dondo
02-22-2009, 12:26 AM
Better effort to be sure, but I'd still like to see us make sure we take these teams out early and play the full sixty a bit harder than we did.
odd calls and goals tonight. Nunn's tally went in off of LeClaire as he deflected it up into his own net. Bortnak might or might not have kicked in the puck on the Blazers only PP tally of the game. Raphael watched Sexsmith make a glove stop and then signaled a goal, determining the glove went past the line, three feet in the air? a quick glove stop? How can you make that judgement? Me-thinks the guy way overstepped his bounds.
Listened to this one, but was chatting with some guys who were watching the web feed and they seemed to think that it was too close to call.
Here's how I heard it:
Giants Halt Blazers
Vancouver 5 Kamloops 4 OT
Don Robinson
The Giants needed a bounce back game after dropping an ugly one to the Rockets last night and they had a better outing, but didn’t play all out the full sixty. Evander Kane was difference maker tonight notching a hat trick, garnering the GWG goal in OT, and starting the Giants come from behind push in the final frame. Casey Pierro-Zabotel regained his lead in the scoring race in the Dub, tallying 3 great A’s in game. The PP woke up a bit, scoring two tonight. Sexsmith was good, but not great - yet again. He really needs to step up his game back to an elite level and rediscover his groove and focus. It was a very odd night goal-wise, as the Blazers first goal went in off a skate (which was turned to redirect the puck into the net and could possibly have had a kicking motion) and their second was called goal by the ref, Sean Raphael, who determined that Sexsmith’s glove was across the line when he caught the shot. According to those who saw it, it was too close to call and a judgement like that 3 feet above the ice as a goalie is making a glove save is full of crap. Raphael should be ashamed of that gross miscarriage of assumption to award a goal at all in that situation. I’d really like to see a replay of that particular play.
The Giants got the two points, but they allowed the Blazers to tie the game in the last minute of play when they failed to clear their zone. They gifted a point to the Kamloops squad and really need to keep their focus in those situations if they want to dominate teams, as they have most of the season. The Giants play the past couple of weeks has been a tad sloppy, a bit lazy and they need to get their game back on track. That said they just matched their franchise record 49th victory and should seriously be thinking 60 by the time all is said and done. They are missing the big body and vicious energy of Lance Bouma and the cool playmaking of Jonathon Blum who is rehabbing his shoulder and could be day-to-day with a good response to his therapy. Every team has their injuries, so they really need to suck it up and other players must fill that void for the time that these two guys are out of the line-up. The line of Garry Nunn, CPZ and Kane were flying most of the night, but especially in the third where they took over, dragged their team from a 3-2 deficit to a 4-3 lead before allowing a very late tying goal.
Brent Regner was more of his usual self, but I still think that he plays best when not paired with Nick Ross who had the opening goal on the PP, but suffered in his own end of the ice. Craig Cunningham was sharp tonight, Mischa Fisenko had a better game and Andrej Kudrna had a good third period. Brendan Gallagher got into penalty trouble playing a feisty game, but it was worth it as he energized his team a bit. A few too many minuses throughout the line-up than the boys like and for the second night in a row James Wright was a –2. Wright’s getting time on the PP lately, but I still don’t think he’s quite there and his normally solid defensive game is suffering. I’m not sure why, but he needs to right his ship and maybe go back to playing simpler north-south hockey.
The Giants went 2 for 4 on the PP, while the Blazers were 1 for 5. The Giants out-shot the Blazers 30-29 according to the WHL web site, but the official score sheet also has them having only 2 shots in the third period and I am pretty sure that’s not right. The good thing is that the top line found some touch and some room on the ice and that bodes well for their next several games which are coming in bunches. The boys take on the T-Birds in Kent tomorrow for a 5pm game at the ShoWare arena, a rink in which they lost, the last time these two teams played. The Giants are being man-handled by some of the bigger teams and they have to not only battle back harder, but keep their feet moving to draw the penalties using their mobility as a weapon against the bigger T-Bird players. The puck drops at 5:00pm PST.
