dondo
03-14-2010, 07:40 PM
The Giants keep making it tough on themselves giving up some pretty easy goals, while feeling like they have to gut it out to get their goals. Segal had another rough night giving up juicy rebounds and misplaying the puck. The defense had a tough time as well. Segal allowed 3 goals on 8 shots in the first and to be perfectly blunt that kind of stat is unacceptable. Should he come out like that in the playoffs the Giants are going to have a short stay. It looks like the Giants are going to get the Blazers as their first round opponent. The Blazers have had a rough time with other teams, but have pushed the Giants to OT for almost every one their tilts. Mucha faced 56 shots and turned away 51. Segal allowed 5 on 22 shots. The boys need to bring a better effort in Kent.
Giants Singe Blazers
Vancouver 6 Kamloops 5 OT/SO
Don Robinson
Once again the Giants struggled between the pipes and had to battle to keep up, out shooting the Blazers badly and still barely staying close to the Kamloops squad. The Blazers opened the scoring and then added another one a few minutes later, putting them up by 2 early. The Giants responded with two markers of their own, before allowing another Blazer goal before the end of the first. The Blazers scored 3 goals on 8 shots and still Segal remained between the pipes. Kamloops padded that lead early in the second. The Giants got one of those back in the second and then added two more in the third to take the lead for the first time in the game. It was mere seconds before that lead was erased and the game was once again tied, pushing it to OT. The game went to a shootout where the Giants scored 3 of 3, and the Blazers scored only one.
Brett Lyon and Brandon Underwood went toe to toe with Underwood getting in most of the shots in a moderately even bout. Giant killer CJ Stretch opened the scoring for the Blazers. Dalibor Bortnak padded that lead on the PP a few minutes later. JT Barnett put the Giants on the board less than a minute after that, assisted by James Wright and James Henry. Kevin Connauton rippled the twine on the PP a couple minutes later with Brendan Gallagher and Craig Cunningham getting the assists. Brendan Ranford restored the Blazers lead off a weak one on Mark Segal who had some real struggles for the second straight night. Kurtis Mucha at the other end of the ice was weathering an onslaught of shots and making some very good stops along the way. He was rarely pressed to be excellent, but there was a lot of rubber flying his way that he was turning aside. Colin Smith bulged the Blazers lead back to 2 goals mid-second. A few minutes later Milan Kytnar muscled one past Mucha on the doorstep. Nolan Toigo and Brett Breitkreuz garnered the helpers.
The Giants continued to roll in the third. Wright potted his 6th since returning to the line-up from Tampa Bay on the PP. Connauton and Gallagher got their second point of the game on the play. A nice tilt between Connor Redmond and JC Lipon had Lipon take several early blows before battling back a bit and then getting hammered by Redmond’s pistoning blows. Breitkreuz’s hard work all night finally paid off when he found the back of the net, assisted by Connauton and Wright. The Blazers tied it up 16 seconds later off of the ensuing face-off as Connauton got his shorts deked out and Segal misplayed the man cutting across the net. Former Giant defenseman Linden Saip found the net off of another poor rebound by Segal. OT had a few chances at either end and few scary moments for the home town crowd, but neither team could find the back of the net and the game went to a shootout. I have to admit that with Mucha versus Segal I thought we were done, but the boys surprised me as Henry picked the top corner, Cunningham used his patented deke to the backhand up and over a sprawling Mucha and Connauton managed much the same on the other side, deking the opposite way and finding twine with a cheeky backhand. Stretch deked out Segal with a nice fore to backhand move and Chase Schaber was stoned by the Giants netminder.
The Giants peppered Mucha with 56 shots, while Segal faced only 22. The Giants went 2 for 5 on the PP, while the Blazers were 2 for 6. The reffing in this one angered me greatly, from bad calls, to ridiculously quick whistles when pucks were still very loose, to blatant ignorance when something obvious would happen right before their eyes, the refs and linesmen needed a slap upside the head in this one. Yes I know that I generally don’t like refs at the best of times, but Carl Poole and Colby Smith both proved themselves woefully inept tonight and were actively affecting the game with their calls and non-calls. The Giants managed to eke out a win in this one as Connauton breached the 70 point plateau, setting the bar higher for the next D-man down the road to exceed. Cunningham and Gallagher were working their butts off in this one, as was Breitkreuz. Tomas Vincour was give the night off and I am not sure if he was a healthy scratch or is suffering form the flu or injury. The Giants struggled on the back-end and were over-playing and giving up the puck too frequently for my liking. Segal once again had a middling night and I’ve got to say that one of Hay’s blind spots is his starting goalie. I would like to see Tendler get the nod in Seattle (Kent) if only to send a message to Segal that if he plays poorly or lacks focus in a game then he could lose his next start. Somehow he’s got to realize how to improve his consistency game to game and not to allow those soft goals, or awful give-away rebounds that have been prevalent as of late.
