dondo
12-07-2009, 04:07 AM
Did not like that game, not in the least. My worst nightmare come true -- full-on Kirkian idiocy and a ref from the Q. Habscheid has the Bruins playing some good two-way hockey, they were very solid on the puck, skated harder than the G's and out-worked their rivals from down the valley. Now were the Bruins the choir boys the zebras thought they were? No.
Don't read this if you don't want to read me talking about the reffing yet at the same time giving the Bruins their due. Not too many bright spots for the Giants in this one. Segal was fairly solid, the boys got themselves into penalty trouble and pretend penalty trouble. Its a rare occasion when Don Hay is yelling at the refs, but he was in this one and in my mind with very good reason. Piluso and Barnett had some good forays, but the boys could not keep the puck in the zone for an extended period of time and that meant they couldn't get traffic to the net or get a cycle going, both of which are a big part of their game.
Bruins Jump Giants
Vancouver 0 Chilliwack 4
Don Robinson
Yes you know what’s coming from me considering my personal bias, the serious lop-sided quality of the officials and of course Matt Kirk arguably the worst ref in the dub. Yeah, nice showing on national TV boys, at least hopefully now everyone across the country will see how horrific and ridiculous a ref Kirk is (fans don’t scream Kirk you suck just for kicks), but you know what -- despite the incredibly lopsided calls (how do you even justify 14 PPs for one team and 6 PPs for another even when the one team is not playing their best? you can’t and from what I saw the Bruins were getting away with a whole lot as well) --- none of that really matters because the Giants for a good part of the game mostly stood around and waved their sticks a bunch in their own zone, didn’t fight hard for pucks, or battle in the corners and they also did not make the game tough for a rank rookie between the pipes for Chilliwack, which is really criminal. It also felt like to me that when the Giants started to try to play aggressively to gain some open ice a hand went up. Not that the boys didn’t take some seriously stupid penalties in the process, but not that many and not in the punitive way they were distributed.
The Bruins played a pretty solid tight-checking game and had active sticks, they capitalised on their opportunities and got to the rebounds quicker than the Vancouver boys. The Giants looked to have lead in their skates, playing their fourth in five nights, but really the hunger and drive were mostly non-existent. The visitors didn’t really show up in the third at all really and were easily held off the scoresheet. It was all about the PPs though as it seems to have been lately with Kirk being there almost every game between these two teams and his gratuitous calls are getting really tiring. The Bruins were given many, many, back to back five on three chances in the second and they capitalised twice. Some of them were credible but a lot simply weren’t. That was the game and the Giants despite playing a decent first came out flat and lifeless in the middle frame and then came out skating like zombies in the third. It didn’t even appear as if they wanted the win or even to break the shut-out bid, they looked to be just putting in time and that’s not Giants hockey.
The two teams played to a scoreless first. The visitors out shot the home town boys 14-8, but could not solve young Braden Gamble, who robbed Piluso of an almost sure goal when the Giants still had some jump. The calls were fairly even in the opening frame.
The flood gates opened just past the mid-way mark of the second when the parade to the penalty box began for the visitors, starting slowly with some soft roughing calls and escalating to continuous five on three. Chilliwack had opened the scoring early in the period capitalising off of a very poor play by Mark Segal behind his net, turning the puck over and failing to get set in goal before Kevin Sundher took the pass from behind the net in the slot. The Bruins would get two more that period, both of them off of extended PPs some of which came off, from my perspective, some pretty chintzy calls. Dylen McKinlay put home a rebound to put the Bruins up by two and then late in the period Ryan Howse buried another rebound. The Bruins were doing a good job keeping the pressure on, but with 6 –8 minutes of continuous 5 on 3 it’s to be expected. The Giants did okay killing a bunch of those calls, but couldn’t turn away the Chilliwack for all of them. They went into the break down 3-0, still having a penalty carrying over into the start of the third.
That might have been alright had the Giants come out in the third with some jump, any jump really and a hunger to actually fight to come back in this one, but they didn’t. Minutes rolled by easily and the Bruins were able to sit back and thwart most of the Giants forays. The Giants lost their simple game tonight, they were not supporting the puck well and allowed themselves to be pretty easily relieved of the puck - by my reckoning. When they did battle through traffic and were held-up or picked they weren’t getting the calls. The ones they did get though they squandered, so I don’t know if more calls would have helped their cause as they did not seem to be able to focus enough to complete their passes well and keep the pressure in the Bruins end of the ice. Credit the B’s for being quick to loose pucks and stripping the G’s of the puck. The third continued that way until late when the fists started flying. The first bout was lively one between diminutive Gallagher and Belohrad. Several more fights took place just over 30 seconds later at the 19:40 mark. Out of those scrums Cass Mappin found himself tagged with a five minute major for cross-checking. The Bruins added insult to injury by scoring eight seconds later on yet another PP. It was a pretty nice patient goal by Chris Collins.
