dondo
01-14-2009, 12:52 AM
Tyler Ennis had a very good game and was unlucky not have had more points. Ryan Holfeld started out looking literally like a Giants killer, but CPZ buried his chances and made some great moves to beat the stalwart goaltender. Sadly Holfeld's team deserted him in the third and the poor goalie got shredded unceremoniously.
CPZ with four goals on the night was the big story as the guy made big plays to find open ice and ripple the twine. No cheezie goals tonight, all were well earned as both 'tenders made a bid for a star nod through two periods. Great great game and the Giants did not give in and rolled on like a machine.
Ref Skeletor (erm Skilliter) lost his handle on the game and the third was a bit of a petty display of refs who don't know how to handle unique situations.
Here's how I heard it:
Giants Lash Tigers
Vancouver 6 Medicine Hat 2
Don Robinson
The score is not indicative of how close the game was for the majority of tonight’s tilt. Ryan Holfeld was huge in first, great in second and was abandoned in the third and suffered a fate he shouldn’t have had to the degree he suffered. There were no bad goals tonight as both teams tickled the twine with pin-point accuracy and elite plays around the net. Tyson Sexsmith was no slouch himself tonight as he calmly turned away the puck early, matching Holfeld save for save. Casey-Pierro Zabotel padded his league leading points stats, bulging his goal column with four goals as he notched a hat trick, plus one. Evander Kane was already in Oshawa for tomorrow night’s Top Prospects game and was out of the line-up. He’ll miss the game in Edmonton, but will be ready to go, if a little tired and a whole lot exhilarated, in Calgary on Saturday. The Giants two euros were back in the line-up. Both contributed on the score-sheet and were major factors in the Giants win. Andrej Kudrna had three assists, while Mischa Fisenko, who Chad Scharff was saying has probably the best wrist shot in the Dub (which is saying something), scored the Giants first goal, a game-tying marker in latter minutes of the second period. Garry Nunn added two helpers of his own, rattling one hard off the iron in third and was unlucky not to get a much needed goal for himself. Blum had a goal and a helper while struggling with strep throat, playing well below 100% on the night.
The first was a tightly contested period as it was not only end to end rushes, but instead of the kind of end to end some games have, where the puck is turned back instantly, each squad had determined forays in the other guy’s zone, sparkling chances being turned away by the two ‘tenders and good forecheck pressure. Minimal penalties of the tripping/ hooking variety, as both teams were using their speed to advantage and if a player got caught standing they were not able to react quickly enough to keep position. Not much physical play, but neither team backed down either. Exciting, fast, intense hockey brought by both teams throughout the first. The Giants ended up out shooting the home squad 12-5 in the opening frame, but a lot of those shots came late in the period.
The second threatened to be a carbon copy of the first, with less penalties and no goals until the Tigers broke the dual goose-eggs with a short-handed rush coming off of some sloppy low percentage play with the puck by the Giants with the man-advantage. Tyler Ennis used his speed with Colton Grant and dished the puck across to Grant on an odd-man rush. Grant buried the puck in the open side. Just under four minutes later Vancouver got on the score sheet in a very encouraging way. Fisenko was checked in the corner, but picked himself up and cut out to the face-off circle carrying the puck rifling a wicked wrister under the crossbar. The play was reminiscent of another Giant sniper of old, as the goal had a very Brule-esque flavour to it. Speaking of which Brule had a goal and an assist tonight playing for the Edmonton Oilers and now has three points in two games since being called up from the farm. The next shift the Giants got the lead for the first time in the game and it was lead from which they would never look back. CPZ scored his first of four, finding some open ice and taking a nice cross-ice feed from Neil Manning. Jon Blum got the puck to Manning who saw CPZ on the far side and blasted a pass across the rink. CPZ buried the puck with wicked one-timer. The goal came in the last minute of the second, a time you don’t want to give up any goal, let alone go-ahead goal.
The Giants got their first PP goal in the third when the refs decided to take over the game with a bunch of penalty calls after stuffing the whistles in their pockets in the second. Early in the third Brent Regner was mugged from behind and Mike Berube stepped in to defend his team-mate. Berube, Regner, Cameron and Stamphor got fighting majors, with Cameron getting two for roughing. That was the beginning of the zebras losing control of the game as they began to call everything they had previously allowed in an attempt to get control. That for me is bad reffing. Call the game before you, not the one in your head and be consistent throughout the game. Casey got his second of the game with the Giants first PP marker. Garry Nunn and Kudrna worked the puck to CPZ who made no mistake putting it past Holfeld with the man-advantage. The Tigers got one back on a PP chance of their own. Defenseman Jace Coyle found some open ice and powered the puck past Sexsmith. Casey kept it rolling with a beautiful move around the net. Kudrna got the puck to the front of the net and Casey stick-handled around Holfeld slipping it into the goal. His fourth came off a goal originally awarded to Kudrna, but a review later showed that CPZ got to the puck before it went into the net. Nunn got the other assist on the play. Late in the game Blum scored the Giants second PP marker off of Nick Ross and James Wright.
