancouver's leading goal scorer in the regular season with 34, had two goals and two assists in 12 games going into Wednesday, while Wuchterl had two goals and three assists in 10 games.
steve.ewen@gmail.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007