dondo
03-26-2009, 09:51 AM
Giants sweep Cougars -- site was not cooperating last night so had to post this today.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
Looks like Garry Nunn is still serving penance as he was out of the line-up again tonight and Rodgers was still in with his minus and generally lack-lustre play. Sure he's not my favourite player, but that doesn't mean he is any less effective because I don't like him. I don't like him because he doesn't gut it out and doesn't fight for the puck. Fisenko, who I have high hopes for was -2 on the night and needs to get his game to a playoff level.
I was only able to listen to the second period, but that was enough. It sounded like the refs were making stuff up, missing things on one side and then calling the same thing on the other guys the next shift. Case in point the crap too many men call when the same thing happened blatantly the shift before. Some really poor officiating going on lately and I hope the league is actually doing something about it.
It appears that we are finally going to get replay and the ability "to go upstairs" during the regular season next year. It's in place across the Dub for the playoffs this year and has already been used beneficially.
Bouma had another big night, getting two of the Giants three goals and looking like the second coming of Lucic. The 18 year old (turned 19 today, as did James Wright yesterday) was there as a 16 year old when the Giants won their Memorial Cup and has that hunger in his eyes and seems prepared to drag his team back there if he has to. The Giants really missed his physical presence and ability to turn a game around with a big check or timely goal. Good to have him contributing after returning from his injury, which still makes him unable to engage in fisticuffs as it has not fully healed.
The Giants now get to sit back and practice waiting to see who their next opponent will be.
here's how I heard/read it:
Rnd 1 Gm 4:
Giants Eliminate Cougars
Vancouver 3 Prince George 2
Don Robinson
The Vancouver Giants swept the Cougars tonight, but it wasn’t easy. The G-Men rolled over the Cats when they were at the Coliseum scoring 17 goals to 3 in the two games, but the tilts in PG were anything but a walk. The Cougars played with pride putting on their best performance in front of their home-town crowd. There was no Cat more hungry to prove his worth than OA goalie Kevin Armstrong who put on two great displays of solid netminding, at times robbing the Giants of sure goals. Tyson Sexsmith also had to be good tonight and his quick glove and pads served him well turning away 26 of 28 to keep his team in the game. The Cougars opened the goal scoring in the first, but it wasn’t long before the Giants got one back and then the goals went back and forth ending up at 2-2 after one. Sexsmith allowed 2 goals on 9 shots, while it took 16 shots for the Giants to get two on Armstrong. In future series these early goals could really hurt Sexy and his team if he doesn’t buckle down and make sure he keeps his team in the game from the drop of the puck, not sometime mid-second. He needs to be sharp right off and make sure he gives his team a chance to win every night, not have them scrambling from behind in those games. To be fair the Giants usually score the first goal and Sexsmith is often ready to go early, but the past month he has not been at his finest.
Greg Fraser put the puck past Sexy at 8:38, off of Maylan. Lance Bouma got that one back at 10:36, capitalising on a good set-up play by Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Craig Cunningham. At 12:31 Hobbs set-up Marek Viedensky to put the Cougs back up by one. Jonny Blum wired one off of a Brent Regner feed to tie the game at two. That goal came at 15:23 of the first. The only other goal of the game came on the PP in the second. Just over six minutes into the middle frame Lance Bouma bulged the twine with his second of the night. James Wright and Nick Ross got the assists. The Giants held their own in the second despite many PPs against including a long 5 on 3, but ramped up their game in the third. Armstrong was there to shut the door, but Sexy did some door shutting of his own preserving his team’s victory and a sweep of the series.
The Giants went 2 for 6 on the PP, making their man-advantage chances work for them. The Cougars were 0 for 5. The G-Men out shot the Cats 48-28 and will now have a week and a bit off to practice and await their next opposition in the second round. The second could be a tough round and the Giants will have to play a hell of a lot better than they did the past two games. They need to get their timing back, and really focus on buckling down and perfecting their finish around the net. The number of missed nets the past two games was frustrating me a lot. The Giants will need to be at the top of their game as they will face better competition than they did from the Cougars. That’s not to say that the Cougars, who have some fine young players in their system, could really step up next year, but this season they really didn’t have much of chance versus the Giants. I’m not sure if the Cougars made a game of it in PG, or the Giants just sagged at the wrong time, but the over-whelmingly favoured team squeaked out two wins that were harder to get than they should have been.
