dondo
12-31-2008, 02:38 PM
We had a group from Mexico behind us who had never seen snow or a hockey game, so they were pretty ramped up. They got completely into the game enjoying every hit on the glass close to us, celebrating goals with Latin gusto and just taking in the game and the atmosphere. Several people came up to them afterward to thank them for making the game so fun.
They saw a pretty good game for a home town crowd to see. The home team lead the whole way, with the visitors getting close before the home team blew them out of water. They saw a couple/ three fights, some big hits and great goals scored on both sides. They even saw the worst ref in the league try to kill any momentum in the game, but failing to succeed.
Imagine your first hockey game sitting in the second row -- yee haa! Unfortunately now they are spoiled -- let's hope they don't take in a Nux game.
Moose Jaw came out very physical and it took a few minutes for the Giants to recover and a quick goal turned the whole start around.
__________________________________________________ _______________
How I saw it from the corner:
Giants Massacre Warriors
Vancouver 8 Moose Jaw 3
Don Robinson
Matt Kirk as the lone zebra did his damnedest to screw up yet another game, with some extremely soft calls and poor judgments. I’m still not sure how this joker keeps his job. The Giants started out as we figured they would against the Warriors who are currently sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with a four goal bulge. They let that lead slide in the second as the Warriors came within one of tying the game. A very late second period tally to restore a two goal cushion was all the Giants needed to play the game they should have played from the drop of the puck. Namely, an edgier game, battling for the puck and driving the net by opening the lane and not waiting for it to open for them. Slovak forward, Andrej Kudrna had 2G and 2A on the night and was unlucky not to get a star nod, as Casey Pierro-Zabotel who had a 2G and 1A garnered first star honours. The game itself was one of the more lively games this season as it had some nice hits and decent battles. There were a couple of fights as a few players gamely answered the bell when called upon. Combine the fact that there were a group of fans from Mexico sitting behind me who had never seen a hockey game before and were actively delighted by every hit, goal and rattle of the puck off the glass and the game was quite entertaining.
The Giants opened the scoring on a goal which frankly shouldn’t have been a goal. Lance Bouma came in off the left wing slipping the puck between 17 yr old goalie Deven Dubyk’s pads. A pretty soft goal, but it gave the Giants the lift they needed after Moose Jaw came out of the gate hard and heavy, pinning the home team in their own end of the ice for some time. Brent Regner got the lone assist on the play. The Giants padded that lead before the end of the period off of a nice goal from CPZ. Garry Nunn went to the net firing a point blank shot. The puck bounced off Dubyk’s pads and CPZ buried the loose puck from the slot. For the third game in a row the Giants failed to capitalize on early PP chances and although it did not hurt them this game, they could find themselves not able to come back versus some tougher teams coming up during their road trip in January, should it become a habit.
The Giants pushed their lead to 3-0, 44 seconds into the middle frame. Casey got his second goal of the game, off of a feed from Kudrna. Another good play going to the net and getting a stick on a loose puck. Kudrna got his first of the night at the 8:00 mark of the second. Regner got a point shot through and Kudrna tipped it past Dubyk. The Giants then suffered a series of consecutive soft calls against them by the so-called official on the ice. As usual, Matt Kirk was making petty calls driven not by the game, but by his own head. To be blunt if it were me, other than the delay of game calls I would not have called anything at all, as nothing warranted notice for disrupting a play or a scoring chance. Those calls generated momentum for the visitors and although the Warriors only managed one PP goal on the night, the ticky tack reffing played a huge part of their middle period surge. Credit sniper Joel Broda who showed why he’s the top goal scorer in the Dub, getting two tonight. Broda had a good night, even though his team struggled and his effort was out there every shift. Looking back I suppose that’s why he got the second star nod from the selectors. Martin Filo got the Warriors on the board with a nice shot from the slot. The Warriors goals came off of mainly missed assignments by the Giants. Broda padded that lead on the PP, which came off the back-end of the Warriors fourth PP opportunity in a row in the second. Broda then scored in the final minute of the period off of a beautiful shot top corner post and in. Mike Berube was back on a 2 on 1 covering the pass and leaving the shooter to the goalie as you are supposed to do, but Broda picked the top corner over the glove hand which Jamie Tucker was unable to get even with his normally quick glove. With gap closed to one goal the Giants brought the play back into the Moose Jaw zone crashing the slot and jostling for loose pucks. Mischa Fisenko was able to back-hand the puck past Dubyk after Bouma and Berube got the puck to the front of the net.
