dondo
02-11-2008, 02:16 PM
apologies this is late, but I was feeling ill last night and needed a bit of down-time before writing this re-cap which is a fun one to read I trust. The game itself was a fun one and pretty lively with a bunch of stories carrying it along. Not sure why it was so fun, maybe cause it was a bit looser and that both teams were making mistakes adding to level of excitement, but in the end it was a good one to have attended.
Giants Bite Cougars 4-2 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_10_GiantsbkBitebkCougars_192.html)
Giants Bite Cougars
Vancouver 4 Prince George 2
Don Robinson
Kraymer Barnstable got the nod tonight and he was about as good as his last start in Moose Jaw. Once again the back-up was decent but not great, a nice glove stop is all I can take away from his performance. The Giants did not play with the vengeance I was hoping after slipping to the Ice. They seemed to have the same intensity and played a pretty similar game except this time versus an opponent where sloppy play wouldn’t cost them too much. After last nights loss Hay moved Lance Bouma to the top line with Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak, relegating Spencer Machacek to play with Garet Hunt and Mitch Czibere. Instead of pouting, as lesser players might have, he took that line to a new level scoring a goal and adding two excellent helpers. Leading his team to a solid win. Ever since Milan Lucic did not return and Machacek has been given the mantle of captaincy, he has shone at all ends of the ice and been a true leader to his team-mates on and off the ice. The latest example being the game versus the Cougars where he could have put in a half game effort against a lesser opponent, but instead stepped up his game and helped his team to victory.
Vancouver came out flying - pounding 24 shots on Cyr who flailed about like a mad-man turning away the onslaught and allowing only two goals in a period which saw him turn away at least another eight quality scoring chances. Repik was snake-bit at least four times in the opening stanza. Craig Schira opened the scoring on the PP, finding some open ice and taking a perfect pass from Machacek to set-up a beauty one-timer. The Giants were not able to tickle the twine until about 15 seconds remained in the first, when Machacek going hard to the net, chipped Hunt’s rebound over Cyr to give the home team that much needed insurance marker. After going a whole period assaulting the Cougar goal with 24 shots, coming away with only one goal to show for it might have slipped this game into a different direction. As it was it shifted it the other way as the Giants never got close to relinquishing the game, even after allowing two softies that should have been saved or blocked out. The Giants had padded the lead to four goals by that time and the out-come of the game was not in question, just the final score.
It was fun game to be at though, even with feeling a bit ill I managed to enjoy the game heartily. There were some good hits, and some nice plays. Great saves which would make your jaw swing open from Cyr, a sweet glove stop by Barnstable who snatched a puck top corner labelled seemingly from out of thin-air. There were also some hard working unsung heroes getting rewarded. Garet Hunt padded the lead to three goals late in the third finding some open ice and receiving a beauty of a pass from his captain. Hunt wired the puck five-hole on Cyr to much jubilation. Craig Cunningham notched a marker very early in the third, short-handed. The Cougars were on a PP carried over from the end of the second when they were being tagged for a delayed penalty. The Giants pulled their goalie and Cunningham coming off the bench found himself on a semi-breakaway. He went in hard and made a sweet forehand to backhand deke and lifted a nice backhander over Cyr’s out-stretched pads giving the Giants 4-0 bulge in the score.
The Cougars managed to score on that same PP though with seconds ticking down the puck went to Patrick (Karen) Magnusson (you’ll see why I call him Karen in a bit – keep reading) who wired a puck from the point with 10 seconds left in the man-advantage. Barnstable, who might have been semi-screened, whiffed on the bomb and it found the back of the net giving the Cougars a bit of life. It was the Cougs 11th shot on goal. A few minutes later Hunt is tagged with a kneeing penalty against the end boards and Karen decides to “challenge” him. Now most players having a 6’ 6”+ behemoth standing over them would back down, but this is Garet Hunt we are talking about, he is most definitely not in the category of most players. Garet drops the gloves instantly and gets in two quick rabbit punches to Karen’s face who still standing there holding his stick in two hands, gloves firmly on, when the linesmen step in. Hunt is given two for the “knee” and two for roughing for the altercation and Karen is given nothing except for the fans cat-calling and booing him every single time he steps on the ice or touches the puck for the rest of the game that is. I think I’d rather take 5 mins in the sin bin. 6500 people can be quite loud when they have a focus and Karen was most definitely a focus. People were shouting Maggy and Karen and p-(kitty)-y, you know the usual derisive name-calling when a player doesn’t stand up for themselves.
