dondo
01-18-2008, 10:51 PM
It was an ugly one tonight as the Giants ran out of steam. Their back-up had an awful outing and the team lost their identity playing soft and sloppy hockey on the road. I listened to this one, but maybe that's for the best as I might not have a computer screen upon which to write this had I watched the web feed.
Warriors Pound Giants 6-1 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/January_18_WarriorsbkPoundbkGiants_188.html)
Warriors Pound Giants
Vancouver 1 Moose Jaw 6
Don Robinson
Back-up Kraymer Barnstable did not do his team any favours tonight as he allowed some seriously suspect goals. That said - the team themselves didn’t do their back-up goalie any favours tonight as they coughed up the puck badly in their own zone. In the third the wheels really fell off as the Warriors scored three unanswered goals, two of them on the PP. The game started out well for the visitors as they had their best period of the game in the opening frame, but came out of it down by one goal; despite out-shooting the Warriors 15-8 and having some serious jump. The Warriors managed to get two goals in the first though off of some suspect play by the Giants back-up goalie who frankly sucked tonight, but wasn’t being given a huge amount of help from his team-mates. The Giants only goal of the game came in the first off of Casey Pierro-Zabotel’s stick deflecting a Craig Schira shot past Joey Perricone tying the game at 13:16 of the first. That would be as close as the Giants would get as the Warriors added one in the second and three more in third as the Giants just gave up. The boys should really be ashamed of themselves tonight as they damaged their sparkling PK numbers with sloppy lazy hockey and allowed themselves to get beat-up on the score-sheet and the fight card.
Joel Broda tuned up 16yr old rookie James Henry in the first, getting in some big shots before getting the take-down. In the third Terrance Delaronde got tagged with the instigator as he and Mike Berube squared off. A nice toe-to-toe battle between the two with Delaronde getting the slim decision. RJ LaRochelle and Jordan Knackstedt squared off for a pretty good tilt which saw LaRochelle go down first. Another Giants rookie Mike Piluso dropped the gloves with Travis Hamonic and the two fell to the ice before anything could really be decided. Very late in the game, with the Warriors in complete control of the game, Ryley Grantham gratuitously challenged another 16 yr old rookie for the Giants - Evander Kane. Kane was fairly brave taking on the up and coming heavy weight and got soundly beat and in the end having his jersey over his head and taking more than few blows.
The loss was only the Giants 10th regulation loss of the season and they have no excuse - including four games in five nights. They are a better team than they showed and tired or not the effort just wasn’t there for the full sixty.
The Warriors opened the scoring at home, a place they have been feasting on opponents (currently holding the league record for home wins this season) and tonight was no different. Tough guy 20 yr old Frazer McLaren bulged the twine, beating a hapless Barnstable with a shot the he should have had. The Giants managed to tie the game later in the second as CPZ tipped Schira’s shot past Perricone giving the Giants a bit of a reward for all their hard work throughout the opening stanza. It was not to be their night however as Jason Bast scored yet another softie, giving the home team a lead they would not relinquish. That deflated the Giants a bit and signalled their decline on the evening. The real back-breaker goal came in the second when Brent Regner got the puck caught up in his skates behind his net and Barnstable was looking the wrong way expecting the puck to go to the corner, but ended up fishing it out of his net as Neal Prokop slipped a wrap-around into the wide-open cage. Oddly - what was supposedly an unassisted tally now has two assists attached to it on the official score-sheet.
To be blunt Barnstable should have been pulled at that point, but ended up being in net for all six tallies on the night. Why Barnstable didn’t get the nod for the game in Saskatoon and Tyson Sexsmith the start in The Jaw is beyond me. I would say that was a pretty poor coaching decision.
The Giants gave up in the third regardless, taking some sloppy penalties and getting a paltry 3 shots on net. The Vancouver squad barely held on for most of the third, but at about the 14 minute mark everything began to slide downhill. Kane was tagged with a soft interference call which was probably a make-up call for a check from behind by LaRochelle which had the home fans grumbling and no call made. Frazer McLaren got his second of the game from virtually the same position on the ice as his first goal, scoring a PP marker at 14:15. Then, 35 seconds later Giffen Nyren got just his 3rd of the season off of some sloppy play by the Giants in their own end, tapping home a rebound off the post. Joel Broda finished off the scoring at 18:23 of the third on another PP giving the Warriors 2 for 3 on the night.
The refs didn’t call the first minor penalty of the game until 3:58 of the second and were not whistle happy in the least. The Giants cannot blame the officials for anything tonight. The G-Men were a tired team tonight playing their third in four nights and it showed as the third period wore on. They did not bring their textbook hockey to the rink for the majority of the game, they did not fight to the net or drive the crease and were content playing perimeter hockey for every period but the first. Their PK resembled swiss cheese with all the holes being left out there on the ice and they went away from their gap control game and it cost them. The Vancouver team out-shot the home team 27–24, but failed to capitalise where it counted. They went 0 for 4 on an anaemic PP which had no real decent pressure all night and they went 1 for 3 on the PK allowing two goals on 3 chances, a very rare occurrence for the team which is second in PK in the league.
The road doesn’t get any easier as they have to travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos for their fourth game in five nights. The positive is that Garet Hunt, after being completely screwed over by the league with a record suspension (of 7 games) for a mid-ice hit, will be back in the line-up and could give his team some life. The other positive is that the Giants are usually a team which rise to a challenge and are still top of the WHL and they will not want to end this road trip on a losing note. The Broncos better watch out tomorrow, because as tired as this team will be they will be fully motivated to put tonight’s game behind them and bring it for the full sixty.