Three Stars
(the official site has them as Greg Fraser twice (a clerical error of course), but I’ll give the nod to Armstrong – for giving his team a chance to win in PG)
1) Lance Bouma
2) Greg Fraser
3) Kevin Armstrong
__________________________________________________ _____________________
Looks like Garry Nunn is still serving penance as he was out of the line-up again tonight and Rodgers was still in with his minus and generally lack-lustre play. Sure he's not my favourite player, but that doesn't mean he is any less effective because I don't like him. I don't like him because he doesn't gut it out and doesn't fight for the puck. Fisenko, who I have high hopes for was -2 on the night and needs to get his game to a playoff level.
I was only able to listen to the second period, but that was enough. It sounded like the refs were making stuff up, missing things on one side and then calling the same thing on the other guys the next shift. Case in point the crap too many men call when the same thing happened blatantly the shift before. Some really poor officiating going on lately and I hope the league is actually doing something about it.
It appears that we are finally going to get replay and the ability "to go upstairs" during the regular season next year. It's in place across the Dub for the playoffs this year and has already been used beneficially.
Bouma had another big night, getting two of the Giants three goals and looking like the second coming of Lucic. The 18 year old (turned 19 today, as did James Wright yesterday) was there as a 16 year old when the Giants won their Memorial Cup and has that hunger in his eyes and seems prepared to drag his team back there if he has to. The Giants really missed his physical presence and ability to turn a game around with a big check or timely goal. Good to have him contributing after returning from his injury, which still makes him unable to engage in fisticuffs as it has not fully healed.
The Giants now get to sit back and practice waiting to see who their next opponent will be.
here's how I heard/read it:
Rnd 1 Gm 4:
Giants Eliminate Cougars
Vancouver 3 Prince George 2
Don Robinson
The Vancouver Giants swept the Cougars tonight, but it wasn’t easy. The G-Men rolled over the Cats when they were at the Coliseum scoring 17 goals to 3 in the two games, but the tilts in PG were anything but a walk. The Cougars played with pride putting on their best performance in front of their home-town crowd. There was no Cat more hungry to prove his worth than OA goalie Kevin Armstrong who put on two great displays of solid netminding, at times robbing the Giants of sure goals. Tyson Sexsmith also had to be good tonight and his quick glove and pads served him well turning away 26 of 28 to keep his team in the game. The Cougars opened the goal scoring in the first, but it wasn’t long before the Giants got one back and then the goals went back and forth ending up at 2-2 after one. Sexsmith allowed 2 goals on 9 shots, while it took 16 shots for the Giants to get two on Armstrong. In future series these early goals could really hurt Sexy and his team if he doesn’t buckle down and make sure he keeps his team in the game from the drop of the puck, not sometime mid-second. He needs to be sharp right off and make sure he gives his team a chance to win every night, not have them scrambling from behind in those games. To be fair the Giants usually score the first goal and Sexsmith is often ready to go early, but the past month he has not been at his finest.
Greg Fraser put the puck past Sexy at 8:38, off of Maylan. Lance Bouma got that one back at 10:36, capitalising on a good set-up play by Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Craig Cunningham. At 12:31 Hobbs set-up Marek Viedensky to put the Cougs back up by one. Jonny Blum wired one off of a Brent Regner feed to tie the game at two. That goal came at 15:23 of the first. The only other goal of the game came on the PP in the second. Just over six minutes into the middle frame Lance Bouma bulged the twine with his second of the night. James Wright and Nick Ross got the assists. The Giants held their own in the second despite many PPs against including a long 5 on 3, but ramped up their game in the third. Armstrong was there to shut the door, but Sexy did some door shutting of his own preserving his team’s victory and a sweep of the series.
The Giants went 2 for 6 on the PP, making their man-advantage chances work for them. The Cougars were 0 for 5. The G-Men out shot the Cats 48-28 and will now have a week and a bit off to practice and await their next opposition in the second round. The second could be a tough round and the Giants will have to play a hell of a lot better than they did the past two games. They need to get their timing back, and really focus on buckling down and perfecting their finish around the net. The number of missed nets the past two games was frustrating me a lot. The Giants will need to be at the top of their game as they will face better competition than they did from the Cougars. That’s not to say that the Cougars, who have some fine young players in their system, could really step up next year, but this season they really didn’t have much of chance versus the Giants. I’m not sure if the Cougars made a game of it in PG, or the Giants just sagged at the wrong time, but the over-whelmingly favoured team squeaked out two wins that were harder to get than they should have been.
Three Stars
(the official site has them as Greg Fraser twice (a clerical error of course), but I’ll give the nod to Armstrong – for giving his team a chance to win in PG)
1) Lance Bouma
2) Greg Fraser
3) Kevin Armstrong