dondo
10-14-2007, 12:49 AM
The G-Men returned to Giants hockey tonight and it was a good thing to see. Don Hay must have mixed up a new batch of koolaid because he had all the players drinking from it. The Giants brought a tenacious forecheck and had excellent gap control, winning most of the puck battles and showing excellent puck moving skills. A good effort all around.
Giants Stomp Americans 4-1 Oct 13 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/October_13_GiantsbkStompbkAmericans_150.html)
Giants Stomp Americans
Vancouver 4 Tri City 1
Don Robinson - vancouvergiantshq.com
Someone found the book! The Giants returned to the systems which helped them win a Memorial Cup tonight and included a lot of the work ethic which had been lacking this early season. The home squad broke out of their zone in force, moving up the ice as a unit and not the disparate group of players their fans have been watching the past week. Some of the new guys seemed to get it tonight as it felt like Don Hay collected all the different books out there, ripped out all the extraneous pages and forced his boys to read what remained. Hay understands that they win as a team and lose as a team, but it’ll be the team which carries them through not individual flash and dash which is important, but needs to be more selective. The players need to choose their spots and be aware of how their play affects the whole group and tonight we got that. So much so that the third period was not the most entertaining hockey, but the home team held onto their lead, through hard work and did not take unnecessary risks.
The Giants opened the scoring 54 seconds into the game as Cunningham, going to the net, scored his second of the season off of a carom off the end boards and stuffed the loose puck past Kyle Birch before he was set. Michal Repik added to that 51 seconds into the second period on the PP. Chris Cloud wristed a nice one off the rush 5 minutes later and Jonny Blum cashed in a fourth goal about two minutes after that. The Ams got one back mid-second when Colton Yellow-Horn batted the puck out of the air on the doorstep. From then on the Giants played shut down hockey and shut them down they did. The home team might have bored the very vocal fans a bit, but in the end put on a textbook display of how to hold onto a lead, controlling the gaps, keeping the very speedy Ams to the outside and standing them up at the blue-line. The G-Men also won most of the battles along the boards and were full money for effort this evening.
Schira and Cloud assisted on the opening goal, coming just 54 seconds into the game. Cloud rifled the puck at the net and it rebounded off the end boards and to the side of the net where Craig Cunningham had just arrived to stuff the biscuit home. A few early boarding penalties against, of the soft variety, had me a bit concerned that reffing would once again be a serious issue. It wasn’t. In fact I feel the Giants probably should have been tagged with a couple of more against and were lucky at times. The reffing wasn’t stellar, but unlike the past two games it was not glaringly bad either. The parade to the penalty box in the first slowed the pace down a bit, but didn’t seem to take away from either teams ability to play solid hockey. Kruise Reddick the Ams current wunderkind, spent a lot time in the box tonight and off the score sheet. Reddick is leading the WHL in points right now with 15, but he was held pointless tonight by the Giants machine.
The second opened with the Giants on a PP which carried over from the first and 51 seconds into the middle stanza the score was 2-0. Jonny Blum worked the puck down to Mario Bliznak who found Michal Repik wide open on the far side, threaded the puck through the crease and right onto Repik’s stick. Repik snapped the puck into the gaping 6 by 4. Jarett Toll pinched in from the point and the puck was coughed up to Craig Schira, who fed a streaking Chris Cloud. Cloud and Bliznak came into the zone on a two on one and Cloud drove down the slot and rifled a hard wrist shot top corner on Birch. The face-off after that goal Garet Hunt dropped the gloves with the much taller Travis Gorman. Gorman wisely tied up Hunt and did not open himself up too much, but Hunt threaded a few punches through and took a couple himself. It wasn’t a stellar bout, but both players were gamers and battled well to a lively draw. Two minutes later the Giants padded their lead. Jonny Blum who was all over the ice tonight and excellent at both ends of the rink head-manned a rush with Michal Repik. Repik fed the puck down the slot and Blum went right to the front of the net tipping the puck past Birch to put the G-Men up by four. The Americans got that one back at 9:09 of the second, when Nolan Toigo coughed up the puck in his own end of the ice. Former Giant Jason Reese gathered up the puck, fed Taylor Procyshen who drifted a lob to the front of the net. Colton Yellow-Horn was there to bat the puck out of mid-air past Sexsmith to ruin the shutout bid. After that the Giants shut down the Ams, working them hard in their end and sitting back in a 1-2-2 configuration in the neutral zone not taking many chances. Not the most scintillating of hockey, but effective and the fans who enjoyed their first wave of the season in the stands didn’t seem to care that their team wasn’t scoring any more goals. Although we still don’t have any appetiser coupons this season. Usually opening night is good for one of those.
