dondo
10-18-2009, 01:10 AM
I am absolutely livid right now and its because the boys actively gave away a game they should have won. No excuses, let's hope Hayzer reads them the riot act and adjust his strategies to not allow this team to get themselves into that situation again. The refs sucked, but they were not the reasons for the loss -- the collapse in third period, under little pressure was.
Don't read this recap if you are sensitive.. I lay it all out there in this one.
Americans Get Giants
Vancouver 3 Tri-Cities 5
Don Robinson
The Giants played a really nice 40 minutes and then laid back trying to protect a two goal lead sitting back in the neutral zone with one fore-checker and gave away the game. JT Barnett scored two goals in the loss, with Kevin Connauton adding another one for the home team. The Ams going into the third down 3-1 scored 4 unanswered goals to not only come-back in the game, but were gifted a convincing win they should never have even had a sniff at getting. The sagging Giants allowed themselves to be out-worked, out-skated and out-everythinged by the end of the third. A really surprising and pathetic collapse that gave the Ams some goals they didn’t have to work for to get the win. The G-Men proved that they are not the powerhouse they once were, when a lead going into the third was a lock. This season’s squad still has a bit of growing to do and need to keep the foot on the pedal if they hope to hold onto these kinds of leads. I actually blame Don Hay a bit for this loss as the coach’s tactic of sitting back four in the neutral zone killed the energy in the building, on the ice and sucked the energy out of the players, so that when they did have to make the jump back to offense they were incapable.
The Giants opened the scoring in the first 22 seconds into the game. Kevin Connauton lifted a wrister from the point finding the top of the net through traffic. The Giants scored another one late in the frame when Barnett took the puck to the net and muscled it past Drew Owsley to put his team up by 2. The Giants had some good pressure going in the first and were working well along the boards. The Ams were showing they were no pushovers, but the Giants work ethic won out in the period. The refereeing however was the most precious pathetic excuse for officiating I have seen for some time. They called everything and not one of them was a real penalty. From two players jostling at the bench being given minors for roughing, roughing??, a couple of stick bumps? To the incidental sticks being called trips to a brilliant defensive move from behind tapping the stick (with one hand) being called a slash. They had their heads firmly up their asses.
A very sad miscarriage of their power, in my estimation. Awful simply awful. How about a player being deliberately and obviously pushed into a goalie being called for goaltender interference. The examples were endless tonight. I really have a tough time understanding how these guys keep their jobs at times. You can add the obstructive linesmen to the mix while you’re at it. I really hate having to grind the refs, yes I really do, but I am losing my mind trying to figure out what they are using as their yardstick. It can’t be the rule-book, because from my point of view they can’t even seem to understand that a stick check is not a hook.
Early in the second it appeared as if the Giants had a goal, but it was waived off. The replay showed fairly clearly by my reckoning that the puck climbed up and over short side and literally had second or two before the net was dislodged. The refs did not go upstairs to confirm whether or not it was goal. Another glaring omission by stupidity in my mind. The very next shift the Ams got within one as Brooks Macek slipped it past Jamie Tucker with his backhand. Tucker wasn’t ugly tonight, but neither was he stellar, he had more than few moments battling the puck, when his players had to bail him out on the night. Barnett got that one back about 6 minutes later, going to net and slipping a loose puck past Owsley. Good hockey, but really not a whole lot of emotion from either squad and the Giants were not getting enough shots on net, for my liking.
The third was all Americans as the Giants spent the first part of the period sitting four players back in the neutral zone. First off this is stupid thing to do versus a small speedy team. Secondly they killed their own energy and did not force the Ams to make risky plays and thirdly they were frequently being caught flat-footed, as they were actively cycling through the neutral zone but rather standing still. It didn’t take long for the Ams to tilt the ice as Brendan Shinnimin slipped a loose puck past Tucker. A puck he should have had right in front of him, at 1:07 of the final frame. The Giants didn’t get the hint and continued to sit back and try to protect a now one goal lead against a fairly dangerous team. They held on to that lead until late in the period, but were scrambling in their own end the whole time, getting out-worked and beaten to every single puck. They were fortunate not to give up a goal earlier, but in the end they gave away the points and then the game to a team they had on the ropes, 15 minutes earlier. Normally I would have said that the Americans stepped up their game and the Giants couldn’t keep up, but this was a very clear example of sagging and not being able to get back in and allowing the Ams to have a very easy time in the Giants end. No hitting, no real checking and a whole lot of standing around and waving sticks and it pissed me off. That is in no way Giants hockey and it has no place on the ice at the Coliseum. I booed the boys at the end of this one because it was so poor and I don’t do that.
