dondo
02-21-2008, 02:10 AM
The Oil Kings got slammed tonight as the Giants shredded both of their goalies. The Giants were playing a better style of game and did not seem to get suckered into sitting back and resting on their lead. They were playing the puck pretty hard all night and crashing the net with great regularity. Maybe they had more room to do this, but I find it gratifying to see them back playing this way.
Giants Gas Oil Kings 7-0 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_20_GiantsbkGasbkOilbkKings_197.html)
Giants Gas Oil Kings
Vancouver 7 Edmonton 0
Don Robinson
Tyson Sexsmith notched his second shut-out in as many games extending his league leading shut-outs to 8 on the season and his WHL career total to 19. The Oil Kings looked like an expansion team tonight and the Giants looked like a Memorial Cup champ. From the drop of the puck the Oil Kings actually looked ready to compete as they forechecked hard in the Giants end and appeared ready to give the home team a battle. Its strange how quickly fortunes can change. Dalyn Flette got the start in net tonight for Edmonton, but didn’t last long. The Giants scored on their PP 12:07 into the first when Spencer Machacek chipped a loose puck up and over Flette. Michal Repik and Brent Regner got the assists. The Giants another one less than a minute later as the Oil Kings took another penalty. At 12:55 Jonathon Blum drives to the net in from the point and Machacek finds him with a goal mouth pass. Repik got the other assist on the play. Flette was done when just under two minutes later Garry Nunn came in off the right wing and wristed a shot from the goal-line. Flette left a hole on the short side and Nunn found it up high from the bad angle.
Edmonton starter Alex Archibald went in for Flette, but didn’t fare much better. In a curious stat happenstance both goalies allowed one goal every 5 shots at one point. In the end Archibald’s numbers looked better than that, but when the Giants scored their 7th goal of the night the shots were at 35, and Flette was pulled after the 15th shot allowing 3 goals. The Oil Kings tried intimidation for a while with Garet Hunt out of the line-up, but the Giants didn’t bite and didn’t back down. The third saw the Giants playing their third and fourth liners almost exclusively, including the PP. The Edmonton squad were very undisciplined tonight taking some lazy penalties and some dumb ones and allowed the Giants to get to them on and off the score sheet. Machacek had another four point night. Repik and Blum had three, both with a goal and two helpers. Nunn had two goals on the night, while Regner had two assists. The Giants were 3 for 3 on the PP at one point before ending up at 3 for 8. It was one of those games. The Giants played very solidly in their own end and the goals came remarkably easy.
Spencer was the first to put one past Archibald early in the second on the Giants third PP opportunity of the game. Blum and Regner got the assists as Spencer got another greasy goal on the doorstep. The first ended with a bunch of scrums and Edmonton ending up with the extra two as the boxes were packed to the gills with bodies to begin the middle frame. About five minutes later Lance Bouma put in the coffin nail goal coming off the left wing, wristing a shot between the wickets on Archibald a shot that the Edmonton tender probably wants another crack at. Mid second CPZ from behind the net, sets up Garry Nunn hovering in the high slot for his second of the night. Nunn made no mistake pounding it past Archibald. Regner got the other assist on the play. Michal Repik rounded out the scoring with a sweet spin around marker. Archibald had lost sight of the puck and was down in the crease in traffic. Repik from the goal-line recognized this and wheeled around back handing a puck high up over the Edmonton net-minder. It was a sweet goal.
Now to the fisticuffs of which there were a couple but none of note. Late in the first Craig Schira laid what is rapidly becoming his patented hip check along the boards seriously rubbing out the Edmonton player. Brent Henke dropped the mitts with Schira but did not seem really interested in fighting as both players stood there for a bit, threw a few half-hearted punches and ended up going down. A the next face-off Brett Sonne challenged that famed pugilist Mike Berube. Berube held his own for the most part as Sonne spent most of the fight cocking his fist and didn’t really throw many until Berube went down and then he threw one as he was going down and one while he was helpless on the ice, not a very classy move by the usually hard but respectable Sonne. There were frequent scrums after the whistle early in the game, but they got less and less as the game went on. The third saw the Edmonton squad get a bit chippy and caught a few times taking lazy penalties as the visitors were feeling their game in Chilliwack last night and didn’t have much left, or motivation to bring it hard. They did a decent job though sticking in there for most of the game, mostly it seemed to try to break Sexy’s shut-out bid, but in the end they were out-played and out-worked as a team and it showed in the stats columns.
The Giants out-shot their opponents 54-23. The home team feasted on special teams scoring 3 man-advantage goals, and holding their opponent off the score sheet. Final tallies were 3 for 8 on the PP, and 3 for 3 on the PK.
The Portland Winterhawks visit the Giants in a season they probably wish would end already. The Giants have taken it to the hapless Hawks all season and I don’t expect Friday to be any different. There is a reason we play the games though as the possibility of an upset is always there, but the probability in this case is slim. If their performance on the ice isn’t enough The Winterhawks are also having some rumoured off-ice problems with the franchise itself and money concerns, but that’s all I have heard so far. I sincerely hope the allegations are over-blown as it would be a shame to see a permanent stain on a 30 year plus franchise. The puck drops on Friday at 7:30pm PST and marks the final game of the season between these two teams.
