dondo
10-16-2008, 12:58 AM
I did not like this game. Very frustrating to watch from the get-go, boring as hell and with Kirk being the only official it was going to go bad, you just knew it.
The team's effort was sub-par as they stopped doing what made them so successful early in this season. Namely going to the net, putting traffic in front of the net and sending in two forecheckers to pinch the offensive zone. The team tonight laid back and floated the whole game, biding their time until they let their lead slip.
I hated this game. Games like this will eventually give me a coronary.
how I saw it from the corner
Tips Slip By Giants
Vancouver 3 Everett 4 OT/SO
Don Robinson
The Giants let two two goal leads slip tonight due to bad luck, shoddy reffing and laziness. The home team seemed to believe that they would simply be able to take it easy and get the win. Goals had come so easy for them lately that they would just be able to throw a puck near the net and it would miraculously go in. What they didn’t recall was how much effort and energy it took to get those goals and what going to the net and taking smart shots had done for them. The Tips were their usual grabby interfering selves and the ref did not call them on a myriad of hooks and holds and pick plays which they ran like clockwork all night long. The Giants struggled in the face-off circle in clutch moments, and did not have the kind of puck hunger the fans have come to expect. They gave up on plays fairly easily and sadly it was not really a surprise when they let their lead slip. A huge amount of shots were trying to pick the corner and missing badly. The Giants lacked a bit of cohesion and they had trouble handling the puck. Part of that could have been due to the fact that they had the blade of a stick frequently imbedded in their armpit. The Giants went 2 for 3 on their limited power play chances. The game as it usually does when the Giants play the Tips, even a lack-lustre team such as their current roster, was devoid of emotion and that simply played into the Tips hands. The Everett squad thrives on hanging around and getting a few lucky bounces to go their way to tie games and that was the script for tonight as well.
The Giants managed to put one past Shayne Barrie, 10:53 into the first with James Wright driving hard down the right wing, cutting to the net and forcing the puck past Barrie. The goal was unassisted and was one of the few times the Giants went hard to the net. Barrie was fairly solid, but the Giants did not make it difficult for him missing the net with their best chances and putting it off the logo with some fairly ordinary shots. He faced 41 shots of which four might have been real scoring chances as there was no traffic and no fight in front of the net as there had been the past few games. This is not the Giants team that the fans want to watch. Win or lose there has to be a hell of a lot better effort than that.
Up by one going into the second the Giants continued to play perimeter hockey and only on their limited man-advantage chances did the fans see flashes of the team we all know they can be. The G-Men managed to put another one past Barrie in the second on their first PP of the game. A quintessential Beach penalty, roughing in front of the net after the puck had been frozen. This time he went to the penalty box solo, when most times he goads someone into joining him as the league seems to cater to this pest. The Giants capitalised, going up by two, when Jonny Blum snuck in from the point and buried the puck in the open side. Some great work by Mike Piluso and CPZ threading the needle made the goal possible. Late in the second the Giants thought they had gone up by three when a goal was waived off. The goal looked pretty good and the goal light went on, but Matt Kirk, who was his usual exceptionally useless self tonight, waived it off. The next shift Adam Basford was singled out for elbowing out of a multi player scrum on the end boards in the Tips zone. After calling virtually nothing all night that was an extremely weak one to call and not call both.
The Tips, as they often do in the third period clawed their way back after they had lulled their opponent into a stupor. Kyle Beach was cheating toward the neutral zone when an errant pass by the Giants at the Tips blue-line bounced out onto his stick. He raced down the ice, being trailed by Craig Schira who was hustling almost but not quite catching up up, and wristed a low hard shot just inside the corner post. A shot that Sexy probably should have had. The Giants got back their two goal lead with time ticking down and just over three minutes left in the game. It was their second PP goal of the night as they made the most of their PP opportunities going 2 for 3 with their limited man-advantage chances. Mike Piluso got the goal off of Evander Kane and Schira. 23 seconds later the Giants were pinned in their own zone, Kellan Tochkin threw the puck into a scrum at the front of the net and the puck pin-balled past Sexsmith. An assist was added after the fact to Byron Froese. An unlucky and cheesy goal which turned the Tips game around and caused the Giants team to sag deeper into their skates. After that, getting within one, the Tips began to bring their game up a notch or four. The Giants sagged and scrambled and looked ready to collapse. I thought they had learned their lesson in the Kamloops game where they let a dominating lead slip, but apparently they didn’t as they already looked defeated still up by one goal. They sat back and allowed the Tips to find some confidence.