The Ams scored the tying goal at the 14:55 mark of the third. Another soft one giving Mason Wilgosh his first of the season on a goal that should not have been. Very poor defensive play by the Giants and allowing a player to walk uncontested from the sideboards and get it past their goalie. The Ams took the lead when Tucker gloved the puck and then played it behind his own to no-one. The Giants scrambled and managed to keep it along the boards, but that opened up the ice and few moves later Adam Hughesman had a wide open net to shoot at, with nary a Giant player in sight. With the goalie pulled the Giants iced the puck late in the game with a horrible attempt at a very low-percentage pass to a well-covered player. The play went back to their end of the ice and Shinnimin got his second of the game off of a pretty smart move. Throwing the puck on the net off the face-off, the puck found the short side and ended any hope the Giants had of coming back in this one. Smart move, awful goal to allow, but indicative of how weak the Giants were in the third.
Shots in the game were even, but the Ams out-shot the Giants in the third 14-7 and that was the game. The Giants went 1 for 4 on the PP, while the Americans were 0 for 7 on their gifts. I cannot stand it when a good solid team plays sit back hockey and kills themselves. Maybe Hay will realize that this crew cannot play that kind of hockey and hope to win and that sending in at least two fore-checkers will create some work for the other team. That’s what the better teams do and they keep their foot on the pedal to the end. The Giants didn’t and they paid the price. It wasn’t because the other guy stepped up their game, but because they gave in at all ends of the ice and that for me is completely unacceptable. The Americans were allowed to score some pretty easy goals tonight and that also cannot happen.
The Giants have the week to rediscover their balls and learn to play the full sixty as they have done for a good part of this young season. I have no patience for the kind of hockey they played in the third and they shouldn’t either. Frankly they should be ashamed to a man for putting in that kind of effort and not getting beat, but instead beating themselves with soft and stupid plays. Up next is Everett who have been giving the G’s fits this season so they better be ready to play the whole game and not just show up for a bit. If they must do that then show up for the second and third and not the first and second. The puck drops at the Coliseum on Friday.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Shinnimin
2. JT Barnett
3. Brooks Macek
^ Hey Everett! THAT’S how you award stars -- you homer sacks of you know what!
Don't read this recap if you are sensitive.. I lay it all out there in this one.
Americans Get Giants
Vancouver 3 Tri-Cities 5
Don Robinson
The Giants played a really nice 40 minutes and then laid back trying to protect a two goal lead sitting back in the neutral zone with one fore-checker and gave away the game. JT Barnett scored two goals in the loss, with Kevin Connauton adding another one for the home team. The Ams going into the third down 3-1 scored 4 unanswered goals to not only come-back in the game, but were gifted a convincing win they should never have even had a sniff at getting. The sagging Giants allowed themselves to be out-worked, out-skated and out-everythinged by the end of the third. A really surprising and pathetic collapse that gave the Ams some goals they didn’t have to work for to get the win. The G-Men proved that they are not the powerhouse they once were, when a lead going into the third was a lock. This season’s squad still has a bit of growing to do and need to keep the foot on the pedal if they hope to hold onto these kinds of leads. I actually blame Don Hay a bit for this loss as the coach’s tactic of sitting back four in the neutral zone killed the energy in the building, on the ice and sucked the energy out of the players, so that when they did have to make the jump back to offense they were incapable.
The Giants opened the scoring in the first 22 seconds into the game. Kevin Connauton lifted a wrister from the point finding the top of the net through traffic. The Giants scored another one late in the frame when Barnett took the puck to the net and muscled it past Drew Owsley to put his team up by 2. The Giants had some good pressure going in the first and were working well along the boards. The Ams were showing they were no pushovers, but the Giants work ethic won out in the period. The refereeing however was the most precious pathetic excuse for officiating I have seen for some time. They called everything and not one of them was a real penalty. From two players jostling at the bench being given minors for roughing, roughing??, a couple of stick bumps? To the incidental sticks being called trips to a brilliant defensive move from behind tapping the stick (with one hand) being called a slash. They had their heads firmly up their asses.
