dondo
11-07-2009, 02:20 AM
Ugly game, ugly goaltending and to be honest completely unacceptable for this team.
Probably the most lop-sided loss in Giants recent history and to add insult to injury, to a team they had on the ropes in Vancouver and then allowed to score four in the third and get the win. Nothing to take out of this one except don't ever do it again. Suck it up and have a lot more pride than that. I have to say that our OA defensemen continue to play like 17 year olds. So if that's the case let the 17 yr olds play. At least they'll learn and grow and be here next season. I have pretty much had it with the kind of game our 20 year old D are bringing, rookie give-aways with great regularity, lack of effort and leadership. When, in my mind, our most versatile defensman is a 16 yr old then we have some problems on the back-end. Those spots would be better used to get scorers. Neither Jensen nor Tucker were good in this one and although their team didn't do them many favours, they weren't able to shut the door when their team had a chance to make a game of it.
here's how I saw it tonight:
Americans Slay Giants
Vancouver 2 Tri-City 8
Don Robinson
It wasn’t even close as the Americans buried the Giants badly early in the game and kept the pressure going for the full sixty. The Ams tallied 4 unanswered in the first, much as they did in the third period on Oct 17th when the Giants let slip a 3-1 lead to lose badly 5-3 by allowing easy goals and sitting back and waiting, permitting themselves to get badly burned in a game that made me very angry. Tonight’s was marginally better if only for the fact that they were beat soundly in this one and didn’t give in too easily. They gave up easy goals though, letting the Americans come not their zone en-masse and not clearing the puck well out their zone. The G’s out-shot the Ams in this game, but were not getting them past Drew Owsley who had a solid game, but was never forced to be spectacular. The boys should be hanging their heads after this one and the only possible redemption for them could come tomorrow night versus the Chiefs in Spokane. I feel a bit for the Chiefs as the Giants do not tend to play poorly after big losses and quite often come out with an insane level of intensity. Credit Don Hay for never letting them get too low or too high. This team should be able to put this one past them and focus on tomorrow night. I’m actually not sure if the Giants have lost a game this badly in recent years.
The Ams opened the scoring 2:31 into the first. Neal Prokop got his second of the season off of a bad giveaway by the visitors. Prokop had one of the assists on the Americans second goal about three minutes later, when Jordan Messier potted his 9th of the season on a 4 on 2 rush. That was it for Jamie Tucker who allowed 2 goals on 5 shots, to be replaced by Brendan Jensen who took a big hit to his stats tonight. Justin Feser scored just past the mid-way mark of the period making it 3-0 for the home squad. I have to say that I really hate arena announcers down South doing that WWE style of goal scorer announcements. To me its pretty classless, but whatever I think it’s a cultural thing. The Americans finished up their scoring in the first when Kruise Reddick notched his 5th of the season on the PP, putting them up 4-0.
The goal came 5 on 3, when Brendan Gallagher was given the instigator penalty for challenging Johnny Lazo, one the few players in the league slightly smaller than him. Not usually Gally’s M.O. as he’s a fearless player who goes nose-to-nose (leaning up) with players well over 6’ consistently. A decent featherweight bout between the two as Gally was trying to generate some emotional response from his team and give them something to cheer about. The strategy might have worked if Ryan Funk hadn’t taken a bad cross-checking penalty on the PK, putting his team down by two men. It was the first 5 on 3 goal against the Giants have allowed this season and came at exactly the wrong time for any sort of come-back to happen. The Giants came out of the first down four goals, marginally out-shooting the Americans 15-14, but having nothing to show for it. They were victims of bad luck, poor goaltending and some very sloppy play with the puck.
The Giants came out well in the second, but Jensen did them no favours allowing 2 goals on the Americans mere 3 shots in the period. The G’s scored one goal firing 14 pucks on net and gave up two against allowing only 3 shots. There is no way in hell any team is going come back or even put together a decent showing when they allow that kind of crap to happen. Jensen absolutely had to shut the door as his boys did their job limiting shots, but the young ‘tender learned a very tough lesson tonight and hopefully it makes him a better player and more focused goalie in the future. Sadly he did not do his job in that period, allowing some pretty easy tallies to slip by him and in the process killed his team’s chance of generating a come-back. Its game’s like this that can bring a young impressionable goalie to the next level or kill his confidence. Hopefully it does the former as he seems to be a pretty balanced goalie capable of bouncing back.
Brendan Shinnimin feasted on the Giants again tonight getting 2G and 2A on the night, to go with the three points he notched in the game in Vancouver. He opened the scoring in the second padding his team’s lead to five goals at 4:36 of the middle frame. The Giants finally got one back off a broken play a couple of minutes later, when James Henry stripped the puck and got it up to Zach Hodder who ripped it at the net. The puck looked to deflect in front of the goal, but it was awarded to the 16 yr old defenseman who notched his first in the WHL. Shinnimin scored his second of the period at 14:52 off a broken play of his own, when two Giants collided with one another giving him a open lane to the net. He made no mistake finding the twine.