The Tips pulled their goalie and kept the Giants pinned in their own zone. The refs completely missed the fact that the Tips put out 7 men on the ice when they pulled their goalie and a quick whistle saved their bacon. Didn’t I say Kirk was his usual useless self? Its not fair to just blame the ref though, as the Giants could not win a face-off in their own zone those last couple of minutes and could not get up ice with control of the puck to put it into the empty net. The script then followed its usual pattern when the home team is sagging and the away team ramping up. The away team ties the game with less than a minute to go in the game off of another sloppy goal during a goalmouth scramble. Ugly as it was it still counts.
In OT neither team had any interest in trying to win so we went to a protracted shoot-out which began with the most inept zamboni driving trying to perform a dry scrape, but instead spreading piles off snow all over the ice and then the other zamboni comes out and misses half of it and has to come back out for a few more passes. The shootout was delayed almost 15 minutes as the zamboni ballet of confusion continued, elicting derisive laughter from the gathered crowd. The shootout was, well a shootout. Lame in its extremity and still the worst way to get a W. The Bettman two-step went to eighteen shooters (the majority of them missing) before the Tips completed their come-back with a goal by Matt Ius when shooter number nine, Blum, for the Giants failed to score. The Giants are still “undefeated” in regulation with 3 SOLs and 7 Ws, but in reality they have won seven, lost three and got points in their three losses. They are now sole holders of the top position in the dub with the Swift Current Broncos losing to the Blades tonight.
The Giants went 2 for 3 on the PP, while holding the Tips to 0 for 3. The Giants out shot the Tips 41-25, but in the end took the loss. The Vancouver squad now has a full week off before embarking on a three game roadsie to the Eastern Conference, starting in Edmonton versus the Oil Kings on Oct 22nd. One hopes that Hay will relent and allow the boys to practice the shootout as they cannot allow themselves to lose those points. Three shoot-outs and three shoot-out losses speaks to me of a need to practice and work strategies. At the very least practice it for the sake of goalies who look shell-shocked during the freaking thing. Hay seemed to think Sexy was solid tonight, but I felt he was soft and weak and allowed at least two very weak goals. The Tips did not put that much pressure on him and he saw most every shot. The puck drops in Edmonton at Rexall Place at 7:00pm MDT.
Three Stars
1) Mike Piluso
2) Shayne Barrie
3) Kyle Beach
The team's effort was sub-par as they stopped doing what made them so successful early in this season. Namely going to the net, putting traffic in front of the net and sending in two forecheckers to pinch the offensive zone. The team tonight laid back and floated the whole game, biding their time until they let their lead slip.
I hated this game. Games like this will eventually give me a coronary.
how I saw it from the corner
Tips Slip By Giants
Vancouver 3 Everett 4 OT/SO
Don Robinson
The Giants let two two goal leads slip tonight due to bad luck, shoddy reffing and laziness. The home team seemed to believe that they would simply be able to take it easy and get the win. Goals had come so easy for them lately that they would just be able to throw a puck near the net and it would miraculously go in. What they didn’t recall was how much effort and energy it took to get those goals and what going to the net and taking smart shots had done for them. The Tips were their usual grabby interfering selves and the ref did not call them on a myriad of hooks and holds and pick plays which they ran like clockwork all night long. The Giants struggled in the face-off circle in clutch moments, and did not have the kind of puck hunger the fans have come to expect. They gave up on plays fairly easily and sadly it was not really a surprise when they let their lead slip. A huge amount of shots were trying to pick the corner and missing badly. The Giants lacked a bit of cohesion and they had trouble handling the puck. Part of that could have been due to the fact that they had the blade of a stick frequently imbedded in their armpit. The Giants went 2 for 3 on their limited power play chances. The game as it usually does when the Giants play the Tips, even a lack-lustre team such as their current roster, was devoid of emotion and that simply played into the Tips hands. The Everett squad thrives on hanging around and getting a few lucky bounces to go their way to tie games and that was the script for tonight as well.
The Giants managed to put one past Shayne Barrie, 10:53 into the first with James Wright driving hard down the right wing, cutting to the net and forcing the puck past Barrie. The goal was unassisted and was one of the few times the Giants went hard to the net. Barrie was fairly solid, but the Giants did not make it difficult for him missing the net with their best chances and putting it off the logo with some fairly ordinary shots. He faced 41 shots of which four might have been real scoring chances as there was no traffic and no fight in front of the net as there had been the past few games. This is not the Giants team that the fans want to watch. Win or lose there has to be a hell of a lot better effort than that.