The Giants were out shot by the B’s 37-25. The Giants were 0 for 6 on the PP, while the Bruins went 3 for 14 on theirs. The Bruins have now won two straight with a third game coming up at the Coliseum on Wednesday and then another one on the 18th. Despite allowing four goals, Mark Segal played a very solid game, moving across his net well and staying square to the shooter. I expect he’d like a few of those large rebounds back though. Braden Gamble did well in his first WHL game turning away all 25 shots and making a couple of big stops early on when the game was still in question. Other than that the Giants did not make the game difficult for him, failing to get any real pressure in the Bruins end of the ice or traffic to the net.
The G’s are having some serious problems right now and they really need to work their way through them, part of it is youth, part of it is, but mostly its not wanting those wins enough to lay it all out there every shift. Bonner’s usually savvy trades have not really helped the team a lot this season and seeing those players who were dealt doing very well with their new squads hurts more than a bit. Jamie Tucker has all but lost his starting job it seems as Segal got the past three starts after the Kootenay Ice lit Tucker up like a freaking Christmas tree. Tucker had a great chance to hold onto the job, but has really been average as of late and though he’s a battler kind of goalie, the lack of his grasp of strong fundamentals has become apparent. This might be something the Giants have to work through and forge some stronger chemistry. I’m not sure more marginal trades will accomplish anything more than muddying the waters. This team is craving clarity and maybe their extended road trip will help them find that, but they still have a ton of games at the Coliseum in December and need to get back to winning games. Losing three of four is pretty much unacceptable for this squad, especially when three of those teams are well below you in the standings.
The G’s face the Bruins again on Wednesday and then have a home at home series with the Blazers on Friday/Saturday. These are all games they should and must win. The Giants have a couple of days to regroup and then they need to come out hard and clean and really skate their butts off end to end for the full sixty and regain their dominance over the Bruins and Blazers. The puck drops at the Coliseum on Wednesday at 7pm.
Three Stars
1. Braden Gamble
2. Jesse Craige
3. Ryan Howse
Don't read this if you don't want to read me talking about the reffing yet at the same time giving the Bruins their due. Not too many bright spots for the Giants in this one. Segal was fairly solid, the boys got themselves into penalty trouble and pretend penalty trouble. Its a rare occasion when Don Hay is yelling at the refs, but he was in this one and in my mind with very good reason. Piluso and Barnett had some good forays, but the boys could not keep the puck in the zone for an extended period of time and that meant they couldn't get traffic to the net or get a cycle going, both of which are a big part of their game.
Bruins Jump Giants
Vancouver 0 Chilliwack 4
Don Robinson
Yes you know what’s coming from me considering my personal bias, the serious lop-sided quality of the officials and of course Matt Kirk arguably the worst ref in the dub. Yeah, nice showing on national TV boys, at least hopefully now everyone across the country will see how horrific and ridiculous a ref Kirk is (fans don’t scream Kirk you suck just for kicks), but you know what -- despite the incredibly lopsided calls (how do you even justify 14 PPs for one team and 6 PPs for another even when the one team is not playing their best? you can’t and from what I saw the Bruins were getting away with a whole lot as well) --- none of that really matters because the Giants for a good part of the game mostly stood around and waved their sticks a bunch in their own zone, didn’t fight hard for pucks, or battle in the corners and they also did not make the game tough for a rank rookie between the pipes for Chilliwack, which is really criminal. It also felt like to me that when the Giants started to try to play aggressively to gain some open ice a hand went up. Not that the boys didn’t take some seriously stupid penalties in the process, but not that many and not in the punitive way they were distributed.
The Bruins played a pretty solid tight-checking game and had active sticks, they capitalised on their opportunities and got to the rebounds quicker than the Vancouver boys. The Giants looked to have lead in their skates, playing their fourth in five nights, but really the hunger and drive were mostly non-existent. The visitors didn’t really show up in the third at all really and were easily held off the scoresheet. It was all about the PPs though as it seems to have been lately with Kirk being there almost every game between these two teams and his gratuitous calls are getting really tiring. The Bruins were given many, many, back to back five on three chances in the second and they capitalised twice. Some of them were credible but a lot simply weren’t. That was the game and the Giants despite playing a decent first came out flat and lifeless in the middle frame and then came out skating like zombies in the third. It didn’t even appear as if they wanted the win or even to break the shut-out bid, they looked to be just putting in time and that’s not Giants hockey.
