dondo
02-25-2008, 12:29 AM
The Rogers broadcast made for a game with some stilted flow as the commercial stoppages were energy zappers for the players as well as the fans. That plus the 5 minute delay, while they ham-handedly fixed the glass after a huge hit by Cunningham in the Rockets end of the ice in the second, made the middle frame of the longest periods of the season by my reckoning. It was a pretty decent tilt for the most part though with a tightly played game by both teams. Kirk and Poole sucked, as usual, and adversely affected the game, imo. Both teams had energy at different times and the momentum shifted a few times.
Rockets Clip Giants 3-2 SO - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_24_RocketsbkClipbkGiants_199.html)
Rockets Clip Giants
Vancouver 2 Kelowna 3 - SO
Don Robinson
The Vancouver Giants were playing part two of their home at home series versus the Kelowna Rockets in front of a season record 14, 279 fans. Tonight was a seasons ticket holder “trade-in your unused tickets” game, of which they have two opportunities a season. Part one saw the Giants go down early and then score three unanswered goals to take the game convincingly at Prospera Place 3-1. Part two turned out to be a bit more of a battle for both teams. The Giants started out playing a gritty gutsy road-style game, working hard to get their scoring chances early and notching the first goal in classic Giants hockey style. Kristofer Westblom was forced to make a blind pass onto Machacek’s stick behind his net, when pressured on both sides. Machacek fed Mario Bliznak out front who got a quick shot on Westblom, who had scrambled back into his net to make the save. Michal Repik got the rebound and slipped the puck past Westblom putting the home team up by one at 5:10 of the first. That goal would hold until late in the second, a period which saw the Giants control most of the play but take a couple of bad penalties at bad times and give up a PP marker.
That tying goal kind of marked the moment the ice tilted in the other direction as the Giants seemed to become a bit more tentative, were coming out of their zone less as a unit, far more scrambly with little or no puck support and were easily thwarted by the capable Rockets defenders. The Rockets continued to apply pressure and got solid chances in the Vancouver crease area. Late in the second they scored a goal after a persistent flurry around the Giants net, but it took them not getting called dumping Jonathon Blum to do it with no call, as the game was being reffed by pretty much the worst two currently in the league. Matt Kirk and Carl Poole are mostly useless wearing the stripes and will frequently miscall a game to a laughable end. Even though the officiating has been much better this season, one or both of these guys manages to make seriously bad calls at poor times to shift the balance of a game. Not that the Rockets didn’t deserve the goal pressing hard at the net on the man-advantage, as they did, but it was tainted in my mind. 16 yr old Tyson Barrie put the puck past Sexsmith from the slot.
The Rockets went up by one at the 10:00 mark of the third when Cody Almond tipped the puck out of the air past Sexsmith. A few Giants players complained of the puck being hit with a high stick, but the goal stood. The very next shift Don Hay put out the line which had been working the hardest on the night. Mitch Czibere, Craig Cunningham and Mike Piluso. Cunningham came into the zone hard, dished the puck back to Craig Schira who threw it at the net and the puck went in off of Czibere’s deflection on the doorstep. The Giants found a bit of life after the tying marker, but did not seem as intense as they were when they began the game. The teams each earned one point as the game went to OT with each squad having two quality chances in the extra stanza. Tyson Sexsmith made his best stop of the night off of up and comer defenseman Tyler Myers, putting the toe out and gathering up the rebound. Machacek had a semi-breakaway with time ticking down, but was stoned by Westblom.
The game went to a shootout, still in my mind the absolute worst way to end a game and a tragic symptom of the clueless ones who (and their equally clueless mouthpiece Gary Bettman who should have stayed in basketball) need to have someone “win”, even a bogus crap win that has nothing to with the team game which hockey is at its heart. The Rockets won the shootout – woo hoo. Thank the good lord that there are no shootouts in the playoffs (the cynic in me puts –“yet” in parentheses behind that statement). The almighty broadcasters who care nothing for the game already dictate playoff times and days and its just a matter of time before they demand that the games be shorter guaranteed – even though NBC shirked their commitment to covering ALL of the playoff games by cutting to a one-hour preview show for the Preakness Stakes when a contest between two American teams went to multiple OTS – the league still seems to think they deserve to dictate schedules. I hate the NHL right now, its everything wrong with hockey, the game, the passion – and lacks a good amount of all of the above.
