dondo
04-10-2010, 02:19 AM
Much better hockey all around and much better effort from the Giants. They manged to get their special teams to work, getting 2 goals on the PP and almost more importantly finding their PK game and stoning the Winterhawks on all foru of their chances. Wrighter and Cunner both ahd two goals and both were working. Bouma could check smarter, but his intensity is pretty amazing. Gallagher despite being kept off the goal sheet, was instrumental tonight and was frequently getting leveled hard from behind with no calls from the idiots wearing the stripes.
The Giants can close out the series on Saturday April 10th and with the Americans already through to the third round, the Giants would love to finish it up and get a similar rest, prep practice time. Its up to them to bring their best game. Segal was solid, but not impressive and the Winterhawks did not seem to have to gut out their goals the way the Giants did for most of theirs. Segal doesn't get all the blame though, the Giants d-zone coverage was a bit suspect at times.
Giants Hew Hawks
Rnd 2 Game 4: Vancouver 5 Portland 3
Don Robinson
The Giants came out with energy and were much more lively than they were on Wednesday. The boys looked pretty good, but were a bit sloppy and their effectiveness was lacking. It took them some time to get a shot on net. The Winterhawks were hoping to play another stifling road game, but had to battle from behind when the Giants managed a brilliant goal late in the first after being mostly out-played in the period. The G-Men padded that lead early in the second, but the Hawks clawed it back. The Giants went back up two on the PP and the Winterhawks took it back a few minutes later. Late in the period the Giants added another PP marker, bringing that lead back to two goals going into the second intermission. The Giants added another one just before the mid-mark of the final frame and the Winterhawks responded, but it was as close as they would come. A couple of fights broke out at the 20:00 mark, giving an outlet to the emotions which had built up in this one and sending a message for Saturday night. I felt that the refs didn’t get it though as there were plays where Giants were clearly levelled from behind, got the call and then in two separate instances given mysterious unsportsmanlike penalties.
The Giants came out hard with good emotion, yet were unable to translate that energy into early goals. The Winterhawks dominated on the shot tally and seemed to be able to diffuse the Giants quickly. The G’s battled through a lot more than they did in Game 3, but did not find that side of their game with consistency until the second period. Ian Curtis Stoned Tomas Vincour on a clean breakaway, with a quick glove on a nice backhanded try. The puck came out to the neutral zone where Kevin Connauton stripped the puck and found James Wright streaking into the Winterhawks end. Wright drove down the centre eluding four defenders with an inside, outside, inside, bobble, recover chip flip into the net move. A sure bet for plays of the week, as the goal was sick. That put the Giants on the score sheet. It’s interesting to note that once that goal was scored the Winterhawks upped their game into another gear, suddenly looking a lot faster. The Giants would take the lead into the break getting only 6 shots to the Winterhawks 12 on net, but getting the only goal.
Lance Bouma got the puck to Craig Cunningham, who made no mistake rippling the twine behind Curtis. The Winterhawks got that one back off of what seemed like a nothing play, but Ryan Johansen made nice move on the doorstep flipping an easy backhand past Mark Segal. Segal was all right tonight, but most definitely not third star worthy as was given in the game. James Wright got that back on the PP a couple of minutes later. Kevin Connauton found James Wright across the crease. The puck was rifled in and out of the net and had to be reviewed a couple of minutes later when the first whistle came. The replay showed the puck ricocheting off of the centre bar of the net and was a clear goal that was so quick leaving the net that neither the ref nor the goal judge could react quickly enough. Speaking of refs, the additional misconducts, just because, got very tiring especially when they killed a PP chance, which came off of a player going down in a dangerous way. Neither zebra had his head screwed on right tonight and although they caught the real stuff they muddied it up with gratuitous crap almost every time. Oliver Gabriel got that back off of a play where the puck caromed off the post and out the other side. Gabriel was there to pot in the loose biscuit. Tomas Vincour capitalised on another PP several minutes later restoring the Giants two goal gap. Some good work by David Musil and Milan Kytnar got the puck to Vincour cutting across the slot. Vincour found the twine short-side high with a beauty of a wrister.