The Cougars scored one on the ensuing double-minor advantage as Parker Stanfield slipped a very weak one past Barnstable. The score would remain the same with the Giants not really taking it to the Cougs, being content to sit back, and the Cougs not quite up to the task of battling through five on five to get another goal. The game would end 4-2 with the home team crowd getting huge amounts of joy out of Magnusson baiting for the rest of the game. The Cougs pulled their goalie late and the Giants emulated the Ice in not being able to curl the puck into the open cage. I find that its much more entertaining seeing teams not get the empty-netter than to actually get it. The G-Men rung one cleanly off the iron in the process. A fun game that the Giants let get away a bit, but never enough to feel like the game was actually slipping away.
The Giants out-shot the Cougars 50-19, clearly out-played them and were it not for Cyr the score could have been much more lop-sided than it was. The Cougars went 2 for 3 on the PP, a stat that Don Hay will not in any way be happy with, but might help him motivate his team in the future as to the importance of the PK and the pride they should get from being top of the league in that stat. After this weekend I would sincerely doubt that the Giants are still second in PK in the league anymore and that’s a sore spot. The Giants went 1 for 2 on their PP as it felt like Derek Zalaski had handicapped the Cougars prior to the game and wasn’t going to call anything which wasn’t blatant. As it was he allowed things to slip on both sides of the puck which is the lesser of two evils in my mind when you are a ref.
The Giants have a few bad habits right now and seem to be getting away from their solid simple game and are venturing into the risk for risk sakes territory with the puck and their pinches and though it might work versus the lesser skilled squads it has burned them versus the top teams who they still have to solve consistently. This team who have cruised through the playoffs the past two seasons are in for a rude wake-up call when the other teams bring their best game and the Giants continue their sloppy ways. Tonight it didn’t hurt them. Versus the Ice and Ams and the Chiefs it has hurt them big-time and with Brandon coming to visit on Wednesday it could hurt them again unless everyone starts to take care of their own end, hustle back a bit harder on the back-check and go back to paying smart hockey first and creative hockey second. The puck drops at the Coliseum at 7:00pm on Wednesday February 13th.
Three Stars
1. Spencer Machacek
2. Real Cyr
3. Craig Cunningham
Giants Bite Cougars 4-2 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_10_GiantsbkBitebkCougars_192.html)
Giants Bite Cougars
Vancouver 4 Prince George 2
Don Robinson
Kraymer Barnstable got the nod tonight and he was about as good as his last start in Moose Jaw. Once again the back-up was decent but not great, a nice glove stop is all I can take away from his performance. The Giants did not play with the vengeance I was hoping after slipping to the Ice. They seemed to have the same intensity and played a pretty similar game except this time versus an opponent where sloppy play wouldn’t cost them too much. After last nights loss Hay moved Lance Bouma to the top line with Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak, relegating Spencer Machacek to play with Garet Hunt and Mitch Czibere. Instead of pouting, as lesser players might have, he took that line to a new level scoring a goal and adding two excellent helpers. Leading his team to a solid win. Ever since Milan Lucic did not return and Machacek has been given the mantle of captaincy, he has shone at all ends of the ice and been a true leader to his team-mates on and off the ice. The latest example being the game versus the Cougars where he could have put in a half game effort against a lesser opponent, but instead stepped up his game and helped his team to victory.
Vancouver came out flying - pounding 24 shots on Cyr who flailed about like a mad-man turning away the onslaught and allowing only two goals in a period which saw him turn away at least another eight quality scoring chances. Repik was snake-bit at least four times in the opening stanza. Craig Schira opened the scoring on the PP, finding some open ice and taking a perfect pass from Machacek to set-up a beauty one-timer. The Giants were not able to tickle the twine until about 15 seconds remained in the first, when Machacek going hard to the net, chipped Hunt’s rebound over Cyr to give the home team that much needed insurance marker. After going a whole period assaulting the Cougar goal with 24 shots, coming away with only one goal to show for it might have slipped this game into a different direction. As it was it shifted it the other way as the Giants never got close to relinquishing the game, even after allowing two softies that should have been saved or blocked out. The Giants had padded the lead to four goals by that time and the out-come of the game was not in question, just the final score.
