dondo
01-03-2009, 02:33 AM
I did not realize what an obstructive team the Rebels were. Their fans must just hate watching this kind of hockey game after game with no success and no entertainment value. This was tough recap to write and although it seems like I am exaggerating here, those who were there probably feel the same way.
The thing is that the Rebels aren't a horrible team talent-wise so why do they play this kind of crap hockey? Simply awful hockey game, thankful we got the win -- a loss after watching this would be unbearable..
here's how I saw it from the corner:
Giants Muck Rebels
Vancouver 2 Red Deer 1 (OT)
Don Robinson
The Giants encountered a tenacious opponent that played on the edge and frequently over it. It’s a shame the ref tonight didn’t think so as he seemed to have only two penalties he thought he was able to call, checking from behind and slashing, oh and maybe a couple of coincidental roughings when it suited him. He blatantly ignored any obstructive penalty and that might have been alright had the two teams playing been two high flyers, gutting it out and playing tough hockey, but when one of those teams is one of the most insufferably clutchy teams, then it makes no sense. The Giants had two PP opportunities tonight, one of which was their only regulation goal. They should have had eight to ten PP chances tonight as they were being mugged all over the ice by the obstruction-happy Rebels. The Red Deer squad literally hung on and tackled and hooked and grasped their way to a point tonight and it sickened me. Not only is it the most gawd-awful boring hockey to watch, it is also completely against any and all rules should the ref in question choose to call any of it. It was garbage hockey pure and simple, and the Rebels coach should be ashamed of the display as within his team are some real quality players and a lot of decent clean defensive play, but the pick-plays, obstructions and out and out grabbing and hauling down to the ice is criminal and has no place in the WHL. Devin Klein seems to be of the new type of WHL ref who have decided that they will call nothing except some rough stuff and everyone will think they are cool, but tonight he allowed a team which had a clear ratio of 30 :: 4 in the interference department ply their brand of garbage hockey without punishment and that is not cool.
The game opened with some big hits on both sides of the puck. Like some of the Giants recent games the boys did not come out flying, but were pinned in their own zone for the better part of the first. At first it looked like some good close-checking, until I began to noticed the arms wrapped around bodies, the sticks entwined in legs and deliberate acts of taking out players before they were able to even get into the mix. In short the Rebels ran clear interference in every one of its insidious forms and they were not once called on it.
Lance Bouma had some huge hits. Neither Tyson Sexsmith nor Darcy Kuemper had to make any big stops because neither team were able to get quality shots on net. Even when the home team battled to get to the front of the net they were frequently tackled before they could grab a rebound. The second was pretty much a carbon copy of the first with the ref turning a blind eye and the Rebels being allowed to ply their Minnesota-like trade. Funnily enough this kind of hockey isn’t even getting them the wins as they sit just above bottom of the barrel Moose Jaw in the East. By contrast - the Warriors, who gave the fans a great game the other night in Vancouver, trashed the Blazers tonight 8-4. They are a team which lacks a strong defensive game, but man are they fun to watch and Joel Broda is a sniper’s sniper. The Rebels Landon Ferraro, a very skilled forward himself, must be counting the days before he can get back to playing real exciting hockey and not this trappy pap, anywhere but Red Deer. The Rebels brought a nice physical game though and were they not to have been so clutchy, or had a ref that made them pay for their indiscretions, they might have put on not only an entertaining game, but a far more effective one in the process. Sadly they relied on obstruction to get a point and it’s a blessing they didn’t suck out two in the process. We cannot reward this type of crap. And we must punish it vehemently.