The bleeding continued in the third as the Americans finally had a period where they out-shot the visitors, barely, 11-10. The home team kept their scoring rolling just over five minutes into the final frame, putting the proverbial boots to the Giants tender ribs. Adam Hughesman put one past Jensen who was still between the pipes starting the third. 16 yr old Nils Moser scored his first WHL goal as well tonight, bulging his team’s lead to 8-1 on the PP, just past the mid-mark of the period. Brendan Gallagher padded his stats late in the game, making it look like a marginally more respectable score, assisted by Lance Bouma. It was a nice goal, but the Giants did not celebrate at all after the tally which was the last of the game for either team. A phenomenally ugly game for the Giants who are not the kind of team to allow that kind of blow-out to happen to them. To a man they are going to be angry with their effort and their result. There will be a fair amount of mirror staring tonight, but then as a team they will put that game past them and get ready for a tough contest in Spokane.
The Giants out-shot the Americans 39-28. They went 0 for 5 on the PP, but that stat is misleading as the Americans were given a very late double minor by the refs (with 18 seconds remaining in the game – a meaningless double minor except it makes the zebras stats look more balanced – a load of crap if you ask me), who I felt were pretty questionable on the night. So in reality the number which means anything would be 0 for 3, while the Americans went 2 for 7. The Giants first PP chance came mid-second and curiously enough Devin Klein was one of the same refs who officiated the Oct 17th game in Vancouver conveniently pocketing his whistle for the entire third period of that game, after calling ticky-tack crap for the first two periods. You might want to read my Oct 17 recap to see what I thought of the zebras in that game. 16 yr old Nathan Burns was the only plus player on the Giants tonight managing to be a +1, six others were even, while everyone else were sporting minuses.
The Giants need to put this game behind them and get ready for Spokane who have a longer bus ride tonight than the Giants do, returning home from Kent, while the Giants are a few hours closer in Kennewick. They need to use this as a learning experience and vow to one another to never let it happen again. There’s losing and then there’s allowing yourself to be beaten. They allowed themselves to be badly beaten. It wasn’t their night to be sure, but this is a team that cannot afford the luxury of allowing themselves to be beaten. If this was a yard stick game as Chad Scharff was saying after the game, they didn’t even get six inches up the stick. I expect a better game from everybody in Spokane tomorrow. Puck drops at 7:00 local time in Spokane tomorrow night.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Shinnimin
2. Drew Owsley
3. Neal Prokop
Probably the most lop-sided loss in Giants recent history and to add insult to injury, to a team they had on the ropes in Vancouver and then allowed to score four in the third and get the win. Nothing to take out of this one except don't ever do it again. Suck it up and have a lot more pride than that. I have to say that our OA defensemen continue to play like 17 year olds. So if that's the case let the 17 yr olds play. At least they'll learn and grow and be here next season. I have pretty much had it with the kind of game our 20 year old D are bringing, rookie give-aways with great regularity, lack of effort and leadership. When, in my mind, our most versatile defensman is a 16 yr old then we have some problems on the back-end. Those spots would be better used to get scorers. Neither Jensen nor Tucker were good in this one and although their team didn't do them many favours, they weren't able to shut the door when their team had a chance to make a game of it.
here's how I saw it tonight:
Americans Slay Giants
Vancouver 2 Tri-City 8
Don Robinson
It wasn’t even close as the Americans buried the Giants badly early in the game and kept the pressure going for the full sixty. The Ams tallied 4 unanswered in the first, much as they did in the third period on Oct 17th when the Giants let slip a 3-1 lead to lose badly 5-3 by allowing easy goals and sitting back and waiting, permitting themselves to get badly burned in a game that made me very angry. Tonight’s was marginally better if only for the fact that they were beat soundly in this one and didn’t give in too easily. They gave up easy goals though, letting the Americans come not their zone en-masse and not clearing the puck well out their zone. The G’s out-shot the Ams in this game, but were not getting them past Drew Owsley who had a solid game, but was never forced to be spectacular. The boys should be hanging their heads after this one and the only possible redemption for them could come tomorrow night versus the Chiefs in Spokane. I feel a bit for the Chiefs as the Giants do not tend to play poorly after big losses and quite often come out with an insane level of intensity. Credit Don Hay for never letting them get too low or too high. This team should be able to put this one past them and focus on tomorrow night. I’m actually not sure if the Giants have lost a game this badly in recent years.
The Ams opened the scoring 2:31 into the first. Neal Prokop got his second of the season off of a bad giveaway by the visitors. Prokop had one of the assists on the Americans second goal about three minutes later, when Jordan Messier potted his 9th of the season on a 4 on 2 rush. That was it for Jamie Tucker who allowed 2 goals on 5 shots, to be replaced by Brendan Jensen who took a big hit to his stats tonight. Justin Feser scored just past the mid-way mark of the period making it 3-0 for the home squad. I have to say that I really hate arena announcers down South doing that WWE style of goal scorer announcements. To me its pretty classless, but whatever I think it’s a cultural thing. The Americans finished up their scoring in the first when Kruise Reddick notched his 5th of the season on the PP, putting them up 4-0.