Three Stars
1. Spencer Machacek
2. Garry Nunn (# 21 Mike Reich according to the scoreboard .. doh)
3. Jonathon Blum
Giants Gas Oil Kings 7-0 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_20_GiantsbkGasbkOilbkKings_197.html)
Giants Gas Oil Kings
Vancouver 7 Edmonton 0
Don Robinson
Tyson Sexsmith notched his second shut-out in as many games extending his league leading shut-outs to 8 on the season and his WHL career total to 19. The Oil Kings looked like an expansion team tonight and the Giants looked like a Memorial Cup champ. From the drop of the puck the Oil Kings actually looked ready to compete as they forechecked hard in the Giants end and appeared ready to give the home team a battle. Its strange how quickly fortunes can change. Dalyn Flette got the start in net tonight for Edmonton, but didn’t last long. The Giants scored on their PP 12:07 into the first when Spencer Machacek chipped a loose puck up and over Flette. Michal Repik and Brent Regner got the assists. The Giants another one less than a minute later as the Oil Kings took another penalty. At 12:55 Jonathon Blum drives to the net in from the point and Machacek finds him with a goal mouth pass. Repik got the other assist on the play. Flette was done when just under two minutes later Garry Nunn came in off the right wing and wristed a shot from the goal-line. Flette left a hole on the short side and Nunn found it up high from the bad angle.
Edmonton starter Alex Archibald went in for Flette, but didn’t fare much better. In a curious stat happenstance both goalies allowed one goal every 5 shots at one point. In the end Archibald’s numbers looked better than that, but when the Giants scored their 7th goal of the night the shots were at 35, and Flette was pulled after the 15th shot allowing 3 goals. The Oil Kings tried intimidation for a while with Garet Hunt out of the line-up, but the Giants didn’t bite and didn’t back down. The third saw the Giants playing their third and fourth liners almost exclusively, including the PP. The Edmonton squad were very undisciplined tonight taking some lazy penalties and some dumb ones and allowed the Giants to get to them on and off the score sheet. Machacek had another four point night. Repik and Blum had three, both with a goal and two helpers. Nunn had two goals on the night, while Regner had two assists. The Giants were 3 for 3 on the PP at one point before ending up at 3 for 8. It was one of those games. The Giants played very solidly in their own end and the goals came remarkably easy.
Spencer was the first to put one past Archibald early in the second on the Giants third PP opportunity of the game. Blum and Regner got the assists as Spencer got another greasy goal on the doorstep. The first ended with a bunch of scrums and Edmonton ending up with the extra two as the boxes were packed to the gills with bodies to begin the middle frame. About five minutes later Lance Bouma put in the coffin nail goal coming off the left wing, wristing a shot between the wickets on Archibald a shot that the Edmonton tender probably wants another crack at. Mid second CPZ from behind the net, sets up Garry Nunn hovering in the high slot for his second of the night. Nunn made no mistake pounding it past Archibald. Regner got the other assist on the play. Michal Repik rounded out the scoring with a sweet spin around marker. Archibald had lost sight of the puck and was down in the crease in traffic. Repik from the goal-line recognized this and wheeled around back handing a puck high up over the Edmonton net-minder. It was a sweet goal.
Now to the fisticuffs of which there were a couple but none of note. Late in the first Craig Schira laid what is rapidly becoming his patented hip check along the boards seriously rubbing out the Edmonton player. Brent Henke dropped the mitts with Schira but did not seem really interested in fighting as both players stood there for a bit, threw a few half-hearted punches and ended up going down. A the next face-off Brett Sonne challenged that famed pugilist Mike Berube. Berube held his own for the most part as Sonne spent most of the fight cocking his fist and didn’t really throw many until Berube went down and then he threw one as he was going down and one while he was helpless on the ice, not a very classy move by the usually hard but respectable Sonne. There were frequent scrums after the whistle early in the game, but they got less and less as the game went on. The third saw the Edmonton squad get a bit chippy and caught a few times taking lazy penalties as the visitors were feeling their game in Chilliwack last night and didn’t have much left, or motivation to bring it hard. They did a decent job though sticking in there for most of the game, mostly it seemed to try to break Sexy’s shut-out bid, but in the end they were out-played and out-worked as a team and it showed in the stats columns.
The Giants out-shot their opponents 54-23. The home team feasted on special teams scoring 3 man-advantage goals, and holding their opponent off the score sheet. Final tallies were 3 for 8 on the PP, and 3 for 3 on the PK.
The Portland Winterhawks visit the Giants in a season they probably wish would end already. The Giants have taken it to the hapless Hawks all season and I don’t expect Friday to be any different. There is a reason we play the games though as the possibility of an upset is always there, but the probability in this case is slim. If their performance on the ice isn’t enough The Winterhawks are also having some rumoured off-ice problems with the franchise itself and money concerns, but that’s all I have heard so far. I sincerely hope the allegations are over-blown as it would be a shame to see a permanent stain on a 30 year plus franchise. The puck drops on Friday at 7:30pm PST and marks the final game of the season between these two teams.
Three Stars
1. Spencer Machacek
2. Garry Nunn (# 21 Mike Reich according to the scoreboard .. doh)
3. Jonathon Blum