The second was pretty feisty, but not so much as the over-kill penalties indicated. Craig Schira answered the bell when Riley Reinbolt challenged him and got in a few really nice shots, before getting the take down. A pretty decent fight with Schira landing a couple of good rights and a few uppercuts late in the match. Manning was given a tripping call on the play, gifting the Warriors their fifth PP chance in a row. At the 20 minute mark of the second Bouma was given a game misconduct for being third man in. Fisenko was given a roughing and Chad Suer of the Warriors was given 5 and a game for fighting. In my opinion the situation did not get out of hand enough to warrant these calls. It was some late jostling and bit of roughing at the buzzer and not much more.
The Giants took over the game in the third getting their PP going and bringing more of Giants style of hockey to the fore. Mid-way through the period the Giants padded their lead when Todd Kennedy and Craig Cunningham went into grind-mode keeping the puck deep in the Warriors zone. The puck made its way back to Mike Berube at the point and he threaded a puck through traffic to tickle the twine. The puck looked as if it might have been deflected by a defender’s stick into the net. A couple of shifts later, Cunningham answered his own bell dropping mitts and lids with Clinton Atkinson. Craig held in there, but managed to get his clock cleaned as Atkinson landed several blows. Neither player went down though. The Giants broke the game open with their first PP marker of the contest. Adam Basford who had his moments, batting the puck in from the short side. Dubyk got a piece, but slid past the goal-line with his skate as Basford was animatedly at the side of the net pointing that the puck was in the net. James Wright and Schira garnered the assists, on the goal which came with the Warriors down two men due to that awful “delay of game” penalty. The Giants made it 8-3 on another late PP as Kudrna scored his second of the game, burying the puck behind Dubyk. Some nice work by CPZ and Manning set-up the marker. One more fight between Kennedy and Ryley Grantham to finish off the game. Grantham challenged Kennedy from behind and Kennedy turned and dropped his gloves, while Grantham still held onto his stick. Like most Kennedy fights it was pretty much a wrestling match. Grantham got the instigator and five for fighting, while Kennedy got just the five for fighting.
The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP, but squandered early chances with the man-advantage. The Warriors went 1 for 6, but used several consecutive PP chances to gain momentum in the second almost getting close enough to make a serious bid in the third. Mike Berube and Craig Schira both had good games as all of the OA players looked like the veterans they are, out there on the ice. It’s good to see Berube back in the line-up. Cunningham had a pretty solid game as he seems to bring it every shift. He was playing with Fisenko and Kennedy for the most part. An odd combo, but maybe Hayzer was trying to get those two a bit more motivated and energized. It was a fairly lively game, but other than a couple of isolated incidents the play was hard, but clean. It was nice to see actual fights as this season there have been so few as the officials break them up early or the guys don’t get set and go down quickly. I like fighting in hockey, it energizes the players and the crowd and any one who is a true fan of the game who says they don’t like fighting is lying. It was also nice to see a physical game with no real cheap shots being taken. It really is possible to play a hard nosed game without head-hunting, or trying to pluck a guy’s eye out with your stick. It was also good to see players aware of where they were going into the corner and not for the most part turning their back to the play.
The Warriors, who have struggled this season, were 4-6 coming into tonight’s game versus the Giants and looked to be turning their season around a bit. The Giants have New Years off before returning to the rink on the second for a tilt versus the Red Deer Rebels, and then the Blazers the next night. After that they have an two and a half week road trip through the Eastern Conference and will face the league leading red hot Calgary Hitmen in Calgary on January 16, the middle of a three games in three nights haul and part of a four games in five nights challenge. By this time they will have Kane and Blum back from the WJC, and Gallagher back from the U-17 tourney. The puck drops at the rink on Renfrew at 7:30pm Jan 2nd, 2009.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Joel Broda
3) Mike Berube
They saw a pretty good game for a home town crowd to see. The home team lead the whole way, with the visitors getting close before the home team blew them out of water. They saw a couple/ three fights, some big hits and great goals scored on both sides. They even saw the worst ref in the league try to kill any momentum in the game, but failing to succeed.
