dondo
09-20-2009, 01:19 AM
The boys looked okay for the first period, but adjustments by the Tips and loss of energy and drive forced Hay to shorten his bench tiring his boys further and letting a 2 goal lead slip to a loss. The team looks very new right now, but the raw skill on some of the players will fun to watch develop. the 16 year olds did not look out of place except for a few rookies errors, which are to be expected.
Tips Trip Giants
Vancouver 2 Everett 4
Don Robinson
After a flashy intro of the new team and the Giants fourth consecutive BC Division banner raising the 7600 who were in the building, despite there being both a Lions and Canucks game on in the city tonight, had a buzz going in anticipation of a new season. At first they weren’t disappointed as they saw some new players fitting into a near bullet-proof Giants hockey system, some of the young players playing key minutes on both the PP and PK. The only caveat is that the Giant players in that system have to skate hard, forecheck harder with puck support and hustle back on defense. They did that for 20 mins and then slowly began to sag and get run around. Early on the Giants controlled the play, aggressively pressing the Tips in their own zone and maintaining puck possession.
The Giants came out scoring a goal on the PP in the first, making the Tips look vulnerable. They padded that lead in the second off what looked like a nothing play, but found the back of the net. After a parade to the penalty box for the G’s, in my opinion some ticky-tack calls (both ways tonight) - but that’s Kirk for ya, the momentum shifted ( I think it was when the crowd was more interested in the doing the wave than focus on the Giants PK, but that’s up to discussion). The Giants lost their energy and the Tips did a great job of spreading the play with quick cross-ice passes. The Silvertips scored twice just after PP chances, coming within one by the end of the second and getting the tying marker early in the third off a screen shot that Jamie Tucker should have had. With almost 17 minutes left in the third one would have hoped that the team that battled back in Kelowna would have come forward, but they didn’t. The Giants lost face-offs badly and were consistently stripped of the puck with quick stick work. Everett took the lead off of a similar play when a cross-ice pass found a Silvertip stick. The Giants were unable to complete passes and break out of their zone. Their systems broke down exposing some vulnerabilities. With the goalie pulled Everett scored an empty netter with seconds left to kill any come-back bid. The Giants allowed the game to slip from their grasp. This team is going to have the kind of growing pains we saw tonight, but if they play a full sixty they should be competitive the majority of nights.
The Giants came out with a lot of new parts, but early on it appeared as if those parts were ready to play Giants hockey. Don Hay had the young kids and new guys playing key roles and key minutes in the game as they all pressed in the Tips zone forcing the speedy, but vulnerable ‘Tips to back off. Everett took some poor and lazy penalties in the first period, giving the Giants the chance to put the game away, but they were only able to get one goal off of four chances. The G’s barely out-shot the Tips in the first, but controlled the play for the most part. Craig Cunningham cut into the face-off dot and ripped a puck top corner on Tomas Heemskerk, on the PP. Assists went to Bouma and Toigo.
Craig Hartsburg the Silvertips new experienced coach made some good adjustments in the intermission forcing the Giants to work harder and had the Tips using their strengths wheeling and spreading out the offense with crisp cross-ice passing. The Giants managed to get another goal early in the middle frame, when Mitch Spooner held the puck in getting it down to Mike Piluso who wheeled and fired the puck on goal. The puck slipped past Heemskerk finding the back of the net. In the past the Giants having a 2-0 lead in the second would have been almost a lock, but this years squad have a lot of work to do to make that second nature. The ‘tips began to come back off a very nice wraparound play by Shane Harper. The puck went up in the air behind the Giants net and Harper had it on his stick and in the net before anyone could react. A savvy play by a veteran player. That shifted momentum and the Giants got sloppy and scrambly for the rest of the period, taking a few poor penalties and the allowing themselves to be run around. The home team were out-shot in the middle frame.
