dondo
03-22-2009, 12:41 AM
The Giants had contributions from throughout their line-up with only two players not getting a point on the night. The Giants now have 17 goals in two games versus the Cats and I believe 13 different goal scorers.
Last night four forwards and four defensemen counted for the markers. Tonight no blue-liners bulged the twine.
Also apologies to Mischa Fisenko who tipped a great Manning shot in the second, garnering the Giants seventh goal of the game. It was his second of the campaign. I forgot that one in the recap.
Cody Hobbs went a bit over-board at times tonight, but there was no denying he was hungry to play and not willing to give any room if possible. The Cougars would do well to adopt his intensity if not his methods.
Rnd 1 Gm 2:
Giants Embarrass Cougars
Vancouver 9 Prince George 1
Don Robinson
Well almost, they would have completely embarrassed them if Tyson Sexsmith had got the shutout, but a late PP by the Cats and nice deflection in front by Halliday spoiled his bid for his fifth career playoff shutout. The Giants to a man were all on the same page and there were no passengers tonight as everyone brought something to the ice. Very early on in the game Brendan Gallagher was submarined in the corner in the Cat’s end fo the ice and James Henry took Cody Hobbs to task for the hit. Hobbs and Henry squared off throwing them fast and hard for a brief flurry, before Hobbs got the take-down. The message was sent that the boys were going to stand up for one another. Henry got the instigator and on the ensuing PK, Sexsmith made a great stop robbing Viedensky and the play turned back up ice. Some great hustle by Mike Piluso earned him a SH’d wrap-around tally which he snuck past Armstrong at 3:53 of the first. Lance Bouma buried a rebound off of a Piluso shot coming out from behind the net late in the first to give the home boys a 2-0 lead.
Prince George sagged in the second and did not seem to compete until the Giants had put another four behind Armstrong. Bouma and Cunningham were in on the first one of the middle frame. Bouma gutted the puck out from behind the net and made a perfect pass to James Wright who was wide open cutting down the slot. A couple of minutes later Bouma set-up Cunningham with a nice cross-crease pass coming in 2 on 1. Gallagher managed to put one by Armstrong on the PP. Casey Pierro-Zabotel had a good night and flipped one past Armstrong for the Giants second PP tally. Garry Nunn rounded out the scoring for the Giants in the second, off of a sweet pass from CPZ. The G-Men ended the second up 8-0, finally chasing Armstrong who was absolutely deserted by his team-mates in this one. CPZ scored his second of the game 2:09 into the final frame, tipping a low Nick Ross shot into the top corner. Young ‘tender Michael Salmon, who was in as the back-up tonight, had no chance. The zebras put away the whistles in the third, until the 17 minute mark where they called a whole bunch of stuff they let go by the wayside the whole period. Things got nasty and in the end the Cougars managed to tip one by Sexsmith off a point shot on a late PP chance.
Talk about spreading the scoring around. Casey had 2G 1A, Bouma had 1G 2A, Gallagher had 1G 1A, Piluso had 1G 1A and was hopping all night giving the boys a big lift in the energy department. Nunn had a 1G and 2A, Cunningham had 1G and 2A and only two players did not get a point tonight, Henry (who brought a whole other game), and Nolan Toigo, who was solid if unimpressive. Sexsmith turned away 28 of 29 and had to make five or six great stops in the game, but the boys kept most of the rest of the shots to the outside. The only Cougar who showed up tonight was Cody Hobbs. He had fire in his eyes from the drop of the puck, but his team was not up to that energy and played decently to “win” the third with a bit better effort, out-shooting the Giants 13-8 as the G-Men sat back a bit more than I like to see happen. That might have been the only negative for the Giants in this game as they played almost perfect hockey, bringing a nice forecheck, excellent hustle for loose pucks and finishing off some great play-making.
In the playoffs there is no mercy. Sure - play your depth guys, which Hay did a fair amount, but don’t dog it and there was a bit of that in the third. Part of that was the free pass the refs gave the Cougars in the final frame. They could do nothing wrong in the refs minds. Players were cut down from behind, roughed freely after the play and no calls. That lead to the game getting out of hand with some late cheap shots and retaliations when the Giants figured they might as well give back what they were getting. Once again the Cougars took some dumb penalties and a lot of roughing calls off of battles after the whistle at the front of their net. I guess they were getting fairly frustrated in the game and it came out in that way. Kane and Hobbs had a late dust up that the linesmen would not let get started, even though it came out of the intensity of the play. If this is the way the league is going with regards to fighting then it’ll be a sad time next season.
The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP, while the Cougars were 1 for 5. The Giants out shot the Cats 47-29 and were the better team on the ice. They out-played the Cougars at all ends of the ice and shredded their D and net-minding with some very nice plays and passing. The Cougars do play better at home so I don’t expect to these kinds of lop-sided scores up North, but they will have to change how they approach their game if they hope to win a game or two on home ice. The Giants are rolling now as a complete team and everybody is contributing at all ends of the ice. They are getting solid goaltending and out-working the Cougars who don’t seem to show up unless they are on the PK, or down by a bunch of goals. The Cougars will need to bring their best game if they hope to beat the Giants and the Vancouver squad just needs to keep playing solid team hockey shift in and shift out. The series continues on Tuesday in PG, the puck drops at 7pm PDT at the CN Centre.