The Giants finally broke the goose-egg in the third on their second PP of the game. Off the face-off the puck went across to Brent Regner from Casey Pierro-Zabotel. Regner dished it off to Craig Schira in the high slot and the acting captain made no mistake ripping it high stick side on Kuemper. It was probably one of the first shots of the game by the G-Men which wasn’t hampered by a hook or hold. The Rebels pulled their goalie with about 1:40 left to go in the game and shamefully the Giants failed to get the puck up the ice when they had the chance the Rebels crashed the crease area with the majority of their players and the puck got past Sexsmith for the tying goal. Insult to injury after struggling through their crap all night. Thankfully this embarrassment on ice didn’t go to a shoot-out, other-wise I might have had to pull an Oedipus and pluck my eyes out. Mischa Fisenko scored the OT winner with beautiful shot from face-off circle which picked the far top corner, getting the Giants the win.
I know it sounds like I might just be a homer here and just complaining about shoddy reffing, but really it was clear that the ref had no intention of calling obstruction-type penalties and even if the Giants had battled harder through the traffic, they probably still would not have drawn the penalty. In the end the reffing was balanced with respect to calling the same penalties on both sides of the puck, but completely out of whack with regard to the frequency of those kinds of infractions between the two teams. Maybe I was just being sensitive and other folks will think that it was just good defensive hockey, but you know they would be wrong, because the clear and blatant obstructive game that the Rebels played would even have a blind referee raising his arm.
The Giants went 1 for 2 on the PP, while they held the visitors to 0 for 3. The G-Men out-shot the visitors 33-20. The hockey was boring as hell except for some decent hits. The Giants needed to battle a bit harder for the puck and try to point up how much they were being illegally hampered, as they did not compete to their level or keep their feet moving consistently and got caught waving at the puck a bit. Their passing was piss poor, as there were pucks bouncing off sticks, so when they did get a decent rush through the neutral zone they were not able to get those crisp passes to connect and as a result played into the Rebels hands as badly as the ref did. I am really hoping for a better game tomorrow when the Blazers come to town either pissed off at their lop-sided loss to the Warriors, or lacking confidence after the loss. You never know which Blazers team will show up this season. At times they look like they can dominate any team in the league and other games they’ll appear more like they are something better suited to sucking plankton of the bottom of the sea. Regardless the game will be the Giants last home game in a long time as they go out on the road for a two-and-a-half week Eastern swing. The puck drops at 7pm.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Mikhail Fisenko
3) Landon Ferraro
The thing is that the Rebels aren't a horrible team talent-wise so why do they play this kind of crap hockey? Simply awful hockey game, thankful we got the win -- a loss after watching this would be unbearable..
here's how I saw it from the corner:
Giants Muck Rebels
Vancouver 2 Red Deer 1 (OT)
Don Robinson
The Giants encountered a tenacious opponent that played on the edge and frequently over it. It’s a shame the ref tonight didn’t think so as he seemed to have only two penalties he thought he was able to call, checking from behind and slashing, oh and maybe a couple of coincidental roughings when it suited him. He blatantly ignored any obstructive penalty and that might have been alright had the two teams playing been two high flyers, gutting it out and playing tough hockey, but when one of those teams is one of the most insufferably clutchy teams, then it makes no sense. The Giants had two PP opportunities tonight, one of which was their only regulation goal. They should have had eight to ten PP chances tonight as they were being mugged all over the ice by the obstruction-happy Rebels. The Red Deer squad literally hung on and tackled and hooked and grasped their way to a point tonight and it sickened me. Not only is it the most gawd-awful boring hockey to watch, it is also completely against any and all rules should the ref in question choose to call any of it. It was garbage hockey pure and simple, and the Rebels coach should be ashamed of the display as within his team are some real quality players and a lot of decent clean defensive play, but the pick-plays, obstructions and out and out grabbing and hauling down to the ice is criminal and has no place in the WHL. Devin Klein seems to be of the new type of WHL ref who have decided that they will call nothing except some rough stuff and everyone will think they are cool, but tonight he allowed a team which had a clear ratio of 30 :: 4 in the interference department ply their brand of garbage hockey without punishment and that is not cool.