The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP, while the Tigers were 1 for 7. The Giants eventually out shot the home team 30-27 in a game where the Giants and Tigers played pretty evenly until the end when the Tigers lost composure and abandoned their goaltender. Willie Desjardin, the Tigers coach, was sent to take an early shower when the refs were in unsportsmanlike conduct penalty mode and felt that the coach did not show them respect. McCue and Holfeld were both given misconducts as tempers flared and the Tigers lost all control of the game. Holfeld was very frustrated by the end, and who could blame him, as he took an ill-advised interference penalty in the final minute.
The guy who selected the three stars is either a homer or an idiot, but more likely Linden Vey’s Dad or Uncle, because there is no way in hell that that player deserved consideration let alone a bogus second star. A –3, no PIMs, no points .. some forays, but if you have to give it to a Tiger, then first of all make it a third (it was 6-2 blow out after all) and secondly choose a player who did something. Ennis comes to mind, or even Jace Coyle or Mark Isherwood, but Vey? No freaking way. In my mind when you have multiple, multiple point players on the visitors side and your team loses by four goals, home team stars should not enter into it. I think its criminal when someone’s agenda is forwarded by stupid gratuitous star selections, it cheapens it for the players who did deserve the honour.
The Giants have a day off to watch their team-mate Kane in the Top Prospects game tomorrow night on Sportsnet, before taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday for the first of three in three nights. Friday in Calgary for a huge tilt between the top of the East versus the top of the West, which will be shown on Shaw cable. And Saturday in Red Deer to take on the ailing Rebels who played a close game against the Giants when they visited the Coliseum. This will be the last time the Giants play the Oil Kings this season, barring a miraculous appearance in the WHL Final. Their first contest, also in Edmonton, the Giants cruised to a dominating 6-0 victory. The Giants just need to not be looking ahead and make sure they take care of the Oil Kings with their usual hard work and crisp execution. The puck drops in Edmonton on Thursday at 7pm MST.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Linden Vey (but really Andrej Kudrna)
3) Garry Nunn
CPZ with four goals on the night was the big story as the guy made big plays to find open ice and ripple the twine. No cheezie goals tonight, all were well earned as both 'tenders made a bid for a star nod through two periods. Great great game and the Giants did not give in and rolled on like a machine.
Ref Skeletor (erm Skilliter) lost his handle on the game and the third was a bit of a petty display of refs who don't know how to handle unique situations.
Here's how I heard it:
Giants Lash Tigers
Vancouver 6 Medicine Hat 2
Don Robinson
The score is not indicative of how close the game was for the majority of tonight’s tilt. Ryan Holfeld was huge in first, great in second and was abandoned in the third and suffered a fate he shouldn’t have had to the degree he suffered. There were no bad goals tonight as both teams tickled the twine with pin-point accuracy and elite plays around the net. Tyson Sexsmith was no slouch himself tonight as he calmly turned away the puck early, matching Holfeld save for save. Casey-Pierro Zabotel padded his league leading points stats, bulging his goal column with four goals as he notched a hat trick, plus one. Evander Kane was already in Oshawa for tomorrow night’s Top Prospects game and was out of the line-up. He’ll miss the game in Edmonton, but will be ready to go, if a little tired and a whole lot exhilarated, in Calgary on Saturday. The Giants two euros were back in the line-up. Both contributed on the score-sheet and were major factors in the Giants win. Andrej Kudrna had three assists, while Mischa Fisenko, who Chad Scharff was saying has probably the best wrist shot in the Dub (which is saying something), scored the Giants first goal, a game-tying marker in latter minutes of the second period. Garry Nunn added two helpers of his own, rattling one hard off the iron in third and was unlucky not to get a much needed goal for himself. Blum had a goal and a helper while struggling with strep throat, playing well below 100% on the night.
The first was a tightly contested period as it was not only end to end rushes, but instead of the kind of end to end some games have, where the puck is turned back instantly, each squad had determined forays in the other guy’s zone, sparkling chances being turned away by the two ‘tenders and good forecheck pressure. Minimal penalties of the tripping/ hooking variety, as both teams were using their speed to advantage and if a player got caught standing they were not able to react quickly enough to keep position. Not much physical play, but neither team backed down either. Exciting, fast, intense hockey brought by both teams throughout the first. The Giants ended up out shooting the home squad 12-5 in the opening frame, but a lot of those shots came late in the period.