Three Stars
1) Lance Bouma
2) Garry Nunn
3) Mike Piluso
Last night four forwards and four defensemen counted for the markers. Tonight no blue-liners bulged the twine.
Also apologies to Mischa Fisenko who tipped a great Manning shot in the second, garnering the Giants seventh goal of the game. It was his second of the campaign. I forgot that one in the recap.
Cody Hobbs went a bit over-board at times tonight, but there was no denying he was hungry to play and not willing to give any room if possible. The Cougars would do well to adopt his intensity if not his methods.
Rnd 1 Gm 2:
Giants Embarrass Cougars
Vancouver 9 Prince George 1
Don Robinson
Well almost, they would have completely embarrassed them if Tyson Sexsmith had got the shutout, but a late PP by the Cats and nice deflection in front by Halliday spoiled his bid for his fifth career playoff shutout. The Giants to a man were all on the same page and there were no passengers tonight as everyone brought something to the ice. Very early on in the game Brendan Gallagher was submarined in the corner in the Cat’s end fo the ice and James Henry took Cody Hobbs to task for the hit. Hobbs and Henry squared off throwing them fast and hard for a brief flurry, before Hobbs got the take-down. The message was sent that the boys were going to stand up for one another. Henry got the instigator and on the ensuing PK, Sexsmith made a great stop robbing Viedensky and the play turned back up ice. Some great hustle by Mike Piluso earned him a SH’d wrap-around tally which he snuck past Armstrong at 3:53 of the first. Lance Bouma buried a rebound off of a Piluso shot coming out from behind the net late in the first to give the home boys a 2-0 lead.
Prince George sagged in the second and did not seem to compete until the Giants had put another four behind Armstrong. Bouma and Cunningham were in on the first one of the middle frame. Bouma gutted the puck out from behind the net and made a perfect pass to James Wright who was wide open cutting down the slot. A couple of minutes later Bouma set-up Cunningham with a nice cross-crease pass coming in 2 on 1. Gallagher managed to put one by Armstrong on the PP. Casey Pierro-Zabotel had a good night and flipped one past Armstrong for the Giants second PP tally. Garry Nunn rounded out the scoring for the Giants in the second, off of a sweet pass from CPZ. The G-Men ended the second up 8-0, finally chasing Armstrong who was absolutely deserted by his team-mates in this one. CPZ scored his second of the game 2:09 into the final frame, tipping a low Nick Ross shot into the top corner. Young ‘tender Michael Salmon, who was in as the back-up tonight, had no chance. The zebras put away the whistles in the third, until the 17 minute mark where they called a whole bunch of stuff they let go by the wayside the whole period. Things got nasty and in the end the Cougars managed to tip one by Sexsmith off a point shot on a late PP chance.
Talk about spreading the scoring around. Casey had 2G 1A, Bouma had 1G 2A, Gallagher had 1G 1A, Piluso had 1G 1A and was hopping all night giving the boys a big lift in the energy department. Nunn had a 1G and 2A, Cunningham had 1G and 2A and only two players did not get a point tonight, Henry (who brought a whole other game), and Nolan Toigo, who was solid if unimpressive. Sexsmith turned away 28 of 29 and had to make five or six great stops in the game, but the boys kept most of the rest of the shots to the outside. The only Cougar who showed up tonight was Cody Hobbs. He had fire in his eyes from the drop of the puck, but his team was not up to that energy and played decently to “win” the third with a bit better effort, out-shooting the Giants 13-8 as the G-Men sat back a bit more than I like to see happen. That might have been the only negative for the Giants in this game as they played almost perfect hockey, bringing a nice forecheck, excellent hustle for loose pucks and finishing off some great play-making.
In the playoffs there is no mercy. Sure - play your depth guys, which Hay did a fair amount, but don’t dog it and there was a bit of that in the third. Part of that was the free pass the refs gave the Cougars in the final frame. They could do nothing wrong in the refs minds. Players were cut down from behind, roughed freely after the play and no calls. That lead to the game getting out of hand with some late cheap shots and retaliations when the Giants figured they might as well give back what they were getting. Once again the Cougars took some dumb penalties and a lot of roughing calls off of battles after the whistle at the front of their net. I guess they were getting fairly frustrated in the game and it came out in that way. Kane and Hobbs had a late dust up that the linesmen would not let get started, even though it came out of the intensity of the play. If this is the way the league is going with regards to fighting then it’ll be a sad time next season.
The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP, while the Cougars were 1 for 5. The Giants out shot the Cats 47-29 and were the better team on the ice. They out-played the Cougars at all ends of the ice and shredded their D and net-minding with some very nice plays and passing. The Cougars do play better at home so I don’t expect to these kinds of lop-sided scores up North, but they will have to change how they approach their game if they hope to win a game or two on home ice. The Giants are rolling now as a complete team and everybody is contributing at all ends of the ice. They are getting solid goaltending and out-working the Cougars who don’t seem to show up unless they are on the PK, or down by a bunch of goals. The Cougars will need to bring their best game if they hope to beat the Giants and the Vancouver squad just needs to keep playing solid team hockey shift in and shift out. The series continues on Tuesday in PG, the puck drops at 7pm PDT at the CN Centre.
Three Stars
1) Lance Bouma
2) Garry Nunn
3) Mike Piluso