dondo
11-02-2009, 12:00 AM
Lots of scoring from all over the line-up. Better effort from all of the Giants after Bonner challenged them in the media. 8 goals from 7 goal scorers. Bruins were physical and bit cheap at times, but not overly so as I have seen in the past. Habscheid has them playing a pretty solid game, but tonight they were tired and out-worked from the drop of the puck. They didn't lack emotion though. Good game. Some really nice goals too.
Giants Batter Bruins
Vancouver 8 Chilliwack 2
Don Robinson
The Giants had a bounce back with a vengeance game tonight, after their GM challenged them to step it up in the media. The G’s coming in with a day off, after a tough loss to Calgary at the Coliseum, were hungry to prove their worth from the drop of the puck scoring early in the game and padding their lead as the game progressed. 7 different scorers scored eight goals tonight in a rough feisty battle. Rolling four lines the G-men got production and effort throughout as everybody seemed to be back on the same page. The Giants had excellent gap control tonight and were aggressive on the puck whether it was loose or being held by a Bruin player. The points came pretty easy tonight, but they were not gained without effort. The only disappointment on the Giants side might have been the PP which got 9 chances, but only managed to bulge the twine once. The game got rough at times with a few throw-downs to spice it up.
The Giants opened the scoring just over a minute into the first, when Lane Scheidl got his first WHL goal, tipping a David Musil shot over Mark Friesen’s glove. Craig Cunningham did some great work along the boards to get the puck to Musil. Andy Thiessen the single referee was calling everything and then nothing, it was very inconsistent and in the end lead to more than a few dangerous plays that could have been nipped in the bud early on. The Giants gave the Bruins early chances with the man-advantage, taking three consecutive penalties against early in the opening frame. The Giants held the Bruins offense off the score-sheet on the PP, however even weathering an early 5 on 3 against which could have turned the tide of the game. The score after one was 1-0 home team.
Early in the middle frame the Giants padded their lead, off of JT Barnett standing at the top of the crease. Mike Piluso stripped a player of the puck getting it out to Cunningham in the high slot. Cunningham threw it across to Barnett who put it in either off the pass or off of Friesen’s pad. Cass Mappin added one just over three minutes later coming in off the right side protecting the puck and sliding the puck under Friesen as he cut across the crease. Ryan Funk and Greg Lamoureux did some solid work in the neutral zone for the helpers, but the goal was all Mappin. The Giants almost had another one two minutes later as Bouma was sprung loose, slightly hooked but getting a good backhand off, which clanged solidly off the iron. The ref called for a penalty shot which confused everyone in the building including the scorekeeper who had the penalty up on the board. Bouma failed to click on his penalty shot which seemed to come out of the ether and when he started to skate toward the net Friesen looked up and seemed surprised what was happening. All in all a simply awful call on a play that was a hook, but could easily have been a slash earlier in the rush. Penalty yes, penalty shot? No way. Mitch McColm and Bouma got into it later that period with McColm getting the extra two for roughing. A very good heavy-weight tilt which had both players getting good shots in, but a slight nod to Bouma for the eventual take-down. Despite being –4 on the night McColm looked fairly solid out there.
Milan Kytnar put in the first nail 1:04 into the third ripping a shot from the slot. Some great work by Brendan Gallagher got the puck down to Bouma behind the net and Bouma found Kytnar with a crisp hard pass across the crease. The Bruins got that one back when Ryan Howse standing on the doorstep batted one past Jamie Tucker. Nolan Toigo wears the goat horns on that one as he lost his man behind the net and got caught chasing, but he was an impressive +5 on the night so I suppose he could be forgiven for that gaffe. With some great pressure at the Bruins blue-line, as some of the Giants were hustling off on a change, Gallagher stripped the Chilliwack boys of the puck and went in hard on the left side finding a hole short-side with a beauty backhand top shelf. Sebastian Svendsen got his second of the season, off of a scramble in front in which the goalie was nudged into the net. The goal was signalled in immediately by the ref, but they went upstairs to check. It appeared as if a Chilliwack player put his hand into the net to sweep the puck away. The goal stood and the Giants were into appetiser territory. Sadly the appetiser coupons are truly bogus now as they require an on-line purchase, or some such ass-for-a-hat bit of idiocy from a marketing boob, instead of just being an appetiser. Either give it away or don’t, but don’t give us this garbage and call it a gift.