The second threatened to be a carbon copy of the first, with less penalties and no goals until the Tigers broke the dual goose-eggs with a short-handed rush coming off of some sloppy low percentage play with the puck by the Giants with the man-advantage. Tyler Ennis used his speed with Colton Grant and dished the puck across to Grant on an odd-man rush. Grant buried the puck in the open side. Just under four minutes later Vancouver got on the score sheet in a very encouraging way. Fisenko was checked in the corner, but picked himself up and cut out to the face-off circle carrying the puck rifling a wicked wrister under the crossbar. The play was reminiscent of another Giant sniper of old, as the goal had a very Brule-esque flavour to it. Speaking of which Brule had a goal and an assist tonight playing for the Edmonton Oilers and now has three points in two games since being called up from the farm. The next shift the Giants got the lead for the first time in the game and it was lead from which they would never look back. CPZ scored his first of four, finding some open ice and taking a nice cross-ice feed from Neil Manning. Jon Blum got the puck to Manning who saw CPZ on the far side and blasted a pass across the rink. CPZ buried the puck with wicked one-timer. The goal came in the last minute of the second, a time you don’t want to give up any goal, let alone go-ahead goal.
The Giants got their first PP goal in the third when the refs decided to take over the game with a bunch of penalty calls after stuffing the whistles in their pockets in the second. Early in the third Brent Regner was mugged from behind and Mike Berube stepped in to defend his team-mate. Berube, Regner, Cameron and Stamphor got fighting majors, with Cameron getting two for roughing. That was the beginning of the zebras losing control of the game as they began to call everything they had previously allowed in an attempt to get control. That for me is bad reffing. Call the game before you, not the one in your head and be consistent throughout the game. Casey got his second of the game with the Giants first PP marker. Garry Nunn and Kudrna worked the puck to CPZ who made no mistake putting it past Holfeld with the man-advantage. The Tigers got one back on a PP chance of their own. Defenseman Jace Coyle found some open ice and powered the puck past Sexsmith. Casey kept it rolling with a beautiful move around the net. Kudrna got the puck to the front of the net and Casey stick-handled around Holfeld slipping it into the goal. His fourth came off a goal originally awarded to Kudrna, but a review later showed that CPZ got to the puck before it went into the net. Nunn got the other assist on the play. Late in the game Blum scored the Giants second PP marker off of Nick Ross and James Wright.
The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP, while the Tigers were 1 for 7. The Giants eventually out shot the home team 30-27 in a game where the Giants and Tigers played pretty evenly until the end when the Tigers lost composure and abandoned their goaltender. Willie Desjardin, the Tigers coach, was sent to take an early shower when the refs were in unsportsmanlike conduct penalty mode and felt that the coach did not show them respect. McCue and Holfeld were both given misconducts as tempers flared and the Tigers lost all control of the game. Holfeld was very frustrated by the end, and who could blame him, as he took an ill-advised interference penalty in the final minute.
The guy who selected the three stars is either a homer or an idiot, but more likely Linden Vey’s Dad or Uncle, because there is no way in hell that that player deserved consideration let alone a bogus second star. A –3, no PIMs, no points .. some forays, but if you have to give it to a Tiger, then first of all make it a third (it was 6-2 blow out after all) and secondly choose a player who did something. Ennis comes to mind, or even Jace Coyle or Mark Isherwood, but Vey? No freaking way. In my mind when you have multiple, multiple point players on the visitors side and your team loses by four goals, home team stars should not enter into it. I think its criminal when someone’s agenda is forwarded by stupid gratuitous star selections, it cheapens it for the players who did deserve the honour.
The Giants have a day off to watch their team-mate Kane in the Top Prospects game tomorrow night on Sportsnet, before taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday for the first of three in three nights. Friday in Calgary for a huge tilt between the top of the East versus the top of the West, which will be shown on Shaw cable. And Saturday in Red Deer to take on the ailing Rebels who played a close game against the Giants when they visited the Coliseum. This will be the last time the Giants play the Oil Kings this season, barring a miraculous appearance in the WHL Final. Their first contest, also in Edmonton, the Giants cruised to a dominating 6-0 victory. The Giants just need to not be looking ahead and make sure they take care of the Oil Kings with their usual hard work and crisp execution. The puck drops in Edmonton on Thursday at 7pm MST.
Three Stars
1) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
2) Linden Vey (but really Andrej Kudrna)
3) Garry Nunn