dondo
03-17-2008, 01:28 AM
Other than the second it was a pretty decent game and was a bit of insight as to how this series might go. The line of Kane, CPZ and Wright was excellent and they seem to key off of each other. Nunn might have lost his spot to Wright as the chemistry is amazing with these three.
The Gordie Howe celebration was mostly lame, but some of the older players and vids with real hockey people in them were great. The vids with the vanoc guy and the two lame politicians frankly sucked, and Michael Buble? gimme a freaking break. Happy Birthday Gordie -- its a shame there were so many pretenders jumping on the bandwagon.
Giants Hunt Bears 5-3 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/March_16_GiantsbkHuntbkBears_210.html)
Giants Hunt Bears
Vancouver 5 Chilliwack 3
Don Robinson
Both teams sat some of their best players tonight, playing their future playoff strategies close to the vest. Mark Santorelli was still in a race to have top points for a player in the West so was in the line-up, but Swedish sniper Oscar Moller and stalwart defenseman Nick Holden were out of the line-up. The Giants started their back-up ‘tender and sat Captain Spencer Machacek and sniper Michal Repik. Craig Schira was still out after being injured in the game versus Kamloops last night. The first was pretty evenly played with Chilliwack opening the scoring. Ryan Howse used his speed down the right wing and cut in to put a shot past Kraymer Barnstable on the short side. It was shot that the goalie should have had. Evander Kane tied it up on the PP about five minutes to uproarious applause from the 12,000 plus faithful, who showed up to celebrate Gordie Howe’s 80th. Casey Pierro-Zabotel made a beautiful cross ice feed which Kane deflected in from the slot past Matt Esposito. Brent Regner got the other assist. Santorelli scored his 26th of the season cutting across the net and putting over Barnstable’s out-stretched pad. Kraymer probably should have been able to get across to make the stop, but it wasn’t a weak goal.
Both teams lost energy in the second and played pretty boring hockey with neither squad going hard to the net. The Bruins were unlucky to get a couple past Barnstable as they fanned on a couple of decent opportunities, but the Giants did not seem interested at all in coming back in this one. The shots were 6/6 in the middle stanza and it showed with minimal penalties and no guts evident on either side of the puck. The home town boys picked it up in the third though, pressing hard in the offensive zone and forcing the Bruins to make mistakes. CPZ capitalised on some very early pressure 20 seconds into the third, taking a sweet feed from Kane and James Wright a line that was flying tonight. Mike Piluso then got an unassisted tally just 50 seconds (30 seconds later) into the final frame when the Bruins d-man dished the puck back to his goalie to cover up, but it was Piluso who was first to the side of the net and found the short side open, putting the puck up between the pad and the post to give the Giants their first lead of the game.
Santorelli accomplished pretty much the same feat less than a minute later when he took advantage of a bad give-away and put the puck past Barnstable, tying the game once again. It was the Bruins only shot of the final frame. In the middle of the third the Giants, who out-shot the visitors 20-1 in the third period, once again capitalised on their PP and once again it was Kane and CPZ combining to give Kane his second of the night. Jonny Blum, acting Captain for the game and as result getting to do all the festivities with Gordie Howe for his 80th birthday as well as taking the ceremonial face-off in the game, got the other assist. A few minutes later Blum put in the dagger as he blasted one from the point, beating Esposito with a wicked point shot. Once again it was Wright and CPZ with the assists on the play. Barnstable faced 14 shots on the night allowing three against, two of the suspect variety. The Giants better pray that Sexy doesn’t suffer any misadventures, or it could be ugly.
There was a bunch of fisticuffs late in the game and one when the game was still up in the air. The first glove droppage came at 5:27 of the third when the game was still tied. Garet Hunt and Partik Bhungal went at it with both players getting in their licks. It was a fairly even battle with Hunt maybe getting in a few more shots than Bhungal. The next fight happened very late in the game when the bears were trying to send a message for the playoffs, but were mostly tuned up. Liam Darragh took on Hunt at 18:44 and got soundly thrashed. Darragh took a few early and then returned a couple of blows before being rocked off his skates with a few hard ones from Hunt, going down in a heap and trying to headlock Hunt as he dropped. 26 seconds later was battle in which the Bruins player had no clue what he had got himself into and got demolished. Randy McNaught threw down with Chris Cloud and it wasn’t even close. McNaught spent most of the fight pulling away as he got tagged. Cloud not only connected with his free hand but also with the hand holding McNaught’s the jersey, which repeatedly battered McNaught with short jabs. Credit McNaught for trying to stay in there, but a few heavy blows later McNaught was down and out. I don’t think he even got one real shot in the whole fight. The final fight off the ensuing face-off was light-weight battle between David Robinson and James Henry. Henry is usually a decent battler, but not in this one as he had both arms tied up early and took the majority of the shots. Robinson is no fighter either and did not do much damage with his blows, but gets the decision for landing more.
The Giants were 2 for 4 on the PP, while the Bruins went 1 for 4. The home team out-shot the visitors from the valley 36-14 and in third completely controlled the play. Its pretty sad in my mind that the only shot the Bruins got in the third got past Barnstable, but whatever. The two teams will have another chance to go toe-to-toe in the same arena on Friday night when they square off in game one of the first round of the playoffs. Both squads will have their top players back in the line-up and ready to bring their game’s up a few notches. In the playoffs there are no shootouts, thank the good lord, and the teams will play OT five-on-five, the way hockey should be played. I’m looking forward to watching these teams battle it out. The Giants swept the Bruins last year in the first round, but still need to be careful and focused to accomplish that feat once more. The Giants have 13 players who were on the Memorial Cup winning team currently on their roster, but have also lost a few of the linchpins which got them there. The puck drops at the Coliseum at 7:30pm on Good Friday March 21st.