It was good to see the Giants play not only as a team, but play the full sixty minutes of the game, something they hadn’t really done in any of their tilts this season so far. With effort the hockey itself was not boring and both teams skated pretty hard all night. Give the Ams their props though as the Giants peppered their net with 37 shots and the Ams players were gamely dropping to block shots and did a good job collapsing to their net to keep the puck out. The Giants scored on most of their good opportunities as the three goals in the second came off of six shots. The Giants worked their PP better and looked a bit more dangerous moving around the puck as they did not hold on to it for long before working the puck around and were for the most part trying to get to the front of the net. Although truth be told I’d love us to plant a player at the top of the crease during the entire PP and leave him there as a screen and to gather rebounds. The PK was very solid and the Ams did not look dangerous while with the man-advantage and most of that was due to the Giants pressuring the puck and getting loose pucks out of the zone. Sexsmiht wasn’t busy but was good when he had to be.
The crowd was smallish (6300), but the Canucks were playing tonight at home and it was the second game in two days. As small as they were they were a vocal lot and cheered heartily for spans at a time. The Giants went 1 for 7 on the PP, while holding their opponents to 0 for 5. They out shot the visitors 37-18.
Spencer Machacek was scratch tonight and is still healing from an injury to his foot after blocking a shot in last nights game versus the Hitmen. By the sounds of it the injury does not seem serious and he is probably just resting his foot for a game or two to prevent any serious complications which might arise. Repik rebounded with a great game and he and Jonny Blum carried the team through the game.
The Giants head down the road to Prospera Centre to take on their division rivals the Chilliwack bruins. The Bruins have had the Giants number more or less in the first two games of the ten they play one-another this season. The Giants have managed a point out of each of the tilts, but took losses in the shootout and OT. A tired but uplifted Giants squad will be anxious to win a good one in the valley tomorrow and also eager for a bit of payback. Mike Reich will return from his suspension and will add some freshness to the line-up. Puck drops at 5pm PDT.
Three Stars
1. Michal Repik
2. Jonathon Blum
3. Chris Cloud
Giants Stomp Americans 4-1 Oct 13 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/October_13_GiantsbkStompbkAmericans_150.html)
Giants Stomp Americans
Vancouver 4 Tri City 1
Don Robinson - vancouvergiantshq.com
Someone found the book! The Giants returned to the systems which helped them win a Memorial Cup tonight and included a lot of the work ethic which had been lacking this early season. The home squad broke out of their zone in force, moving up the ice as a unit and not the disparate group of players their fans have been watching the past week. Some of the new guys seemed to get it tonight as it felt like Don Hay collected all the different books out there, ripped out all the extraneous pages and forced his boys to read what remained. Hay understands that they win as a team and lose as a team, but it’ll be the team which carries them through not individual flash and dash which is important, but needs to be more selective. The players need to choose their spots and be aware of how their play affects the whole group and tonight we got that. So much so that the third period was not the most entertaining hockey, but the home team held onto their lead, through hard work and did not take unnecessary risks.
The Giants opened the scoring 54 seconds into the game as Cunningham, going to the net, scored his second of the season off of a carom off the end boards and stuffed the loose puck past Kyle Birch before he was set. Michal Repik added to that 51 seconds into the second period on the PP. Chris Cloud wristed a nice one off the rush 5 minutes later and Jonny Blum cashed in a fourth goal about two minutes after that. The Ams got one back mid-second when Colton Yellow-Horn batted the puck out of the air on the doorstep. From then on the Giants played shut down hockey and shut them down they did. The home team might have bored the very vocal fans a bit, but in the end put on a textbook display of how to hold onto a lead, controlling the gaps, keeping the very speedy Ams to the outside and standing them up at the blue-line. The G-Men also won most of the battles along the boards and were full money for effort this evening.