In the third the Giants continued to look ineffective, never finding a good breakout to work and allowing the ‘Tips close checking to strip them of the puck with great regularity. They also began to lose a lot of face-offs putting them behind the eight ball as far as their puck possession game went. In short, they stopped doing the things they looked so good doing in the first. The Tips tied the game off a bit of a broken play. The Giants had a bad change following a decent, but not excellent, PK breaking down in the zone as far as assignments were concerned. Radko Gudas scored his first of two on the night putting a screened shot far-side low on Tucker, who was just average tonight. The Giants still had time to make a come-back happen, but the momentum in the game was rapidly sliding away from them as they put forth ineffective energy, losing puck support and intensity in the process. The PP’s they got, they squandered with poor dumps and little or no chase. The Tips clogged up the neutral zone and waited for their opportunity. A new twist was that when the puck was in the zone they crashed the net en-masse forcing the Giants to collapse to their net losing any chance of bringing the puck cleanly out of the zone. Not even a lively scrap between Brandon Scholten and Cameron Abney could pull the Giants out of their funk. A few minutes later Gudas was able to put yet another cross-ice pass past Tucker for a very similar goal to the tying marker. That was late in the third and the Giants were not able to get back into any sort of groove and let the game slip away from them. The Tips salted away the game with an empty netter from their top –line, who were held off the score-sheet for the majority of the game.
The Giants were held to two shots until late in the third and managed only 5 shots in the period. They were out-shot in the second and third periods, a rarity in recent years, and ending up being out shot 26-21 in the game. The G-Men went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Silvertips went 0 for 5, but scored two of their goals closely following man advantages. The Giants are a different looking team this season and it’ll take some time for the parts to cohese. Their positive start makes me believe that the systems and effort will become second nature to them sooner rather than later, but they are going to need their goalies to make some of those tough stops to make it happen.
No rest for the wicked as the Giants take on what will be a very pissed off and hungry Thunderbird team as they will be on the back end of three in three nights, but be aching to take the game after being dumped by the Winterhawks 5-0 in their game this evening. The Giants will probably try out new back-up netminder Brendan Jensen between the pipes as they will be finishing a three in four night game streak. The game will either be flat as hell or very emotional depending on which teams show up. Puck drops at 5pm pacific at the Coliseum.
Three Stars
1. Radko Gudas
2. Lance Bouma
3. Shane Harper
Tips Trip Giants
Vancouver 2 Everett 4
Don Robinson
After a flashy intro of the new team and the Giants fourth consecutive BC Division banner raising the 7600 who were in the building, despite there being both a Lions and Canucks game on in the city tonight, had a buzz going in anticipation of a new season. At first they weren’t disappointed as they saw some new players fitting into a near bullet-proof Giants hockey system, some of the young players playing key minutes on both the PP and PK. The only caveat is that the Giant players in that system have to skate hard, forecheck harder with puck support and hustle back on defense. They did that for 20 mins and then slowly began to sag and get run around. Early on the Giants controlled the play, aggressively pressing the Tips in their own zone and maintaining puck possession.
The Giants came out scoring a goal on the PP in the first, making the Tips look vulnerable. They padded that lead in the second off what looked like a nothing play, but found the back of the net. After a parade to the penalty box for the G’s, in my opinion some ticky-tack calls (both ways tonight) - but that’s Kirk for ya, the momentum shifted ( I think it was when the crowd was more interested in the doing the wave than focus on the Giants PK, but that’s up to discussion). The Giants lost their energy and the Tips did a great job of spreading the play with quick cross-ice passes. The Silvertips scored twice just after PP chances, coming within one by the end of the second and getting the tying marker early in the third off a screen shot that Jamie Tucker should have had. With almost 17 minutes left in the third one would have hoped that the team that battled back in Kelowna would have come forward, but they didn’t. The Giants lost face-offs badly and were consistently stripped of the puck with quick stick work. Everett took the lead off of a similar play when a cross-ice pass found a Silvertip stick. The Giants were unable to complete passes and break out of their zone. Their systems broke down exposing some vulnerabilities. With the goalie pulled Everett scored an empty netter with seconds left to kill any come-back bid. The Giants allowed the game to slip from their grasp. This team is going to have the kind of growing pains we saw tonight, but if they play a full sixty they should be competitive the majority of nights.