The game opened with some big hits on both sides of the puck. Like some of the Giants recent games the boys did not come out flying, but were pinned in their own zone for the better part of the first. At first it looked like some good close-checking, until I began to noticed the arms wrapped around bodies, the sticks entwined in legs and deliberate acts of taking out players before they were able to even get into the mix. In short the Rebels ran clear interference in every one of its insidious forms and they were not once called on it.
Lance Bouma had some huge hits. Neither Tyson Sexsmith nor Darcy Kuemper had to make any big stops because neither team were able to get quality shots on net. Even when the home team battled to get to the front of the net they were frequently tackled before they could grab a rebound. The second was pretty much a carbon copy of the first with the ref turning a blind eye and the Rebels being allowed to ply their Minnesota-like trade. Funnily enough this kind of hockey isn’t even getting them the wins as they sit just above bottom of the barrel Moose Jaw in the East. By contrast - the Warriors, who gave the fans a great game the other night in Vancouver, trashed the Blazers tonight 8-4. They are a team which lacks a strong defensive game, but man are they fun to watch and Joel Broda is a sniper’s sniper. The Rebels Landon Ferraro, a very skilled forward himself, must be counting the days before he can get back to playing real exciting hockey and not this trappy pap, anywhere but Red Deer. The Rebels brought a nice physical game though and were they not to have been so clutchy, or had a ref that made them pay for their indiscretions, they might have put on not only an entertaining game, but a far more effective one in the process. Sadly they relied on obstruction to get a point and it’s a blessing they didn’t suck out two in the process. We cannot reward this type of crap. And we must punish it vehemently.
The Giants finally broke the goose-egg in the third on their second PP of the game. Off the face-off the puck went across to Brent Regner from Casey Pierro-Zabotel. Regner dished it off to Craig Schira in the high slot and the acting captain made no mistake ripping it high stick side on Kuemper. It was probably one of the first shots of the game by the G-Men which wasn’t hampered by a hook or hold. The Rebels pulled their goalie with about 1:40 left to go in the game and shamefully the Giants failed to get the puck up the ice when they had the chance the Rebels crashed the crease area with the majority of their players and the puck got past Sexsmith for the tying goal. Insult to injury after struggling through their crap all night. Thankfully this embarrassment on ice didn’t go to a shoot-out, other-wise I might have had to pull an Oedipus and pluck my eyes out. Mischa Fisenko scored the OT winner with beautiful shot from face-off circle which picked the far top corner, getting the Giants the win.
I know it sounds like I might just be a homer here and just complaining about shoddy reffing, but really it was clear that the ref had no intention of calling obstruction-type penalties and even if the Giants had battled harder through the traffic, they probably still would not have drawn the penalty. In the end the reffing was balanced with respect to calling the same penalties on both sides of the puck, but completely out of whack with regard to the frequency of those kinds of infractions between the two teams. Maybe I was just being sensitive and other folks will think that it was just good defensive hockey, but you know they would be wrong, because the clear and blatant obstructive game that the Rebels played would even have a blind referee raising his arm.
The Giants went 1 for 2 on the PP, while they held the visitors to 0 for 3. The G-Men out-shot the visitors 33-20. The hockey was boring as hell except for some decent hits. The Giants needed to battle a bit harder for the puck and try to point up how much they were being illegally hampered, as they did not compete to their level or keep their feet moving consistently and got caught waving at the puck a bit. Their passing was piss poor, as there were pucks bouncing off sticks, so when they did get a decent rush through the neutral zone they were not able to get those crisp passes to connect and as a result played into the Rebels hands as badly as the ref did. I am really hoping for a better game tomorrow when the Blazers come to town either pissed off at their lop-sided loss to the Warriors, or lacking confidence after the loss. You never know which Blazers team will show up this season. At times they look like they can dominate any team in the league and other games they’ll appear more like they are something better suited to sucking plankton of the bottom of the sea. Regardless the game will be the Giants last home game in a long time as they go out on the road for a two-and-a-half week Eastern swing. The puck drops at 7pm.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Mikhail Fisenko
3) Landon Ferraro