It was fun game to be at though, even with feeling a bit ill I managed to enjoy the game heartily. There were some good hits, and some nice plays. Great saves which would make your jaw swing open from Cyr, a sweet glove stop by Barnstable who snatched a puck top corner labelled seemingly from out of thin-air. There were also some hard working unsung heroes getting rewarded. Garet Hunt padded the lead to three goals late in the third finding some open ice and receiving a beauty of a pass from his captain. Hunt wired the puck five-hole on Cyr to much jubilation. Craig Cunningham notched a marker very early in the third, short-handed. The Cougars were on a PP carried over from the end of the second when they were being tagged for a delayed penalty. The Giants pulled their goalie and Cunningham coming off the bench found himself on a semi-breakaway. He went in hard and made a sweet forehand to backhand deke and lifted a nice backhander over Cyr’s out-stretched pads giving the Giants 4-0 bulge in the score.
The Cougars managed to score on that same PP though with seconds ticking down the puck went to Patrick (Karen) Magnusson (you’ll see why I call him Karen in a bit – keep reading) who wired a puck from the point with 10 seconds left in the man-advantage. Barnstable, who might have been semi-screened, whiffed on the bomb and it found the back of the net giving the Cougars a bit of life. It was the Cougs 11th shot on goal. A few minutes later Hunt is tagged with a kneeing penalty against the end boards and Karen decides to “challenge” him. Now most players having a 6’ 6”+ behemoth standing over them would back down, but this is Garet Hunt we are talking about, he is most definitely not in the category of most players. Garet drops the gloves instantly and gets in two quick rabbit punches to Karen’s face who still standing there holding his stick in two hands, gloves firmly on, when the linesmen step in. Hunt is given two for the “knee” and two for roughing for the altercation and Karen is given nothing except for the fans cat-calling and booing him every single time he steps on the ice or touches the puck for the rest of the game that is. I think I’d rather take 5 mins in the sin bin. 6500 people can be quite loud when they have a focus and Karen was most definitely a focus. People were shouting Maggy and Karen and p-(kitty)-y, you know the usual derisive name-calling when a player doesn’t stand up for themselves.
The Cougars scored one on the ensuing double-minor advantage as Parker Stanfield slipped a very weak one past Barnstable. The score would remain the same with the Giants not really taking it to the Cougs, being content to sit back, and the Cougs not quite up to the task of battling through five on five to get another goal. The game would end 4-2 with the home team crowd getting huge amounts of joy out of Magnusson baiting for the rest of the game. The Cougs pulled their goalie late and the Giants emulated the Ice in not being able to curl the puck into the open cage. I find that its much more entertaining seeing teams not get the empty-netter than to actually get it. The G-Men rung one cleanly off the iron in the process. A fun game that the Giants let get away a bit, but never enough to feel like the game was actually slipping away.
The Giants out-shot the Cougars 50-19, clearly out-played them and were it not for Cyr the score could have been much more lop-sided than it was. The Cougars went 2 for 3 on the PP, a stat that Don Hay will not in any way be happy with, but might help him motivate his team in the future as to the importance of the PK and the pride they should get from being top of the league in that stat. After this weekend I would sincerely doubt that the Giants are still second in PK in the league anymore and that’s a sore spot. The Giants went 1 for 2 on their PP as it felt like Derek Zalaski had handicapped the Cougars prior to the game and wasn’t going to call anything which wasn’t blatant. As it was he allowed things to slip on both sides of the puck which is the lesser of two evils in my mind when you are a ref.
The Giants have a few bad habits right now and seem to be getting away from their solid simple game and are venturing into the risk for risk sakes territory with the puck and their pinches and though it might work versus the lesser skilled squads it has burned them versus the top teams who they still have to solve consistently. This team who have cruised through the playoffs the past two seasons are in for a rude wake-up call when the other teams bring their best game and the Giants continue their sloppy ways. Tonight it didn’t hurt them. Versus the Ice and Ams and the Chiefs it has hurt them big-time and with Brandon coming to visit on Wednesday it could hurt them again unless everyone starts to take care of their own end, hustle back a bit harder on the back-check and go back to paying smart hockey first and creative hockey second. The puck drops at the Coliseum at 7:00pm on Wednesday February 13th.
Three Stars
1. Spencer Machacek
2. Real Cyr
3. Craig Cunningham