Imagine your first hockey game sitting in the second row -- yee haa! Unfortunately now they are spoiled -- let's hope they don't take in a Nux game.
Moose Jaw came out very physical and it took a few minutes for the Giants to recover and a quick goal turned the whole start around.
__________________________________________________ _______________
How I saw it from the corner:
Giants Massacre Warriors
Vancouver 8 Moose Jaw 3
Don Robinson
Matt Kirk as the lone zebra did his damnedest to screw up yet another game, with some extremely soft calls and poor judgments. I’m still not sure how this joker keeps his job. The Giants started out as we figured they would against the Warriors who are currently sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with a four goal bulge. They let that lead slide in the second as the Warriors came within one of tying the game. A very late second period tally to restore a two goal cushion was all the Giants needed to play the game they should have played from the drop of the puck. Namely, an edgier game, battling for the puck and driving the net by opening the lane and not waiting for it to open for them. Slovak forward, Andrej Kudrna had 2G and 2A on the night and was unlucky not to get a star nod, as Casey Pierro-Zabotel who had a 2G and 1A garnered first star honours. The game itself was one of the more lively games this season as it had some nice hits and decent battles. There were a couple of fights as a few players gamely answered the bell when called upon. Combine the fact that there were a group of fans from Mexico sitting behind me who had never seen a hockey game before and were actively delighted by every hit, goal and rattle of the puck off the glass and the game was quite entertaining.
The Giants opened the scoring on a goal which frankly shouldn’t have been a goal. Lance Bouma came in off the left wing slipping the puck between 17 yr old goalie Deven Dubyk’s pads. A pretty soft goal, but it gave the Giants the lift they needed after Moose Jaw came out of the gate hard and heavy, pinning the home team in their own end of the ice for some time. Brent Regner got the lone assist on the play. The Giants padded that lead before the end of the period off of a nice goal from CPZ. Garry Nunn went to the net firing a point blank shot. The puck bounced off Dubyk’s pads and CPZ buried the loose puck from the slot. For the third game in a row the Giants failed to capitalize on early PP chances and although it did not hurt them this game, they could find themselves not able to come back versus some tougher teams coming up during their road trip in January, should it become a habit.
The Giants pushed their lead to 3-0, 44 seconds into the middle frame. Casey got his second goal of the game, off of a feed from Kudrna. Another good play going to the net and getting a stick on a loose puck. Kudrna got his first of the night at the 8:00 mark of the second. Regner got a point shot through and Kudrna tipped it past Dubyk. The Giants then suffered a series of consecutive soft calls against them by the so-called official on the ice. As usual, Matt Kirk was making petty calls driven not by the game, but by his own head. To be blunt if it were me, other than the delay of game calls I would not have called anything at all, as nothing warranted notice for disrupting a play or a scoring chance. Those calls generated momentum for the visitors and although the Warriors only managed one PP goal on the night, the ticky tack reffing played a huge part of their middle period surge. Credit sniper Joel Broda who showed why he’s the top goal scorer in the Dub, getting two tonight. Broda had a good night, even though his team struggled and his effort was out there every shift. Looking back I suppose that’s why he got the second star nod from the selectors. Martin Filo got the Warriors on the board with a nice shot from the slot. The Warriors goals came off of mainly missed assignments by the Giants. Broda padded that lead on the PP, which came off the back-end of the Warriors fourth PP opportunity in a row in the second. Broda then scored in the final minute of the period off of a beautiful shot top corner post and in. Mike Berube was back on a 2 on 1 covering the pass and leaving the shooter to the goalie as you are supposed to do, but Broda picked the top corner over the glove hand which Jamie Tucker was unable to get even with his normally quick glove. With gap closed to one goal the Giants brought the play back into the Moose Jaw zone crashing the slot and jostling for loose pucks. Mischa Fisenko was able to back-hand the puck past Dubyk after Bouma and Berube got the puck to the front of the net.