Craig Cunningham increased the Giants lead to three at about the 8:00 mark of the third. Lance Bouma and Brendan Gallagher got the helpers on this one, but it was all Gallagher make no mistake. Gally worked the puck down low from Bouma and then chased it hard along the side boards stripping the Winterhawk player of the puck, something the Winterhawks were doing to the Giants more than vice-versa, and spinning in the corner. Cunningham was coming in around the face-off dot when Gally’s pass found him for a wicked one-timer past Curtis. Later on Nino Niederreiter slipped a puck through Segal off of a face-off in the Giants end of the ice. It was a puck Segal should have had and a chance the defenders should not have allowed, but in the end it just added one more goal and did not change the outcome of the game. At the buzzer emotions boiled over, as they have tended to do in this series, and a couple of boys squared off. Toigo and Walker tangled with Walker getting fed fists for the majority of the bout. Bouma and Sbisa danced with neither guy really liking one another and eager to show the other how deep those feelings went. Bouma got in a late shot after getting up from the ice, but it was in middle of the linesmen, so not the best of form.
The ‘hawks out shot the Giants 36-29. The Portland squad went 0 for 4 on the PP, while Giants went 2 for 6. The Giants still have one of the uglier PP set-ups in my mind and seem to be going for skilled low percentage plays, as opposed to traffic in front of the net. I’m still not convinced it’s a good system to play, but they seem to be finding the twine better than they were in the last series. The Giants PK, which has been a concern in these playoffs so far was perfect tonight and looked fairly decent with players challenging the puck carriers a bit more and the checking much closer. The Giants were also laying down and blocking shots, as opposed to laying their stick in front of the puck as they had done in a few of the previous games. James Wright seems to have become the go to guy at home in this series as his game is coming up with each shift. As he gains more and more confidence he’ll be able to give the Giants a very dangerous 1-2 punch, as when Gallagher and Cunningham are clicking the teams they are facing are having fits. The only real thing I noticed this game, was that the Giants were frequently chasing a bit and getting beat to loose pucks early on. They will need to adjust their defensive zone play in future games. The puck drops at 7pm PDT at the Coliseum on Saturday for Game 5. The Giants are hoping to close out the series and get a bit of rest as the Tri-City Americans are through, eliminating Kelowna in five.
Three Stars
1. James Wright
2. Ryan Johansen
3. Mark Segal
The Giants can close out the series on Saturday April 10th and with the Americans already through to the third round, the Giants would love to finish it up and get a similar rest, prep practice time. Its up to them to bring their best game. Segal was solid, but not impressive and the Winterhawks did not seem to have to gut out their goals the way the Giants did for most of theirs. Segal doesn't get all the blame though, the Giants d-zone coverage was a bit suspect at times.
Giants Hew Hawks
Rnd 2 Game 4: Vancouver 5 Portland 3
Don Robinson
The Giants came out with energy and were much more lively than they were on Wednesday. The boys looked pretty good, but were a bit sloppy and their effectiveness was lacking. It took them some time to get a shot on net. The Winterhawks were hoping to play another stifling road game, but had to battle from behind when the Giants managed a brilliant goal late in the first after being mostly out-played in the period. The G-Men padded that lead early in the second, but the Hawks clawed it back. The Giants went back up two on the PP and the Winterhawks took it back a few minutes later. Late in the period the Giants added another PP marker, bringing that lead back to two goals going into the second intermission. The Giants added another one just before the mid-mark of the final frame and the Winterhawks responded, but it was as close as they would come. A couple of fights broke out at the 20:00 mark, giving an outlet to the emotions which had built up in this one and sending a message for Saturday night. I felt that the refs didn’t get it though as there were plays where Giants were clearly levelled from behind, got the call and then in two separate instances given mysterious unsportsmanlike penalties.