Three Stars
1. Frazer McLaren
2. Joey Perricone
3. Jason Bast
Warriors Pound Giants 6-1 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/January_18_WarriorsbkPoundbkGiants_188.html)
Warriors Pound Giants
Vancouver 1 Moose Jaw 6
Don Robinson
Back-up Kraymer Barnstable did not do his team any favours tonight as he allowed some seriously suspect goals. That said - the team themselves didn’t do their back-up goalie any favours tonight as they coughed up the puck badly in their own zone. In the third the wheels really fell off as the Warriors scored three unanswered goals, two of them on the PP. The game started out well for the visitors as they had their best period of the game in the opening frame, but came out of it down by one goal; despite out-shooting the Warriors 15-8 and having some serious jump. The Warriors managed to get two goals in the first though off of some suspect play by the Giants back-up goalie who frankly sucked tonight, but wasn’t being given a huge amount of help from his team-mates. The Giants only goal of the game came in the first off of Casey Pierro-Zabotel’s stick deflecting a Craig Schira shot past Joey Perricone tying the game at 13:16 of the first. That would be as close as the Giants would get as the Warriors added one in the second and three more in third as the Giants just gave up. The boys should really be ashamed of themselves tonight as they damaged their sparkling PK numbers with sloppy lazy hockey and allowed themselves to get beat-up on the score-sheet and the fight card.
Joel Broda tuned up 16yr old rookie James Henry in the first, getting in some big shots before getting the take-down. In the third Terrance Delaronde got tagged with the instigator as he and Mike Berube squared off. A nice toe-to-toe battle between the two with Delaronde getting the slim decision. RJ LaRochelle and Jordan Knackstedt squared off for a pretty good tilt which saw LaRochelle go down first. Another Giants rookie Mike Piluso dropped the gloves with Travis Hamonic and the two fell to the ice before anything could really be decided. Very late in the game, with the Warriors in complete control of the game, Ryley Grantham gratuitously challenged another 16 yr old rookie for the Giants - Evander Kane. Kane was fairly brave taking on the up and coming heavy weight and got soundly beat and in the end having his jersey over his head and taking more than few blows.
The loss was only the Giants 10th regulation loss of the season and they have no excuse - including four games in five nights. They are a better team than they showed and tired or not the effort just wasn’t there for the full sixty.
The Warriors opened the scoring at home, a place they have been feasting on opponents (currently holding the league record for home wins this season) and tonight was no different. Tough guy 20 yr old Frazer McLaren bulged the twine, beating a hapless Barnstable with a shot the he should have had. The Giants managed to tie the game later in the second as CPZ tipped Schira’s shot past Perricone giving the Giants a bit of a reward for all their hard work throughout the opening stanza. It was not to be their night however as Jason Bast scored yet another softie, giving the home team a lead they would not relinquish. That deflated the Giants a bit and signalled their decline on the evening. The real back-breaker goal came in the second when Brent Regner got the puck caught up in his skates behind his net and Barnstable was looking the wrong way expecting the puck to go to the corner, but ended up fishing it out of his net as Neal Prokop slipped a wrap-around into the wide-open cage. Oddly - what was supposedly an unassisted tally now has two assists attached to it on the official score-sheet.
To be blunt Barnstable should have been pulled at that point, but ended up being in net for all six tallies on the night. Why Barnstable didn’t get the nod for the game in Saskatoon and Tyson Sexsmith the start in The Jaw is beyond me. I would say that was a pretty poor coaching decision.
The Giants gave up in the third regardless, taking some sloppy penalties and getting a paltry 3 shots on net. The Vancouver squad barely held on for most of the third, but at about the 14 minute mark everything began to slide downhill. Kane was tagged with a soft interference call which was probably a make-up call for a check from behind by LaRochelle which had the home fans grumbling and no call made. Frazer McLaren got his second of the game from virtually the same position on the ice as his first goal, scoring a PP marker at 14:15. Then, 35 seconds later Giffen Nyren got just his 3rd of the season off of some sloppy play by the Giants in their own end, tapping home a rebound off the post. Joel Broda finished off the scoring at 18:23 of the third on another PP giving the Warriors 2 for 3 on the night.
The refs didn’t call the first minor penalty of the game until 3:58 of the second and were not whistle happy in the least. The Giants cannot blame the officials for anything tonight. The G-Men were a tired team tonight playing their third in four nights and it showed as the third period wore on. They did not bring their textbook hockey to the rink for the majority of the game, they did not fight to the net or drive the crease and were content playing perimeter hockey for every period but the first. Their PK resembled swiss cheese with all the holes being left out there on the ice and they went away from their gap control game and it cost them. The Vancouver team out-shot the home team 27–24, but failed to capitalise where it counted. They went 0 for 4 on an anaemic PP which had no real decent pressure all night and they went 1 for 3 on the PK allowing two goals on 3 chances, a very rare occurrence for the team which is second in PK in the league.
The road doesn’t get any easier as they have to travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos for their fourth game in five nights. The positive is that Garet Hunt, after being completely screwed over by the league with a record suspension (of 7 games) for a mid-ice hit, will be back in the line-up and could give his team some life. The other positive is that the Giants are usually a team which rise to a challenge and are still top of the WHL and they will not want to end this road trip on a losing note. The Broncos better watch out tomorrow, because as tired as this team will be they will be fully motivated to put tonight’s game behind them and bring it for the full sixty.
Three Stars
1. Frazer McLaren
2. Joey Perricone
3. Jason Bast