The second was pretty feisty, but not so much as the over-kill penalties indicated. Craig Schira answered the bell when Riley Reinbolt challenged him and got in a few really nice shots, before getting the take down. A pretty decent fight with Schira landing a couple of good rights and a few uppercuts late in the match. Manning was given a tripping call on the play, gifting the Warriors their fifth PP chance in a row. At the 20 minute mark of the second Bouma was given a game misconduct for being third man in. Fisenko was given a roughing and Chad Suer of the Warriors was given 5 and a game for fighting. In my opinion the situation did not get out of hand enough to warrant these calls. It was some late jostling and bit of roughing at the buzzer and not much more.
The Giants took over the game in the third getting their PP going and bringing more of Giants style of hockey to the fore. Mid-way through the period the Giants padded their lead when Todd Kennedy and Craig Cunningham went into grind-mode keeping the puck deep in the Warriors zone. The puck made its way back to Mike Berube at the point and he threaded a puck through traffic to tickle the twine. The puck looked as if it might have been deflected by a defender’s stick into the net. A couple of shifts later, Cunningham answered his own bell dropping mitts and lids with Clinton Atkinson. Craig held in there, but managed to get his clock cleaned as Atkinson landed several blows. Neither player went down though. The Giants broke the game open with their first PP marker of the contest. Adam Basford who had his moments, batting the puck in from the short side. Dubyk got a piece, but slid past the goal-line with his skate as Basford was animatedly at the side of the net pointing that the puck was in the net. James Wright and Schira garnered the assists, on the goal which came with the Warriors down two men due to that awful “delay of game” penalty. The Giants made it 8-3 on another late PP as Kudrna scored his second of the game, burying the puck behind Dubyk. Some nice work by CPZ and Manning set-up the marker. One more fight between Kennedy and Ryley Grantham to finish off the game. Grantham challenged Kennedy from behind and Kennedy turned and dropped his gloves, while Grantham still held onto his stick. Like most Kennedy fights it was pretty much a wrestling match. Grantham got the instigator and five for fighting, while Kennedy got just the five for fighting.
The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP, but squandered early chances with the man-advantage. The Warriors went 1 for 6, but used several consecutive PP chances to gain momentum in the second almost getting close enough to make a serious bid in the third. Mike Berube and Craig Schira both had good games as all of the OA players looked like the veterans they are, out there on the ice. It’s good to see Berube back in the line-up. Cunningham had a pretty solid game as he seems to bring it every shift. He was playing with Fisenko and Kennedy for the most part. An odd combo, but maybe Hayzer was trying to get those two a bit more motivated and energized. It was a fairly lively game, but other than a couple of isolated incidents the play was hard, but clean. It was nice to see actual fights as this season there have been so few as the officials break them up early or the guys don’t get set and go down quickly. I like fighting in hockey, it energizes the players and the crowd and any one who is a true fan of the game who says they don’t like fighting is lying. It was also nice to see a physical game with no real cheap shots being taken. It really is possible to play a hard nosed game without head-hunting, or trying to pluck a guy’s eye out with your stick. It was also good to see players aware of where they were going into the corner and not for the most part turning their back to the play.
The Warriors, who have struggled this season, were 4-6 coming into tonight’s game versus the Giants and looked to be turning their season around a bit. The Giants have New Years off before returning to the rink on the second for a tilt versus the Red Deer Rebels, and then the Blazers the next night. After that they have an two and a half week road trip through the Eastern Conference and will face the league leading red hot Calgary Hitmen in Calgary on January 16, the middle of a three games in three nights haul and part of a four games in five nights challenge. By this time they will have Kane and Blum back from the WJC, and Gallagher back from the U-17 tourney. The puck drops at the rink on Renfrew at 7:30pm Jan 2nd, 2009.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Joel Broda
3) Mike Berube