The goal came 5 on 3, when Brendan Gallagher was given the instigator penalty for challenging Johnny Lazo, one the few players in the league slightly smaller than him. Not usually Gally’s M.O. as he’s a fearless player who goes nose-to-nose (leaning up) with players well over 6’ consistently. A decent featherweight bout between the two as Gally was trying to generate some emotional response from his team and give them something to cheer about. The strategy might have worked if Ryan Funk hadn’t taken a bad cross-checking penalty on the PK, putting his team down by two men. It was the first 5 on 3 goal against the Giants have allowed this season and came at exactly the wrong time for any sort of come-back to happen. The Giants came out of the first down four goals, marginally out-shooting the Americans 15-14, but having nothing to show for it. They were victims of bad luck, poor goaltending and some very sloppy play with the puck.
The Giants came out well in the second, but Jensen did them no favours allowing 2 goals on the Americans mere 3 shots in the period. The G’s scored one goal firing 14 pucks on net and gave up two against allowing only 3 shots. There is no way in hell any team is going come back or even put together a decent showing when they allow that kind of crap to happen. Jensen absolutely had to shut the door as his boys did their job limiting shots, but the young ‘tender learned a very tough lesson tonight and hopefully it makes him a better player and more focused goalie in the future. Sadly he did not do his job in that period, allowing some pretty easy tallies to slip by him and in the process killed his team’s chance of generating a come-back. Its game’s like this that can bring a young impressionable goalie to the next level or kill his confidence. Hopefully it does the former as he seems to be a pretty balanced goalie capable of bouncing back.
Brendan Shinnimin feasted on the Giants again tonight getting 2G and 2A on the night, to go with the three points he notched in the game in Vancouver. He opened the scoring in the second padding his team’s lead to five goals at 4:36 of the middle frame. The Giants finally got one back off a broken play a couple of minutes later, when James Henry stripped the puck and got it up to Zach Hodder who ripped it at the net. The puck looked to deflect in front of the goal, but it was awarded to the 16 yr old defenseman who notched his first in the WHL. Shinnimin scored his second of the period at 14:52 off a broken play of his own, when two Giants collided with one another giving him a open lane to the net. He made no mistake finding the twine.
The bleeding continued in the third as the Americans finally had a period where they out-shot the visitors, barely, 11-10. The home team kept their scoring rolling just over five minutes into the final frame, putting the proverbial boots to the Giants tender ribs. Adam Hughesman put one past Jensen who was still between the pipes starting the third. 16 yr old Nils Moser scored his first WHL goal as well tonight, bulging his team’s lead to 8-1 on the PP, just past the mid-mark of the period. Brendan Gallagher padded his stats late in the game, making it look like a marginally more respectable score, assisted by Lance Bouma. It was a nice goal, but the Giants did not celebrate at all after the tally which was the last of the game for either team. A phenomenally ugly game for the Giants who are not the kind of team to allow that kind of blow-out to happen to them. To a man they are going to be angry with their effort and their result. There will be a fair amount of mirror staring tonight, but then as a team they will put that game past them and get ready for a tough contest in Spokane.
The Giants out-shot the Americans 39-28. They went 0 for 5 on the PP, but that stat is misleading as the Americans were given a very late double minor by the refs (with 18 seconds remaining in the game – a meaningless double minor except it makes the zebras stats look more balanced – a load of crap if you ask me), who I felt were pretty questionable on the night. So in reality the number which means anything would be 0 for 3, while the Americans went 2 for 7. The Giants first PP chance came mid-second and curiously enough Devin Klein was one of the same refs who officiated the Oct 17th game in Vancouver conveniently pocketing his whistle for the entire third period of that game, after calling ticky-tack crap for the first two periods. You might want to read my Oct 17 recap to see what I thought of the zebras in that game. 16 yr old Nathan Burns was the only plus player on the Giants tonight managing to be a +1, six others were even, while everyone else were sporting minuses.
The Giants need to put this game behind them and get ready for Spokane who have a longer bus ride tonight than the Giants do, returning home from Kent, while the Giants are a few hours closer in Kennewick. They need to use this as a learning experience and vow to one another to never let it happen again. There’s losing and then there’s allowing yourself to be beaten. They allowed themselves to be badly beaten. It wasn’t their night to be sure, but this is a team that cannot afford the luxury of allowing themselves to be beaten. If this was a yard stick game as Chad Scharff was saying after the game, they didn’t even get six inches up the stick. I expect a better game from everybody in Spokane tomorrow. Puck drops at 7:00 local time in Spokane tomorrow night.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Shinnimin
2. Drew Owsley
3. Neal Prokop