The Giants came out hard with good emotion, yet were unable to translate that energy into early goals. The Winterhawks dominated on the shot tally and seemed to be able to diffuse the Giants quickly. The G’s battled through a lot more than they did in Game 3, but did not find that side of their game with consistency until the second period. Ian Curtis Stoned Tomas Vincour on a clean breakaway, with a quick glove on a nice backhanded try. The puck came out to the neutral zone where Kevin Connauton stripped the puck and found James Wright streaking into the Winterhawks end. Wright drove down the centre eluding four defenders with an inside, outside, inside, bobble, recover chip flip into the net move. A sure bet for plays of the week, as the goal was sick. That put the Giants on the score sheet. It’s interesting to note that once that goal was scored the Winterhawks upped their game into another gear, suddenly looking a lot faster. The Giants would take the lead into the break getting only 6 shots to the Winterhawks 12 on net, but getting the only goal.
Lance Bouma got the puck to Craig Cunningham, who made no mistake rippling the twine behind Curtis. The Winterhawks got that one back off of what seemed like a nothing play, but Ryan Johansen made nice move on the doorstep flipping an easy backhand past Mark Segal. Segal was all right tonight, but most definitely not third star worthy as was given in the game. James Wright got that back on the PP a couple of minutes later. Kevin Connauton found James Wright across the crease. The puck was rifled in and out of the net and had to be reviewed a couple of minutes later when the first whistle came. The replay showed the puck ricocheting off of the centre bar of the net and was a clear goal that was so quick leaving the net that neither the ref nor the goal judge could react quickly enough. Speaking of refs, the additional misconducts, just because, got very tiring especially when they killed a PP chance, which came off of a player going down in a dangerous way. Neither zebra had his head screwed on right tonight and although they caught the real stuff they muddied it up with gratuitous crap almost every time. Oliver Gabriel got that back off of a play where the puck caromed off the post and out the other side. Gabriel was there to pot in the loose biscuit. Tomas Vincour capitalised on another PP several minutes later restoring the Giants two goal gap. Some good work by David Musil and Milan Kytnar got the puck to Vincour cutting across the slot. Vincour found the twine short-side high with a beauty of a wrister.
Craig Cunningham increased the Giants lead to three at about the 8:00 mark of the third. Lance Bouma and Brendan Gallagher got the helpers on this one, but it was all Gallagher make no mistake. Gally worked the puck down low from Bouma and then chased it hard along the side boards stripping the Winterhawk player of the puck, something the Winterhawks were doing to the Giants more than vice-versa, and spinning in the corner. Cunningham was coming in around the face-off dot when Gally’s pass found him for a wicked one-timer past Curtis. Later on Nino Niederreiter slipped a puck through Segal off of a face-off in the Giants end of the ice. It was a puck Segal should have had and a chance the defenders should not have allowed, but in the end it just added one more goal and did not change the outcome of the game. At the buzzer emotions boiled over, as they have tended to do in this series, and a couple of boys squared off. Toigo and Walker tangled with Walker getting fed fists for the majority of the bout. Bouma and Sbisa danced with neither guy really liking one another and eager to show the other how deep those feelings went. Bouma got in a late shot after getting up from the ice, but it was in middle of the linesmen, so not the best of form.
The ‘hawks out shot the Giants 36-29. The Portland squad went 0 for 4 on the PP, while Giants went 2 for 6. The Giants still have one of the uglier PP set-ups in my mind and seem to be going for skilled low percentage plays, as opposed to traffic in front of the net. I’m still not convinced it’s a good system to play, but they seem to be finding the twine better than they were in the last series. The Giants PK, which has been a concern in these playoffs so far was perfect tonight and looked fairly decent with players challenging the puck carriers a bit more and the checking much closer. The Giants were also laying down and blocking shots, as opposed to laying their stick in front of the puck as they had done in a few of the previous games. James Wright seems to have become the go to guy at home in this series as his game is coming up with each shift. As he gains more and more confidence he’ll be able to give the Giants a very dangerous 1-2 punch, as when Gallagher and Cunningham are clicking the teams they are facing are having fits. The only real thing I noticed this game, was that the Giants were frequently chasing a bit and getting beat to loose pucks early on. They will need to adjust their defensive zone play in future games. The puck drops at 7pm PDT at the Coliseum on Saturday for Game 5. The Giants are hoping to close out the series and get a bit of rest as the Tri-City Americans are through, eliminating Kelowna in five.
Three Stars
1. James Wright
2. Ryan Johansen
3. Mark Segal