A very sad miscarriage of their power, in my estimation. Awful simply awful. How about a player being deliberately and obviously pushed into a goalie being called for goaltender interference. The examples were endless tonight. I really have a tough time understanding how these guys keep their jobs at times. You can add the obstructive linesmen to the mix while you’re at it. I really hate having to grind the refs, yes I really do, but I am losing my mind trying to figure out what they are using as their yardstick. It can’t be the rule-book, because from my point of view they can’t even seem to understand that a stick check is not a hook.
Early in the second it appeared as if the Giants had a goal, but it was waived off. The replay showed fairly clearly by my reckoning that the puck climbed up and over short side and literally had second or two before the net was dislodged. The refs did not go upstairs to confirm whether or not it was goal. Another glaring omission by stupidity in my mind. The very next shift the Ams got within one as Brooks Macek slipped it past Jamie Tucker with his backhand. Tucker wasn’t ugly tonight, but neither was he stellar, he had more than few moments battling the puck, when his players had to bail him out on the night. Barnett got that one back about 6 minutes later, going to net and slipping a loose puck past Owsley. Good hockey, but really not a whole lot of emotion from either squad and the Giants were not getting enough shots on net, for my liking.
The third was all Americans as the Giants spent the first part of the period sitting four players back in the neutral zone. First off this is stupid thing to do versus a small speedy team. Secondly they killed their own energy and did not force the Ams to make risky plays and thirdly they were frequently being caught flat-footed, as they were actively cycling through the neutral zone but rather standing still. It didn’t take long for the Ams to tilt the ice as Brendan Shinnimin slipped a loose puck past Tucker. A puck he should have had right in front of him, at 1:07 of the final frame. The Giants didn’t get the hint and continued to sit back and try to protect a now one goal lead against a fairly dangerous team. They held on to that lead until late in the period, but were scrambling in their own end the whole time, getting out-worked and beaten to every single puck. They were fortunate not to give up a goal earlier, but in the end they gave away the points and then the game to a team they had on the ropes, 15 minutes earlier. Normally I would have said that the Americans stepped up their game and the Giants couldn’t keep up, but this was a very clear example of sagging and not being able to get back in and allowing the Ams to have a very easy time in the Giants end. No hitting, no real checking and a whole lot of standing around and waving sticks and it pissed me off. That is in no way Giants hockey and it has no place on the ice at the Coliseum. I booed the boys at the end of this one because it was so poor and I don’t do that.
The Ams scored the tying goal at the 14:55 mark of the third. Another soft one giving Mason Wilgosh his first of the season on a goal that should not have been. Very poor defensive play by the Giants and allowing a player to walk uncontested from the sideboards and get it past their goalie. The Ams took the lead when Tucker gloved the puck and then played it behind his own to no-one. The Giants scrambled and managed to keep it along the boards, but that opened up the ice and few moves later Adam Hughesman had a wide open net to shoot at, with nary a Giant player in sight. With the goalie pulled the Giants iced the puck late in the game with a horrible attempt at a very low-percentage pass to a well-covered player. The play went back to their end of the ice and Shinnimin got his second of the game off of a pretty smart move. Throwing the puck on the net off the face-off, the puck found the short side and ended any hope the Giants had of coming back in this one. Smart move, awful goal to allow, but indicative of how weak the Giants were in the third.
Shots in the game were even, but the Ams out-shot the Giants in the third 14-7 and that was the game. The Giants went 1 for 4 on the PP, while the Americans were 0 for 7 on their gifts. I cannot stand it when a good solid team plays sit back hockey and kills themselves. Maybe Hay will realize that this crew cannot play that kind of hockey and hope to win and that sending in at least two fore-checkers will create some work for the other team. That’s what the better teams do and they keep their foot on the pedal to the end. The Giants didn’t and they paid the price. It wasn’t because the other guy stepped up their game, but because they gave in at all ends of the ice and that for me is completely unacceptable. The Americans were allowed to score some pretty easy goals tonight and that also cannot happen.
The Giants have the week to rediscover their balls and learn to play the full sixty as they have done for a good part of this young season. I have no patience for the kind of hockey they played in the third and they shouldn’t either. Frankly they should be ashamed to a man for putting in that kind of effort and not getting beat, but instead beating themselves with soft and stupid plays. Up next is Everett who have been giving the G’s fits this season so they better be ready to play the whole game and not just show up for a bit. If they must do that then show up for the second and third and not the first and second. The puck drops at the Coliseum on Friday.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Shinnimin
2. JT Barnett
3. Brooks Macek
^ Hey Everett! THAT’S how you award stars -- you homer sacks of you know what!