The goals kept coming in the third as Don Hay rolled four lines, giving his depth players some extra minutes in the process. Brandon Manning found the twine over a sprawling Tucker to close the gap a bit. Then with just under five to go in the game the Giants finally found a PP goal and it came off of a pretty play which could easily be a contender for play of the week. Nathan Burns, Gally and Cunningham all came into the zone in a line passing across to one another before Cunningham finished it off with a wicked backhand up under the cross bar from close in. It was a back breaker which came out of a small neutral zone breakdown. Svendsen was later leveled from behind with a high dirty hit, when he put himself into a vulnerable position. With Sebastian laying motionless on the ice, James Henry sprung to his defense with fists of fury, battering Tyler Stahl badly, right in my corner of the rink. Felt pretty good to cheer Chucky on as he rained blows on Stahl, exacting some vengeance for what was a pretty deliberate cheap shot. It also felt pretty good exchanging a knowing glance with Henry as he finished the bout, giving him a fist pump and a thumbs up for a job well done. The Giants finished off their evening much the same way they started it with a bookend goal by Lane Scheidl, scoring his second WHL goal and his second of the game by chipping a rainbow shot up and over Friesen off of a scramble in front. Piluso got the lone assist. As I said before the points came pretty easily tonight and it was a fitting way to end the production on the evening.
The Giants needed a game like that, before going on their first real road trip of the season with three games down south next week. It was good to see everyone hustling and working and contributing. The Giants out shot the Bruins 36-21. The home boys went 1 for 9 on the PP, while holding the Bruins to 0 for 6. The only poor part of the Giants game tonight was their PP, which was anemic and looked as if they were passing through wet cement and skating through the stuff as well. They did not have any quick crisp passes and were not screening well. They over-played the puck even when they had good lanes and then after all the waiting took poor low percentage shots. All in all Yogi did not do his job with the boys in practice it seems and they didn’t do their job on the ice with the man-advantage. They are going to need that special teams production on their road trip and they need to find those seams a bit better than they did tonight up one or two men. I know it’s splitting hairs after such a big blow-out, but they will be a better team if they get an unpredictable PP under their belts and begin to move the puck around quickly to find holes in the other team’s coverage. The Bruins were not challenging the points and the boys should have been blasting it with great regularity in my mind when given that kind of freedom.
The Boys have a couple of days before heading down south to take on the surging Winterhawks, always tough Americans and tenacious Chiefs. They are not going to have an easy go of it as all the teams they are facing have big compete levels. The games are all around 7:00 pm local time and take place on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this coming week. It’s a chance for them to forge some good chemistry which will serve them well in the coming months when the last half of the season will be away from the Coliseum due to the Olympics.
Three Stars
1. Craig Cunningham
2. Cass Mappin
3. Brendan Gallagher
Giants Batter Bruins
Vancouver 8 Chilliwack 2
Don Robinson
The Giants had a bounce back with a vengeance game tonight, after their GM challenged them to step it up in the media. The G’s coming in with a day off, after a tough loss to Calgary at the Coliseum, were hungry to prove their worth from the drop of the puck scoring early in the game and padding their lead as the game progressed. 7 different scorers scored eight goals tonight in a rough feisty battle. Rolling four lines the G-men got production and effort throughout as everybody seemed to be back on the same page. The Giants had excellent gap control tonight and were aggressive on the puck whether it was loose or being held by a Bruin player. The points came pretty easy tonight, but they were not gained without effort. The only disappointment on the Giants side might have been the PP which got 9 chances, but only managed to bulge the twine once. The game got rough at times with a few throw-downs to spice it up.
The Giants opened the scoring just over a minute into the first, when Lane Scheidl got his first WHL goal, tipping a David Musil shot over Mark Friesen’s glove. Craig Cunningham did some great work along the boards to get the puck to Musil. Andy Thiessen the single referee was calling everything and then nothing, it was very inconsistent and in the end lead to more than a few dangerous plays that could have been nipped in the bud early on. The Giants gave the Bruins early chances with the man-advantage, taking three consecutive penalties against early in the opening frame. The Giants held the Bruins offense off the score-sheet on the PP, however even weathering an early 5 on 3 against which could have turned the tide of the game. The score after one was 1-0 home team.
Early in the middle frame the Giants padded their lead, off of JT Barnett standing at the top of the crease. Mike Piluso stripped a player of the puck getting it out to Cunningham in the high slot. Cunningham threw it across to Barnett who put it in either off the pass or off of Friesen’s pad. Cass Mappin added one just over three minutes later coming in off the right side protecting the puck and sliding the puck under Friesen as he cut across the crease. Ryan Funk and Greg Lamoureux did some solid work in the neutral zone for the helpers, but the goal was all Mappin. The Giants almost had another one two minutes later as Bouma was sprung loose, slightly hooked but getting a good backhand off, which clanged solidly off the iron. The ref called for a penalty shot which confused everyone in the building including the scorekeeper who had the penalty up on the board. Bouma failed to click on his penalty shot which seemed to come out of the ether and when he started to skate toward the net Friesen looked up and seemed surprised what was happening. All in all a simply awful call on a play that was a hook, but could easily have been a slash earlier in the rush. Penalty yes, penalty shot? No way. Mitch McColm and Bouma got into it later that period with McColm getting the extra two for roughing. A very good heavy-weight tilt which had both players getting good shots in, but a slight nod to Bouma for the eventual take-down. Despite being –4 on the night McColm looked fairly solid out there.