Schira and Cloud assisted on the opening goal, coming just 54 seconds into the game. Cloud rifled the puck at the net and it rebounded off the end boards and to the side of the net where Craig Cunningham had just arrived to stuff the biscuit home. A few early boarding penalties against, of the soft variety, had me a bit concerned that reffing would once again be a serious issue. It wasn’t. In fact I feel the Giants probably should have been tagged with a couple of more against and were lucky at times. The reffing wasn’t stellar, but unlike the past two games it was not glaringly bad either. The parade to the penalty box in the first slowed the pace down a bit, but didn’t seem to take away from either teams ability to play solid hockey. Kruise Reddick the Ams current wunderkind, spent a lot time in the box tonight and off the score sheet. Reddick is leading the WHL in points right now with 15, but he was held pointless tonight by the Giants machine.
The second opened with the Giants on a PP which carried over from the first and 51 seconds into the middle stanza the score was 2-0. Jonny Blum worked the puck down to Mario Bliznak who found Michal Repik wide open on the far side, threaded the puck through the crease and right onto Repik’s stick. Repik snapped the puck into the gaping 6 by 4. Jarett Toll pinched in from the point and the puck was coughed up to Craig Schira, who fed a streaking Chris Cloud. Cloud and Bliznak came into the zone on a two on one and Cloud drove down the slot and rifled a hard wrist shot top corner on Birch. The face-off after that goal Garet Hunt dropped the gloves with the much taller Travis Gorman. Gorman wisely tied up Hunt and did not open himself up too much, but Hunt threaded a few punches through and took a couple himself. It wasn’t a stellar bout, but both players were gamers and battled well to a lively draw. Two minutes later the Giants padded their lead. Jonny Blum who was all over the ice tonight and excellent at both ends of the rink head-manned a rush with Michal Repik. Repik fed the puck down the slot and Blum went right to the front of the net tipping the puck past Birch to put the G-Men up by four. The Americans got that one back at 9:09 of the second, when Nolan Toigo coughed up the puck in his own end of the ice. Former Giant Jason Reese gathered up the puck, fed Taylor Procyshen who drifted a lob to the front of the net. Colton Yellow-Horn was there to bat the puck out of mid-air past Sexsmith to ruin the shutout bid. After that the Giants shut down the Ams, working them hard in their end and sitting back in a 1-2-2 configuration in the neutral zone not taking many chances. Not the most scintillating of hockey, but effective and the fans who enjoyed their first wave of the season in the stands didn’t seem to care that their team wasn’t scoring any more goals. Although we still don’t have any appetiser coupons this season. Usually opening night is good for one of those.
It was good to see the Giants play not only as a team, but play the full sixty minutes of the game, something they hadn’t really done in any of their tilts this season so far. With effort the hockey itself was not boring and both teams skated pretty hard all night. Give the Ams their props though as the Giants peppered their net with 37 shots and the Ams players were gamely dropping to block shots and did a good job collapsing to their net to keep the puck out. The Giants scored on most of their good opportunities as the three goals in the second came off of six shots. The Giants worked their PP better and looked a bit more dangerous moving around the puck as they did not hold on to it for long before working the puck around and were for the most part trying to get to the front of the net. Although truth be told I’d love us to plant a player at the top of the crease during the entire PP and leave him there as a screen and to gather rebounds. The PK was very solid and the Ams did not look dangerous while with the man-advantage and most of that was due to the Giants pressuring the puck and getting loose pucks out of the zone. Sexsmiht wasn’t busy but was good when he had to be.
The crowd was smallish (6300), but the Canucks were playing tonight at home and it was the second game in two days. As small as they were they were a vocal lot and cheered heartily for spans at a time. The Giants went 1 for 7 on the PP, while holding their opponents to 0 for 5. They out shot the visitors 37-18.
Spencer Machacek was scratch tonight and is still healing from an injury to his foot after blocking a shot in last nights game versus the Hitmen. By the sounds of it the injury does not seem serious and he is probably just resting his foot for a game or two to prevent any serious complications which might arise. Repik rebounded with a great game and he and Jonny Blum carried the team through the game.
The Giants head down the road to Prospera Centre to take on their division rivals the Chilliwack bruins. The Bruins have had the Giants number more or less in the first two games of the ten they play one-another this season. The Giants have managed a point out of each of the tilts, but took losses in the shootout and OT. A tired but uplifted Giants squad will be anxious to win a good one in the valley tomorrow and also eager for a bit of payback. Mike Reich will return from his suspension and will add some freshness to the line-up. Puck drops at 5pm PDT.
Three Stars
1. Michal Repik
2. Jonathon Blum
3. Chris Cloud