Up by one going into the second the Giants continued to play perimeter hockey and only on their limited man-advantage chances did the fans see flashes of the team we all know they can be. The G-Men managed to put another one past Barrie in the second on their first PP of the game. A quintessential Beach penalty, roughing in front of the net after the puck had been frozen. This time he went to the penalty box solo, when most times he goads someone into joining him as the league seems to cater to this pest. The Giants capitalised, going up by two, when Jonny Blum snuck in from the point and buried the puck in the open side. Some great work by Mike Piluso and CPZ threading the needle made the goal possible. Late in the second the Giants thought they had gone up by three when a goal was waived off. The goal looked pretty good and the goal light went on, but Matt Kirk, who was his usual exceptionally useless self tonight, waived it off. The next shift Adam Basford was singled out for elbowing out of a multi player scrum on the end boards in the Tips zone. After calling virtually nothing all night that was an extremely weak one to call and not call both.
The Tips, as they often do in the third period clawed their way back after they had lulled their opponent into a stupor. Kyle Beach was cheating toward the neutral zone when an errant pass by the Giants at the Tips blue-line bounced out onto his stick. He raced down the ice, being trailed by Craig Schira who was hustling almost but not quite catching up up, and wristed a low hard shot just inside the corner post. A shot that Sexy probably should have had. The Giants got back their two goal lead with time ticking down and just over three minutes left in the game. It was their second PP goal of the night as they made the most of their PP opportunities going 2 for 3 with their limited man-advantage chances. Mike Piluso got the goal off of Evander Kane and Schira. 23 seconds later the Giants were pinned in their own zone, Kellan Tochkin threw the puck into a scrum at the front of the net and the puck pin-balled past Sexsmith. An assist was added after the fact to Byron Froese. An unlucky and cheesy goal which turned the Tips game around and caused the Giants team to sag deeper into their skates. After that, getting within one, the Tips began to bring their game up a notch or four. The Giants sagged and scrambled and looked ready to collapse. I thought they had learned their lesson in the Kamloops game where they let a dominating lead slip, but apparently they didn’t as they already looked defeated still up by one goal. They sat back and allowed the Tips to find some confidence.
The Tips pulled their goalie and kept the Giants pinned in their own zone. The refs completely missed the fact that the Tips put out 7 men on the ice when they pulled their goalie and a quick whistle saved their bacon. Didn’t I say Kirk was his usual useless self? Its not fair to just blame the ref though, as the Giants could not win a face-off in their own zone those last couple of minutes and could not get up ice with control of the puck to put it into the empty net. The script then followed its usual pattern when the home team is sagging and the away team ramping up. The away team ties the game with less than a minute to go in the game off of another sloppy goal during a goalmouth scramble. Ugly as it was it still counts.
In OT neither team had any interest in trying to win so we went to a protracted shoot-out which began with the most inept zamboni driving trying to perform a dry scrape, but instead spreading piles off snow all over the ice and then the other zamboni comes out and misses half of it and has to come back out for a few more passes. The shootout was delayed almost 15 minutes as the zamboni ballet of confusion continued, elicting derisive laughter from the gathered crowd. The shootout was, well a shootout. Lame in its extremity and still the worst way to get a W. The Bettman two-step went to eighteen shooters (the majority of them missing) before the Tips completed their come-back with a goal by Matt Ius when shooter number nine, Blum, for the Giants failed to score. The Giants are still “undefeated” in regulation with 3 SOLs and 7 Ws, but in reality they have won seven, lost three and got points in their three losses. They are now sole holders of the top position in the dub with the Swift Current Broncos losing to the Blades tonight.
The Giants went 2 for 3 on the PP, while holding the Tips to 0 for 3. The Giants out shot the Tips 41-25, but in the end took the loss. The Vancouver squad now has a full week off before embarking on a three game roadsie to the Eastern Conference, starting in Edmonton versus the Oil Kings on Oct 22nd. One hopes that Hay will relent and allow the boys to practice the shootout as they cannot allow themselves to lose those points. Three shoot-outs and three shoot-out losses speaks to me of a need to practice and work strategies. At the very least practice it for the sake of goalies who look shell-shocked during the freaking thing. Hay seemed to think Sexy was solid tonight, but I felt he was soft and weak and allowed at least two very weak goals. The Tips did not put that much pressure on him and he saw most every shot. The puck drops in Edmonton at Rexall Place at 7:00pm MDT.
Three Stars
1) Mike Piluso
2) Shayne Barrie
3) Kyle Beach