Three Stars
1) Evander Kane
2) Tyler Shattock
3) Casey Pierro-Zabotel
odd calls and goals tonight. Nunn's tally went in off of LeClaire as he deflected it up into his own net. Bortnak might or might not have kicked in the puck on the Blazers only PP tally of the game. Raphael watched Sexsmith make a glove stop and then signaled a goal, determining the glove went past the line, three feet in the air? a quick glove stop? How can you make that judgement? Me-thinks the guy way overstepped his bounds.
Listened to this one, but was chatting with some guys who were watching the web feed and they seemed to think that it was too close to call.
Here's how I heard it:
Giants Halt Blazers
Vancouver 5 Kamloops 4 OT
Don Robinson
The Giants needed a bounce back game after dropping an ugly one to the Rockets last night and they had a better outing, but didn’t play all out the full sixty. Evander Kane was difference maker tonight notching a hat trick, garnering the GWG goal in OT, and starting the Giants come from behind push in the final frame. Casey Pierro-Zabotel regained his lead in the scoring race in the Dub, tallying 3 great A’s in game. The PP woke up a bit, scoring two tonight. Sexsmith was good, but not great - yet again. He really needs to step up his game back to an elite level and rediscover his groove and focus. It was a very odd night goal-wise, as the Blazers first goal went in off a skate (which was turned to redirect the puck into the net and could possibly have had a kicking motion) and their second was called goal by the ref, Sean Raphael, who determined that Sexsmith’s glove was across the line when he caught the shot. According to those who saw it, it was too close to call and a judgement like that 3 feet above the ice as a goalie is making a glove save is full of crap. Raphael should be ashamed of that gross miscarriage of assumption to award a goal at all in that situation. I’d really like to see a replay of that particular play.
The Giants got the two points, but they allowed the Blazers to tie the game in the last minute of play when they failed to clear their zone. They gifted a point to the Kamloops squad and really need to keep their focus in those situations if they want to dominate teams, as they have most of the season. The Giants play the past couple of weeks has been a tad sloppy, a bit lazy and they need to get their game back on track. That said they just matched their franchise record 49th victory and should seriously be thinking 60 by the time all is said and done. They are missing the big body and vicious energy of Lance Bouma and the cool playmaking of Jonathon Blum who is rehabbing his shoulder and could be day-to-day with a good response to his therapy. Every team has their injuries, so they really need to suck it up and other players must fill that void for the time that these two guys are out of the line-up. The line of Garry Nunn, CPZ and Kane were flying most of the night, but especially in the third where they took over, dragged their team from a 3-2 deficit to a 4-3 lead before allowing a very late tying goal.
Brent Regner was more of his usual self, but I still think that he plays best when not paired with Nick Ross who had the opening goal on the PP, but suffered in his own end of the ice. Craig Cunningham was sharp tonight, Mischa Fisenko had a better game and Andrej Kudrna had a good third period. Brendan Gallagher got into penalty trouble playing a feisty game, but it was worth it as he energized his team a bit. A few too many minuses throughout the line-up than the boys like and for the second night in a row James Wright was a –2. Wright’s getting time on the PP lately, but I still don’t think he’s quite there and his normally solid defensive game is suffering. I’m not sure why, but he needs to right his ship and maybe go back to playing simpler north-south hockey.
The Giants went 2 for 4 on the PP, while the Blazers were 1 for 5. The Giants out-shot the Blazers 30-29 according to the WHL web site, but the official score sheet also has them having only 2 shots in the third period and I am pretty sure that’s not right. The good thing is that the top line found some touch and some room on the ice and that bodes well for their next several games which are coming in bunches. The boys take on the T-Birds in Kent tomorrow for a 5pm game at the ShoWare arena, a rink in which they lost, the last time these two teams played. The Giants are being man-handled by some of the bigger teams and they have to not only battle back harder, but keep their feet moving to draw the penalties using their mobility as a weapon against the bigger T-Bird players. The puck drops at 5:00pm PST.
Three Stars
1) Evander Kane
2) Tyler Shattock
3) Casey Pierro-Zabotel