Milan Kytnar put in the first nail 1:04 into the third ripping a shot from the slot. Some great work by Brendan Gallagher got the puck down to Bouma behind the net and Bouma found Kytnar with a crisp hard pass across the crease. The Bruins got that one back when Ryan Howse standing on the doorstep batted one past Jamie Tucker. Nolan Toigo wears the goat horns on that one as he lost his man behind the net and got caught chasing, but he was an impressive +5 on the night so I suppose he could be forgiven for that gaffe. With some great pressure at the Bruins blue-line, as some of the Giants were hustling off on a change, Gallagher stripped the Chilliwack boys of the puck and went in hard on the left side finding a hole short-side with a beauty backhand top shelf. Sebastian Svendsen got his second of the season, off of a scramble in front in which the goalie was nudged into the net. The goal was signalled in immediately by the ref, but they went upstairs to check. It appeared as if a Chilliwack player put his hand into the net to sweep the puck away. The goal stood and the Giants were into appetiser territory. Sadly the appetiser coupons are truly bogus now as they require an on-line purchase, or some such ass-for-a-hat bit of idiocy from a marketing boob, instead of just being an appetiser. Either give it away or don’t, but don’t give us this garbage and call it a gift.
The goals kept coming in the third as Don Hay rolled four lines, giving his depth players some extra minutes in the process. Brandon Manning found the twine over a sprawling Tucker to close the gap a bit. Then with just under five to go in the game the Giants finally found a PP goal and it came off of a pretty play which could easily be a contender for play of the week. Nathan Burns, Gally and Cunningham all came into the zone in a line passing across to one another before Cunningham finished it off with a wicked backhand up under the cross bar from close in. It was a back breaker which came out of a small neutral zone breakdown. Svendsen was later leveled from behind with a high dirty hit, when he put himself into a vulnerable position. With Sebastian laying motionless on the ice, James Henry sprung to his defense with fists of fury, battering Tyler Stahl badly, right in my corner of the rink. Felt pretty good to cheer Chucky on as he rained blows on Stahl, exacting some vengeance for what was a pretty deliberate cheap shot. It also felt pretty good exchanging a knowing glance with Henry as he finished the bout, giving him a fist pump and a thumbs up for a job well done. The Giants finished off their evening much the same way they started it with a bookend goal by Lane Scheidl, scoring his second WHL goal and his second of the game by chipping a rainbow shot up and over Friesen off of a scramble in front. Piluso got the lone assist. As I said before the points came pretty easily tonight and it was a fitting way to end the production on the evening.
The Giants needed a game like that, before going on their first real road trip of the season with three games down south next week. It was good to see everyone hustling and working and contributing. The Giants out shot the Bruins 36-21. The home boys went 1 for 9 on the PP, while holding the Bruins to 0 for 6. The only poor part of the Giants game tonight was their PP, which was anemic and looked as if they were passing through wet cement and skating through the stuff as well. They did not have any quick crisp passes and were not screening well. They over-played the puck even when they had good lanes and then after all the waiting took poor low percentage shots. All in all Yogi did not do his job with the boys in practice it seems and they didn’t do their job on the ice with the man-advantage. They are going to need that special teams production on their road trip and they need to find those seams a bit better than they did tonight up one or two men. I know it’s splitting hairs after such a big blow-out, but they will be a better team if they get an unpredictable PP under their belts and begin to move the puck around quickly to find holes in the other team’s coverage. The Bruins were not challenging the points and the boys should have been blasting it with great regularity in my mind when given that kind of freedom.
The Boys have a couple of days before heading down south to take on the surging Winterhawks, always tough Americans and tenacious Chiefs. They are not going to have an easy go of it as all the teams they are facing have big compete levels. The games are all around 7:00 pm local time and take place on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this coming week. It’s a chance for them to forge some good chemistry which will serve them well in the coming months when the last half of the season will be away from the Coliseum due to the Olympics.
Three Stars
1. Craig Cunningham
2. Cass Mappin
3. Brendan Gallagher