The game had a few scrums after the whistle, but no real fisticuffs where the combatants dropped the mitts and stood toe to toe. Due to the frequent time-outs for commercials the game seriously lacked any kind flow, from my perspective. The Giants out-shot the Rockets 37-23, but seemed most effective when they weren’t just throwing the puck at the net, but holding it until they had a decent scoring chance. The home squad went 0 for 3 on the PP, while the Rockets went 1 for 5. The Giants have a few days off before heading up to Prince George for back to back games at the CN Centre. The Giants have owned the Cougars this season, but the Cougars with nothing to play for except pride will show up ready in their home barn, so the Giants better not take those games lightly coming into the home stretch for the season. The Giants don’t play at the Coliseum again until March 7th where they will take on the Seattle Thunderbirds. Puck drops on Friday March 7th at 7:30pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Kristofer Westblom
2. Craig Cunningham
3. Tyson Barrie
Rockets Clip Giants 3-2 SO - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/February_24_RocketsbkClipbkGiants_199.html)
Rockets Clip Giants
Vancouver 2 Kelowna 3 - SO
Don Robinson
The Vancouver Giants were playing part two of their home at home series versus the Kelowna Rockets in front of a season record 14, 279 fans. Tonight was a seasons ticket holder “trade-in your unused tickets” game, of which they have two opportunities a season. Part one saw the Giants go down early and then score three unanswered goals to take the game convincingly at Prospera Place 3-1. Part two turned out to be a bit more of a battle for both teams. The Giants started out playing a gritty gutsy road-style game, working hard to get their scoring chances early and notching the first goal in classic Giants hockey style. Kristofer Westblom was forced to make a blind pass onto Machacek’s stick behind his net, when pressured on both sides. Machacek fed Mario Bliznak out front who got a quick shot on Westblom, who had scrambled back into his net to make the save. Michal Repik got the rebound and slipped the puck past Westblom putting the home team up by one at 5:10 of the first. That goal would hold until late in the second, a period which saw the Giants control most of the play but take a couple of bad penalties at bad times and give up a PP marker.
That tying goal kind of marked the moment the ice tilted in the other direction as the Giants seemed to become a bit more tentative, were coming out of their zone less as a unit, far more scrambly with little or no puck support and were easily thwarted by the capable Rockets defenders. The Rockets continued to apply pressure and got solid chances in the Vancouver crease area. Late in the second they scored a goal after a persistent flurry around the Giants net, but it took them not getting called dumping Jonathon Blum to do it with no call, as the game was being reffed by pretty much the worst two currently in the league. Matt Kirk and Carl Poole are mostly useless wearing the stripes and will frequently miscall a game to a laughable end. Even though the officiating has been much better this season, one or both of these guys manages to make seriously bad calls at poor times to shift the balance of a game. Not that the Rockets didn’t deserve the goal pressing hard at the net on the man-advantage, as they did, but it was tainted in my mind. 16 yr old Tyson Barrie put the puck past Sexsmith from the slot.
The Rockets went up by one at the 10:00 mark of the third when Cody Almond tipped the puck out of the air past Sexsmith. A few Giants players complained of the puck being hit with a high stick, but the goal stood. The very next shift Don Hay put out the line which had been working the hardest on the night. Mitch Czibere, Craig Cunningham and Mike Piluso. Cunningham came into the zone hard, dished the puck back to Craig Schira who threw it at the net and the puck went in off of Czibere’s deflection on the doorstep. The Giants found a bit of life after the tying marker, but did not seem as intense as they were when they began the game. The teams each earned one point as the game went to OT with each squad having two quality chances in the extra stanza. Tyson Sexsmith made his best stop of the night off of up and comer defenseman Tyler Myers, putting the toe out and gathering up the rebound. Machacek had a semi-breakaway with time ticking down, but was stoned by Westblom.
The game went to a shootout, still in my mind the absolute worst way to end a game and a tragic symptom of the clueless ones who (and their equally clueless mouthpiece Gary Bettman who should have stayed in basketball) need to have someone “win”, even a bogus crap win that has nothing to with the team game which hockey is at its heart. The Rockets won the shootout – woo hoo. Thank the good lord that there are no shootouts in the playoffs (the cynic in me puts –“yet” in parentheses behind that statement). The almighty broadcasters who care nothing for the game already dictate playoff times and days and its just a matter of time before they demand that the games be shorter guaranteed – even though NBC shirked their commitment to covering ALL of the playoff games by cutting to a one-hour preview show for the Preakness Stakes when a contest between two American teams went to multiple OTS – the league still seems to think they deserve to dictate schedules. I hate the NHL right now, its everything wrong with hockey, the game, the passion – and lacks a good amount of all of the above.
The game had a few scrums after the whistle, but no real fisticuffs where the combatants dropped the mitts and stood toe to toe. Due to the frequent time-outs for commercials the game seriously lacked any kind flow, from my perspective. The Giants out-shot the Rockets 37-23, but seemed most effective when they weren’t just throwing the puck at the net, but holding it until they had a decent scoring chance. The home squad went 0 for 3 on the PP, while the Rockets went 1 for 5. The Giants have a few days off before heading up to Prince George for back to back games at the CN Centre. The Giants have owned the Cougars this season, but the Cougars with nothing to play for except pride will show up ready in their home barn, so the Giants better not take those games lightly coming into the home stretch for the season. The Giants don’t play at the Coliseum again until March 7th where they will take on the Seattle Thunderbirds. Puck drops on Friday March 7th at 7:30pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Kristofer Westblom
2. Craig Cunningham
3. Tyson Barrie