dondo
01-04-2010, 01:15 AM
Probably the biggest crowd all season so far, the Giants last home game at the Coliseum until March. Kevin Connauton breaks Blum's franchise defenseman goal-scoring record. Reffing was okay, but what I consider to be a bit precious at times, consistent though so that's good. Not a bad tilt. Monster second period by the G-Men. I'd love to see more of that intensity and puck pressure more often and especially maintaining it when they have a lead.
Giants Burst Rockets
Vancouver 6 Kelowna 3
Don Robinson
The Giants took advantage of an injury-riddled Rockets team missing some of their linchpin performers. They allowed themselves to be down early and after tying it up ended up letting the Rockets regain the lead with seconds left in the first period. This season the fans couldn’t be sure what kind of team would show up in the second as the Giants have proved fairly fragile at times. This game they needn’t have worried as the Giants came out hard in the second playing an almost perfect period, drawing penalties, driving the net and keeping the puck away from their own net. In the process they notched 5 unanswered tallies and allowed only one shot on their own net. The home squad brought relentless pressure, taking care of both ends of the ice. After such a strong period the G-Men sat back a bit in the third protecting the lead and allowing elements of their game to slip a bit. Part of that came from the Giants using their depth players in more PP and clutch situations, but some of it was from just sitting back. This is something they have to remove from their game if they hope to compete well against the better teams of the league. The Rockets got one goal very late in the third, but that’s as close as they would get.
The Rockets opened the scoring 21 seconds into the game, chipping a turnover short-side on Mark Segal. Shane McColgan got his first of two on the night. The Giants managed to get that one back late in the opening frame on the PP. Kevin Connauton tied Jonathon Blum’s season record for regular season goal-scoring, notching his 18th of the campaign off of Craig Cunningham and Brendan Gallagher. The reffing in the opening frame was very precious, calling pretty much everything and hampering a bit of flow and momentum. It was consistent both ways, but what I would call a bit soft. McColgan got his second of the game and the period on a late PP chance. With a mere 9 seconds remaining, McColgan found a seam and picked the far side on Segal. It was the kind of goal that the Giants should not be allowing and most certainly not at that time in the period.
The Giants were a different team in the second and came storming out of the gate. Gone was the soft hesitant play, replaced with fire and hunger. I’m not sure what Hay said to the boys, but whatever it was got them charged up. The boys wore down the Rockets, holding the visitors from getting near the twine and rippling the mesh consistently throughout the frame at the other end of the rink. Garry Nunn tied the game cutting through the slot and blasting a James Henry feed past Mark Guggenberger. The G’s scored again, taking the lead in the game for the first time, just over a minute later on the PP. Neil Manning used a screen to find the net from the point. Henry and Nunn got the helpers on the play. Just over a minute after that Nolan Toigo and Lance Bouma set-up Cunningham who stopped and popped the puck short-side on Guggenberger. Cunningham made it 5-2 a couple of minutes later, chasing Guggenberger from the net. This time it was Bouma and Gallagher who garnered the assists. Adam Brown found his way between the pipes, but did not fare much better. Late in the period the Rockets took two roughing penalties on the same play, putting them down two men. Connauton scored his franchise record 19th tally of the season, from the point, picking the top corner with a wicked wrist shot. Cunningham got the lone assist on the play.
Some jostling, but no real fisticuffs in this game. The Rockets looked tired at times and although they were emotional they lacked the drive to really fight. The Giants came out a bit soft, rocked the second and then sat back in the third. Hay gave his depth players better minutes and some PP time in the final stanza. Losing Milan Kytnar to injury in the second shuffled the deck a bit as well. Kytnar appeared to have injured his shoulder going down awkwardly and sliding into the boards after being tripped from behind. The best acting award goes to Brown for his near back-flip half-gainer when he was barely brushed at the top of his crease. The ref, who appeared to have a great view, bit hard on the play calling goaltending interference and not the Louganis imitation. It was pretty blatant, but the ref was behind the net so he could have been blocked as to the real extent of contact. Killing that penalty motivated the Giants a bit more and they began to bring back that hungry game into the period. It was the Rockets, however, who got one late in the third when Tyler Halliday tickled the twine off of a Giants defensive breakdown. Not a bad tilt, good to the see the boys not lose three straight and beat a team they should be able to take down.
The Giants out-shot the Rockets 38-18, padding that particular stat with a 19-1 domination in shots during the second period. The Giants were 3 for 7 on the PP, while holding the Rockets to 1 for 6. Young Luke Fenske had a very solid game playing mainly with Nolan Toigo who seems to have rediscovered his smarter play of last season. Connauton broke the defenseman season goal-scoring record with almost half a season left to go. He could very well set a record which future Giants D would not be able to touch. Hay was saying Connauton’s offensive skill reminds him a bit of Franson, but with a more accurate shot. Cunningham, still wearing the birdcage while his mouth heals, tallied 4 points (2G 2A).
Tonight marked the last game for the boys at the Coliseum until mid-March. They have six “home” games in Langley, but are on the road for an extended period during the Olympics and Para-Olympics. This will be a make or break time for the Giants. One has to think that initially at least the change of scenery and lack of home pressure will do them good, but they will really be tested in the depths of their road trip. Historically Hay’s teams fare quite well on the road and seem to forge a nice chemistry away from their home barn and the hopes are that this time away will help the boys get closer and develop a stronger team chemistry. The Giants first road opponent will be a tough one though as they are facing a burning hot Red Deer Rebels team who have won their past 12 games. This will be a excellent way to test their road acumen and one has to hope that even if they take a loss that they will use it to become closer as a team. The character on the Giants is good, with a nice mix of veterans and younger players. They might lack some elite sniping, but make up for that with a solid work ethic and effort. The real trick will be for them make sure they don’t allow set-backs to kill their confidence. The puck drops in Red Deer at 7pm local time (6pm PST).