The two teams played to a scoreless first. The visitors out shot the home town boys 14-8, but could not solve young Braden Gamble, who robbed Piluso of an almost sure goal when the Giants still had some jump. The calls were fairly even in the opening frame.
The flood gates opened just past the mid-way mark of the second when the parade to the penalty box began for the visitors, starting slowly with some soft roughing calls and escalating to continuous five on three. Chilliwack had opened the scoring early in the period capitalising off of a very poor play by Mark Segal behind his net, turning the puck over and failing to get set in goal before Kevin Sundher took the pass from behind the net in the slot. The Bruins would get two more that period, both of them off of extended PPs some of which came off, from my perspective, some pretty chintzy calls. Dylen McKinlay put home a rebound to put the Bruins up by two and then late in the period Ryan Howse buried another rebound. The Bruins were doing a good job keeping the pressure on, but with 6 –8 minutes of continuous 5 on 3 it’s to be expected. The Giants did okay killing a bunch of those calls, but couldn’t turn away the Chilliwack for all of them. They went into the break down 3-0, still having a penalty carrying over into the start of the third.
That might have been alright had the Giants come out in the third with some jump, any jump really and a hunger to actually fight to come back in this one, but they didn’t. Minutes rolled by easily and the Bruins were able to sit back and thwart most of the Giants forays. The Giants lost their simple game tonight, they were not supporting the puck well and allowed themselves to be pretty easily relieved of the puck - by my reckoning. When they did battle through traffic and were held-up or picked they weren’t getting the calls. The ones they did get though they squandered, so I don’t know if more calls would have helped their cause as they did not seem to be able to focus enough to complete their passes well and keep the pressure in the Bruins end of the ice. Credit the B’s for being quick to loose pucks and stripping the G’s of the puck. The third continued that way until late when the fists started flying. The first bout was lively one between diminutive Gallagher and Belohrad. Several more fights took place just over 30 seconds later at the 19:40 mark. Out of those scrums Cass Mappin found himself tagged with a five minute major for cross-checking. The Bruins added insult to injury by scoring eight seconds later on yet another PP. It was a pretty nice patient goal by Chris Collins.
The Giants were out shot by the B’s 37-25. The Giants were 0 for 6 on the PP, while the Bruins went 3 for 14 on theirs. The Bruins have now won two straight with a third game coming up at the Coliseum on Wednesday and then another one on the 18th. Despite allowing four goals, Mark Segal played a very solid game, moving across his net well and staying square to the shooter. I expect he’d like a few of those large rebounds back though. Braden Gamble did well in his first WHL game turning away all 25 shots and making a couple of big stops early on when the game was still in question. Other than that the Giants did not make the game difficult for him, failing to get any real pressure in the Bruins end of the ice or traffic to the net.
The G’s are having some serious problems right now and they really need to work their way through them, part of it is youth, part of it is, but mostly its not wanting those wins enough to lay it all out there every shift. Bonner’s usually savvy trades have not really helped the team a lot this season and seeing those players who were dealt doing very well with their new squads hurts more than a bit. Jamie Tucker has all but lost his starting job it seems as Segal got the past three starts after the Kootenay Ice lit Tucker up like a freaking Christmas tree. Tucker had a great chance to hold onto the job, but has really been average as of late and though he’s a battler kind of goalie, the lack of his grasp of strong fundamentals has become apparent. This might be something the Giants have to work through and forge some stronger chemistry. I’m not sure more marginal trades will accomplish anything more than muddying the waters. This team is craving clarity and maybe their extended road trip will help them find that, but they still have a ton of games at the Coliseum in December and need to get back to winning games. Losing three of four is pretty much unacceptable for this squad, especially when three of those teams are well below you in the standings.
The G’s face the Bruins again on Wednesday and then have a home at home series with the Blazers on Friday/Saturday. These are all games they should and must win. The Giants have a couple of days to regroup and then they need to come out hard and clean and really skate their butts off end to end for the full sixty and regain their dominance over the Bruins and Blazers. The puck drops at the Coliseum on Wednesday at 7pm.
Three Stars
1. Braden Gamble
2. Jesse Craige
3. Ryan Howse