Three Stars
1. Evander Kane
2. Casey Pierro-Zabotel
3. Mark Santorelli
The Gordie Howe celebration was mostly lame, but some of the older players and vids with real hockey people in them were great. The vids with the vanoc guy and the two lame politicians frankly sucked, and Michael Buble? gimme a freaking break. Happy Birthday Gordie -- its a shame there were so many pretenders jumping on the bandwagon.
Giants Hunt Bears 5-3 - VGHQ (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/March_16_GiantsbkHuntbkBears_210.html)
Giants Hunt Bears
Vancouver 5 Chilliwack 3
Don Robinson
Both teams sat some of their best players tonight, playing their future playoff strategies close to the vest. Mark Santorelli was still in a race to have top points for a player in the West so was in the line-up, but Swedish sniper Oscar Moller and stalwart defenseman Nick Holden were out of the line-up. The Giants started their back-up ‘tender and sat Captain Spencer Machacek and sniper Michal Repik. Craig Schira was still out after being injured in the game versus Kamloops last night. The first was pretty evenly played with Chilliwack opening the scoring. Ryan Howse used his speed down the right wing and cut in to put a shot past Kraymer Barnstable on the short side. It was shot that the goalie should have had. Evander Kane tied it up on the PP about five minutes to uproarious applause from the 12,000 plus faithful, who showed up to celebrate Gordie Howe’s 80th. Casey Pierro-Zabotel made a beautiful cross ice feed which Kane deflected in from the slot past Matt Esposito. Brent Regner got the other assist. Santorelli scored his 26th of the season cutting across the net and putting over Barnstable’s out-stretched pad. Kraymer probably should have been able to get across to make the stop, but it wasn’t a weak goal.
Both teams lost energy in the second and played pretty boring hockey with neither squad going hard to the net. The Bruins were unlucky to get a couple past Barnstable as they fanned on a couple of decent opportunities, but the Giants did not seem interested at all in coming back in this one. The shots were 6/6 in the middle stanza and it showed with minimal penalties and no guts evident on either side of the puck. The home town boys picked it up in the third though, pressing hard in the offensive zone and forcing the Bruins to make mistakes. CPZ capitalised on some very early pressure 20 seconds into the third, taking a sweet feed from Kane and James Wright a line that was flying tonight. Mike Piluso then got an unassisted tally just 50 seconds (30 seconds later) into the final frame when the Bruins d-man dished the puck back to his goalie to cover up, but it was Piluso who was first to the side of the net and found the short side open, putting the puck up between the pad and the post to give the Giants their first lead of the game.
Santorelli accomplished pretty much the same feat less than a minute later when he took advantage of a bad give-away and put the puck past Barnstable, tying the game once again. It was the Bruins only shot of the final frame. In the middle of the third the Giants, who out-shot the visitors 20-1 in the third period, once again capitalised on their PP and once again it was Kane and CPZ combining to give Kane his second of the night. Jonny Blum, acting Captain for the game and as result getting to do all the festivities with Gordie Howe for his 80th birthday as well as taking the ceremonial face-off in the game, got the other assist. A few minutes later Blum put in the dagger as he blasted one from the point, beating Esposito with a wicked point shot. Once again it was Wright and CPZ with the assists on the play. Barnstable faced 14 shots on the night allowing three against, two of the suspect variety. The Giants better pray that Sexy doesn’t suffer any misadventures, or it could be ugly.
There was a bunch of fisticuffs late in the game and one when the game was still up in the air. The first glove droppage came at 5:27 of the third when the game was still tied. Garet Hunt and Partik Bhungal went at it with both players getting in their licks. It was a fairly even battle with Hunt maybe getting in a few more shots than Bhungal. The next fight happened very late in the game when the bears were trying to send a message for the playoffs, but were mostly tuned up. Liam Darragh took on Hunt at 18:44 and got soundly thrashed. Darragh took a few early and then returned a couple of blows before being rocked off his skates with a few hard ones from Hunt, going down in a heap and trying to headlock Hunt as he dropped. 26 seconds later was battle in which the Bruins player had no clue what he had got himself into and got demolished. Randy McNaught threw down with Chris Cloud and it wasn’t even close. McNaught spent most of the fight pulling away as he got tagged. Cloud not only connected with his free hand but also with the hand holding McNaught’s the jersey, which repeatedly battered McNaught with short jabs. Credit McNaught for trying to stay in there, but a few heavy blows later McNaught was down and out. I don’t think he even got one real shot in the whole fight. The final fight off the ensuing face-off was light-weight battle between David Robinson and James Henry. Henry is usually a decent battler, but not in this one as he had both arms tied up early and took the majority of the shots. Robinson is no fighter either and did not do much damage with his blows, but gets the decision for landing more.
The Giants were 2 for 4 on the PP, while the Bruins went 1 for 4. The home team out-shot the visitors from the valley 36-14 and in third completely controlled the play. Its pretty sad in my mind that the only shot the Bruins got in the third got past Barnstable, but whatever. The two teams will have another chance to go toe-to-toe in the same arena on Friday night when they square off in game one of the first round of the playoffs. Both squads will have their top players back in the line-up and ready to bring their game’s up a few notches. In the playoffs there are no shootouts, thank the good lord, and the teams will play OT five-on-five, the way hockey should be played. I’m looking forward to watching these teams battle it out. The Giants swept the Bruins last year in the first round, but still need to be careful and focused to accomplish that feat once more. The Giants have 13 players who were on the Memorial Cup winning team currently on their roster, but have also lost a few of the linchpins which got them there. The puck drops at the Coliseum at 7:30pm on Good Friday March 21st.
Three Stars
1. Evander Kane
2. Casey Pierro-Zabotel
3. Mark Santorelli