Three Stars
1. Craig Cunningham
2. Kevin Connauton
3. Garry Nunn
Giants Burst Rockets
Vancouver 6 Kelowna 3
Don Robinson
The Giants took advantage of an injury-riddled Rockets team missing some of their linchpin performers. They allowed themselves to be down early and after tying it up ended up letting the Rockets regain the lead with seconds left in the first period. This season the fans couldn’t be sure what kind of team would show up in the second as the Giants have proved fairly fragile at times. This game they needn’t have worried as the Giants came out hard in the second playing an almost perfect period, drawing penalties, driving the net and keeping the puck away from their own net. In the process they notched 5 unanswered tallies and allowed only one shot on their own net. The home squad brought relentless pressure, taking care of both ends of the ice. After such a strong period the G-Men sat back a bit in the third protecting the lead and allowing elements of their game to slip a bit. Part of that came from the Giants using their depth players in more PP and clutch situations, but some of it was from just sitting back. This is something they have to remove from their game if they hope to compete well against the better teams of the league. The Rockets got one goal very late in the third, but that’s as close as they would get.
The Rockets opened the scoring 21 seconds into the game, chipping a turnover short-side on Mark Segal. Shane McColgan got his first of two on the night. The Giants managed to get that one back late in the opening frame on the PP. Kevin Connauton tied Jonathon Blum’s season record for regular season goal-scoring, notching his 18th of the campaign off of Craig Cunningham and Brendan Gallagher. The reffing in the opening frame was very precious, calling pretty much everything and hampering a bit of flow and momentum. It was consistent both ways, but what I would call a bit soft. McColgan got his second of the game and the period on a late PP chance. With a mere 9 seconds remaining, McColgan found a seam and picked the far side on Segal. It was the kind of goal that the Giants should not be allowing and most certainly not at that time in the period.
The Giants were a different team in the second and came storming out of the gate. Gone was the soft hesitant play, replaced with fire and hunger. I’m not sure what Hay said to the boys, but whatever it was got them charged up. The boys wore down the Rockets, holding the visitors from getting near the twine and rippling the mesh consistently throughout the frame at the other end of the rink. Garry Nunn tied the game cutting through the slot and blasting a James Henry feed past Mark Guggenberger. The G’s scored again, taking the lead in the game for the first time, just over a minute later on the PP. Neil Manning used a screen to find the net from the point. Henry and Nunn got the helpers on the play. Just over a minute after that Nolan Toigo and Lance Bouma set-up Cunningham who stopped and popped the puck short-side on Guggenberger. Cunningham made it 5-2 a couple of minutes later, chasing Guggenberger from the net. This time it was Bouma and Gallagher who garnered the assists. Adam Brown found his way between the pipes, but did not fare much better. Late in the period the Rockets took two roughing penalties on the same play, putting them down two men. Connauton scored his franchise record 19th tally of the season, from the point, picking the top corner with a wicked wrist shot. Cunningham got the lone assist on the play.
Some jostling, but no real fisticuffs in this game. The Rockets looked tired at times and although they were emotional they lacked the drive to really fight. The Giants came out a bit soft, rocked the second and then sat back in the third. Hay gave his depth players better minutes and some PP time in the final stanza. Losing Milan Kytnar to injury in the second shuffled the deck a bit as well. Kytnar appeared to have injured his shoulder going down awkwardly and sliding into the boards after being tripped from behind. The best acting award goes to Brown for his near back-flip half-gainer when he was barely brushed at the top of his crease. The ref, who appeared to have a great view, bit hard on the play calling goaltending interference and not the Louganis imitation. It was pretty blatant, but the ref was behind the net so he could have been blocked as to the real extent of contact. Killing that penalty motivated the Giants a bit more and they began to bring back that hungry game into the period. It was the Rockets, however, who got one late in the third when Tyler Halliday tickled the twine off of a Giants defensive breakdown. Not a bad tilt, good to the see the boys not lose three straight and beat a team they should be able to take down.
The Giants out-shot the Rockets 38-18, padding that particular stat with a 19-1 domination in shots during the second period. The Giants were 3 for 7 on the PP, while holding the Rockets to 1 for 6. Young Luke Fenske had a very solid game playing mainly with Nolan Toigo who seems to have rediscovered his smarter play of last season. Connauton broke the defenseman season goal-scoring record with almost half a season left to go. He could very well set a record which future Giants D would not be able to touch. Hay was saying Connauton’s offensive skill reminds him a bit of Franson, but with a more accurate shot. Cunningham, still wearing the birdcage while his mouth heals, tallied 4 points (2G 2A).
Tonight marked the last game for the boys at the Coliseum until mid-March. They have six “home” games in Langley, but are on the road for an extended period during the Olympics and Para-Olympics. This will be a make or break time for the Giants. One has to think that initially at least the change of scenery and lack of home pressure will do them good, but they will really be tested in the depths of their road trip. Historically Hay’s teams fare quite well on the road and seem to forge a nice chemistry away from their home barn and the hopes are that this time away will help the boys get closer and develop a stronger team chemistry. The Giants first road opponent will be a tough one though as they are facing a burning hot Red Deer Rebels team who have won their past 12 games. This will be a excellent way to test their road acumen and one has to hope that even if they take a loss that they will use it to become closer as a team. The character on the Giants is good, with a nice mix of veterans and younger players. They might lack some elite sniping, but make up for that with a solid work ethic and effort. The real trick will be for them make sure they don’t allow set-backs to kill their confidence. The puck drops in Red Deer at 7pm local time (6pm PST).
Three Stars
1. Craig Cunningham
2. Kevin Connauton
3. Garry Nunn