dondo
01-31-2010, 06:30 PM
Well it was disappointing that there were so many empty seats at the LEC, as according to the ticket guys there were only single seats and standing room only left, but the arena was near half-empty. Good to see the offense back with Wright back in the line-up. It was a pretty poor outing by the zebras though as they elongated the game with gratuitous calls and poor decisions. Gallagher scored his 30th of the season, Cunningham got his point scoring streak going again keeping his points lead in the league with three good assists and the blue-liners are still contributing. If the Giants can get their goalies to steal few games here and there they should be able to be competitive come playoff time.
Giants Chew Cats
Vancouver 7 Prince George 4
Don Robinson
The Giants came out with a monster first to gain a lead they would let slip, but not relinquish. The Giants faithful in their first game in the Langley arena were not disappointed with the result, but they cooled off rapidly sitting in their hard plastic seats waiting for officials to sort out issues, pushing a regulation game to over three hours with their confusion and dare I say incompetence. The arena which was supposedly sold out had tons of no-shows and plenty of seats sat unoccupied. The Giants opened the scoring early in the opening frame. The Cougars tied it up a couple of minutes later. Then the displaced Giants, in their temporary home arena, scored three unanswered to close out the period, taking 4-1 bulge into the first intermission. The officials seemed very happy to dole out double minors and multiple misconducts seemingly coming out their right to do so. It amounted to a total of 17 PP opportunities for both teams and despite getting fewer chances on the man-advantage, the home team made more of them count. The Giants increased their lead in the second and then allowed the Cougars to climb back into the game sitting back and playing soft. The Giants pushed back when needed though and maintained their lead, never letting the Cougars get closer than two goals away.
David Musil opened the scoring in the first, assisted by Tomas Vincour and Kevin Connauton. Jaroslav Vlach got that back a couple minutes later. After another couple of minutes Gallagher scored his 29th of the season, off of Neil Manning and Craig Cunningham. A bit of a feisty first and the Cougars got into penalty trouble late in the period, which in the end probably cost them the game. Musil scored his second of the game on the PP, with helpers going to Nolan Toigo and Cunningham. Vincour bulged the twine with the man-advantage before the end of the first, assisted by two James – Wright and Henry. The second started out with a fight 25 seconds into the frame. Connauton and Taylor Orser dropped the mitts and Bouma got a 10 min misconduct, while Garret Thiessen got a double minor for roughing,10 and a game. It kind of felt like the officials were trying to send a message. A wrong-headed and petty message, but a message all the same.
A few more penalties occurred in the period before the Giants finally capitalised on the PP. Neil Manning got it past Hudson Stremmel off of Cunningham and Connauton. The second continued to be an odd period as Orser was given an instigator, 5 and 10, shortly after the goal. This time his opponent was Toigo. Throw in a slash and unsportsmanlike and the penalties all even themselves out, taking well over 10 minutes of sitting to accomplish and then they were still wrong on the score clock. After the dust had settled Taylor Makin got one past Derek Tendler to get the Cougars marginally back in the game. Tendler faced very few shots in the first and was probably hoping to get some more touches in the second, but could have been a victim of ‘be careful of what you wish for’ in this one. It’s a good thing for him the Giants rediscovered their scoring touch for this game. The third had the Giants sitting back a bit more trying to protect their lead, instead of going for the jugular and playing the game which got them the lead. Connauton was tagged with a 2 min minor for elbowing, with 10 and a game for good measure. Um.. what? The Cougars scored mid-period to draw within two. Clarke Breitkreuz found the twine for the Cats. Henry got that one back with the Cougars on the PP, scoring a short-handed tally with a great solo effort. The Cats scored their only PP goal of the game a minute later on the same man-advantage. More parading to the penalty box late in the third, but the Giants added a SH/EN goal to salt away the victory and end the over-long game. Gallagher got his 30th with the goalie pulled.
The Giants went 3 for 7 on the PP, while holding the Cougars to 1 for 10. Ryan Benbow was simply a joke in this one and needs to give his head a few shakes before he wades into territory he should regret. The time it took to sort out simple penalties and situations and his over-reactions to plays on the ice should earn a solid reprimand, because in my estimation he over-stepped his bounds as an official. The Giants out shot the Cougars 41-31. It was good to see the forwards getting back in their scoring groove, but the kind of soft play which allowed a less than monster team back in the game concerns me. If they do this against good teams they will find themselves on the wrong side of the score sheet. The Giants continue to have a very effective PK though, which serves them well. Good to see Wright back in the line-up and Kytnar healthy again.
The Giants have another one in Langley on Sunday versus the always tough Portland Winterhawks who bounded out of the basement with a vengeance this season. Its good to see such a storied franchise competitive again and rid of their awful ownership and (mis)management group. The Giants controlled play down in Portland, but weren’t able to come up with the win. Hopefully they will be able to maintain the same effort with better results this time around at the LEC. The puck drops in Langley at 6pm. My advice is to buy those standing room only, single seats at the door as there apparently a lot of groups of empty seats aching to be occupied. Enjoy the game.