The Giants head down the road for their final game of the regular season, taking on the Seattle T-Birds in Kent. The T-Birds have had their struggles this season, but the Giants haven’t been one of them. The Giants need to find a way to get the W in Kent to go into the playoffs on more of a roll. It’s a 5pm start in Kent on Sunday and the Giants will have one less hour of sleep as the clocks change overnight, springing ahead and stealing back the hour given in the fall. Also the person who chose the three stars is on crack. My picks would have been Gallagher, Connauton and Mucha (as the third star).
Three Stars
1. Kurtis Mucha
2. Nolan Toigo
3. James Wright
Giants Singe Blazers
Vancouver 6 Kamloops 5 OT/SO
Don Robinson
Once again the Giants struggled between the pipes and had to battle to keep up, out shooting the Blazers badly and still barely staying close to the Kamloops squad. The Blazers opened the scoring and then added another one a few minutes later, putting them up by 2 early. The Giants responded with two markers of their own, before allowing another Blazer goal before the end of the first. The Blazers scored 3 goals on 8 shots and still Segal remained between the pipes. Kamloops padded that lead early in the second. The Giants got one of those back in the second and then added two more in the third to take the lead for the first time in the game. It was mere seconds before that lead was erased and the game was once again tied, pushing it to OT. The game went to a shootout where the Giants scored 3 of 3, and the Blazers scored only one.
Brett Lyon and Brandon Underwood went toe to toe with Underwood getting in most of the shots in a moderately even bout. Giant killer CJ Stretch opened the scoring for the Blazers. Dalibor Bortnak padded that lead on the PP a few minutes later. JT Barnett put the Giants on the board less than a minute after that, assisted by James Wright and James Henry. Kevin Connauton rippled the twine on the PP a couple minutes later with Brendan Gallagher and Craig Cunningham getting the assists. Brendan Ranford restored the Blazers lead off a weak one on Mark Segal who had some real struggles for the second straight night. Kurtis Mucha at the other end of the ice was weathering an onslaught of shots and making some very good stops along the way. He was rarely pressed to be excellent, but there was a lot of rubber flying his way that he was turning aside. Colin Smith bulged the Blazers lead back to 2 goals mid-second. A few minutes later Milan Kytnar muscled one past Mucha on the doorstep. Nolan Toigo and Brett Breitkreuz garnered the helpers.
The Giants continued to roll in the third. Wright potted his 6th since returning to the line-up from Tampa Bay on the PP. Connauton and Gallagher got their second point of the game on the play. A nice tilt between Connor Redmond and JC Lipon had Lipon take several early blows before battling back a bit and then getting hammered by Redmond’s pistoning blows. Breitkreuz’s hard work all night finally paid off when he found the back of the net, assisted by Connauton and Wright. The Blazers tied it up 16 seconds later off of the ensuing face-off as Connauton got his shorts deked out and Segal misplayed the man cutting across the net. Former Giant defenseman Linden Saip found the net off of another poor rebound by Segal. OT had a few chances at either end and few scary moments for the home town crowd, but neither team could find the back of the net and the game went to a shootout. I have to admit that with Mucha versus Segal I thought we were done, but the boys surprised me as Henry picked the top corner, Cunningham used his patented deke to the backhand up and over a sprawling Mucha and Connauton managed much the same on the other side, deking the opposite way and finding twine with a cheeky backhand. Stretch deked out Segal with a nice fore to backhand move and Chase Schaber was stoned by the Giants netminder.
The Giants peppered Mucha with 56 shots, while Segal faced only 22. The Giants went 2 for 5 on the PP, while the Blazers were 2 for 6. The reffing in this one angered me greatly, from bad calls, to ridiculously quick whistles when pucks were still very loose, to blatant ignorance when something obvious would happen right before their eyes, the refs and linesmen needed a slap upside the head in this one. Yes I know that I generally don’t like refs at the best of times, but Carl Poole and Colby Smith both proved themselves woefully inept tonight and were actively affecting the game with their calls and non-calls. The Giants managed to eke out a win in this one as Connauton breached the 70 point plateau, setting the bar higher for the next D-man down the road to exceed. Cunningham and Gallagher were working their butts off in this one, as was Breitkreuz. Tomas Vincour was give the night off and I am not sure if he was a healthy scratch or is suffering form the flu or injury. The Giants struggled on the back-end and were over-playing and giving up the puck too frequently for my liking. Segal once again had a middling night and I’ve got to say that one of Hay’s blind spots is his starting goalie. I would like to see Tendler get the nod in Seattle (Kent) if only to send a message to Segal that if he plays poorly or lacks focus in a game then he could lose his next start. Somehow he’s got to realize how to improve his consistency game to game and not to allow those soft goals, or awful give-away rebounds that have been prevalent as of late.
The Giants head down the road for their final game of the regular season, taking on the Seattle T-Birds in Kent. The T-Birds have had their struggles this season, but the Giants haven’t been one of them. The Giants need to find a way to get the W in Kent to go into the playoffs on more of a roll. It’s a 5pm start in Kent on Sunday and the Giants will have one less hour of sleep as the clocks change overnight, springing ahead and stealing back the hour given in the fall. Also the person who chose the three stars is on crack. My picks would have been Gallagher, Connauton and Mucha (as the third star).
Three Stars
1. Kurtis Mucha
2. Nolan Toigo
3. James Wright