The Giants came out with a lot of new parts, but early on it appeared as if those parts were ready to play Giants hockey. Don Hay had the young kids and new guys playing key roles and key minutes in the game as they all pressed in the Tips zone forcing the speedy, but vulnerable ‘Tips to back off. Everett took some poor and lazy penalties in the first period, giving the Giants the chance to put the game away, but they were only able to get one goal off of four chances. The G’s barely out-shot the Tips in the first, but controlled the play for the most part. Craig Cunningham cut into the face-off dot and ripped a puck top corner on Tomas Heemskerk, on the PP. Assists went to Bouma and Toigo.
Craig Hartsburg the Silvertips new experienced coach made some good adjustments in the intermission forcing the Giants to work harder and had the Tips using their strengths wheeling and spreading out the offense with crisp cross-ice passing. The Giants managed to get another goal early in the middle frame, when Mitch Spooner held the puck in getting it down to Mike Piluso who wheeled and fired the puck on goal. The puck slipped past Heemskerk finding the back of the net. In the past the Giants having a 2-0 lead in the second would have been almost a lock, but this years squad have a lot of work to do to make that second nature. The ‘tips began to come back off a very nice wraparound play by Shane Harper. The puck went up in the air behind the Giants net and Harper had it on his stick and in the net before anyone could react. A savvy play by a veteran player. That shifted momentum and the Giants got sloppy and scrambly for the rest of the period, taking a few poor penalties and the allowing themselves to be run around. The home team were out-shot in the middle frame.
In the third the Giants continued to look ineffective, never finding a good breakout to work and allowing the ‘Tips close checking to strip them of the puck with great regularity. They also began to lose a lot of face-offs putting them behind the eight ball as far as their puck possession game went. In short, they stopped doing the things they looked so good doing in the first. The Tips tied the game off a bit of a broken play. The Giants had a bad change following a decent, but not excellent, PK breaking down in the zone as far as assignments were concerned. Radko Gudas scored his first of two on the night putting a screened shot far-side low on Tucker, who was just average tonight. The Giants still had time to make a come-back happen, but the momentum in the game was rapidly sliding away from them as they put forth ineffective energy, losing puck support and intensity in the process. The PP’s they got, they squandered with poor dumps and little or no chase. The Tips clogged up the neutral zone and waited for their opportunity. A new twist was that when the puck was in the zone they crashed the net en-masse forcing the Giants to collapse to their net losing any chance of bringing the puck cleanly out of the zone. Not even a lively scrap between Brandon Scholten and Cameron Abney could pull the Giants out of their funk. A few minutes later Gudas was able to put yet another cross-ice pass past Tucker for a very similar goal to the tying marker. That was late in the third and the Giants were not able to get back into any sort of groove and let the game slip away from them. The Tips salted away the game with an empty netter from their top –line, who were held off the score-sheet for the majority of the game.
The Giants were held to two shots until late in the third and managed only 5 shots in the period. They were out-shot in the second and third periods, a rarity in recent years, and ending up being out shot 26-21 in the game. The G-Men went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Silvertips went 0 for 5, but scored two of their goals closely following man advantages. The Giants are a different looking team this season and it’ll take some time for the parts to cohese. Their positive start makes me believe that the systems and effort will become second nature to them sooner rather than later, but they are going to need their goalies to make some of those tough stops to make it happen.
No rest for the wicked as the Giants take on what will be a very pissed off and hungry Thunderbird team as they will be on the back end of three in three nights, but be aching to take the game after being dumped by the Winterhawks 5-0 in their game this evening. The Giants will probably try out new back-up netminder Brendan Jensen between the pipes as they will be finishing a three in four night game streak. The game will either be flat as hell or very emotional depending on which teams show up. Puck drops at 5pm pacific at the Coliseum.
Three Stars
1. Radko Gudas
2. Lance Bouma
3. Shane Harper