Three Stars
1. Craig Cunningham
2. David Musil
3. Alex Rodgers
Giants Chew Cats
Vancouver 7 Prince George 4
Don Robinson
The Giants came out with a monster first to gain a lead they would let slip, but not relinquish. The Giants faithful in their first game in the Langley arena were not disappointed with the result, but they cooled off rapidly sitting in their hard plastic seats waiting for officials to sort out issues, pushing a regulation game to over three hours with their confusion and dare I say incompetence. The arena which was supposedly sold out had tons of no-shows and plenty of seats sat unoccupied. The Giants opened the scoring early in the opening frame. The Cougars tied it up a couple of minutes later. Then the displaced Giants, in their temporary home arena, scored three unanswered to close out the period, taking 4-1 bulge into the first intermission. The officials seemed very happy to dole out double minors and multiple misconducts seemingly coming out their right to do so. It amounted to a total of 17 PP opportunities for both teams and despite getting fewer chances on the man-advantage, the home team made more of them count. The Giants increased their lead in the second and then allowed the Cougars to climb back into the game sitting back and playing soft. The Giants pushed back when needed though and maintained their lead, never letting the Cougars get closer than two goals away.
David Musil opened the scoring in the first, assisted by Tomas Vincour and Kevin Connauton. Jaroslav Vlach got that back a couple minutes later. After another couple of minutes Gallagher scored his 29th of the season, off of Neil Manning and Craig Cunningham. A bit of a feisty first and the Cougars got into penalty trouble late in the period, which in the end probably cost them the game. Musil scored his second of the game on the PP, with helpers going to Nolan Toigo and Cunningham. Vincour bulged the twine with the man-advantage before the end of the first, assisted by two James – Wright and Henry. The second started out with a fight 25 seconds into the frame. Connauton and Taylor Orser dropped the mitts and Bouma got a 10 min misconduct, while Garret Thiessen got a double minor for roughing,10 and a game. It kind of felt like the officials were trying to send a message. A wrong-headed and petty message, but a message all the same.
A few more penalties occurred in the period before the Giants finally capitalised on the PP. Neil Manning got it past Hudson Stremmel off of Cunningham and Connauton. The second continued to be an odd period as Orser was given an instigator, 5 and 10, shortly after the goal. This time his opponent was Toigo. Throw in a slash and unsportsmanlike and the penalties all even themselves out, taking well over 10 minutes of sitting to accomplish and then they were still wrong on the score clock. After the dust had settled Taylor Makin got one past Derek Tendler to get the Cougars marginally back in the game. Tendler faced very few shots in the first and was probably hoping to get some more touches in the second, but could have been a victim of ‘be careful of what you wish for’ in this one. It’s a good thing for him the Giants rediscovered their scoring touch for this game. The third had the Giants sitting back a bit more trying to protect their lead, instead of going for the jugular and playing the game which got them the lead. Connauton was tagged with a 2 min minor for elbowing, with 10 and a game for good measure. Um.. what? The Cougars scored mid-period to draw within two. Clarke Breitkreuz found the twine for the Cats. Henry got that one back with the Cougars on the PP, scoring a short-handed tally with a great solo effort. The Cats scored their only PP goal of the game a minute later on the same man-advantage. More parading to the penalty box late in the third, but the Giants added a SH/EN goal to salt away the victory and end the over-long game. Gallagher got his 30th with the goalie pulled.
The Giants went 3 for 7 on the PP, while holding the Cougars to 1 for 10. Ryan Benbow was simply a joke in this one and needs to give his head a few shakes before he wades into territory he should regret. The time it took to sort out simple penalties and situations and his over-reactions to plays on the ice should earn a solid reprimand, because in my estimation he over-stepped his bounds as an official. The Giants out shot the Cougars 41-31. It was good to see the forwards getting back in their scoring groove, but the kind of soft play which allowed a less than monster team back in the game concerns me. If they do this against good teams they will find themselves on the wrong side of the score sheet. The Giants continue to have a very effective PK though, which serves them well. Good to see Wright back in the line-up and Kytnar healthy again.
The Giants have another one in Langley on Sunday versus the always tough Portland Winterhawks who bounded out of the basement with a vengeance this season. Its good to see such a storied franchise competitive again and rid of their awful ownership and (mis)management group. The Giants controlled play down in Portland, but weren’t able to come up with the win. Hopefully they will be able to maintain the same effort with better results this time around at the LEC. The puck drops in Langley at 6pm. My advice is to buy those standing room only, single seats at the door as there apparently a lot of groups of empty seats aching to be occupied. Enjoy the game.
Three Stars
1. Craig Cunningham
2. David Musil
3. Alex Rodgers