dondo
11-06-2010, 01:12 PM
Rockets Smoke Giants
Vancouver 3 Kelowna 4
Gordie Howe night and the Giants were not what I would call the most intense group in the game. The almost week off looked pretty rusty on the boys. Kelowna, who is mired at the bottom of the BC Division, came in winning two straight and playing better. Add in a couple of zebras who have nary a clue and you had last nights game. Kelowna played a stifling game, trapping in the neutral zone. The Giants took a couple of lazy penalties, did not get good looks at the net and were not able get puck luck with multiple goalmouth scrambles. The game kind of rolled over me not really pushing me to my usual intense level of emotion and it felt like the same thing happened to the G’s.
Kelowna were allowed two goals in the first, tipping a very nice one from the point and then later using a defensive breakdown to slip the puck past Brendan Jensen. Mid-second the Giants used a Kelowna PP to generate momentum the other way. James Henry challenged the goalie on the PK. Adam Brown had skated out to corral a loose puck around the face-off dot. Henry picked off the attempted up ice pass, giving himself a wide-open net. He did not panic but allowed the puck to settle before ripping it into the yawning cage. Craig Cunningham ripped one past Brown with 1 second left in the second period. Both red lights came on, no green - goal was good. After battling back the Giants spotted the Rockets two more easy goals in the third and although the boys worked their way back to within one, with the goalie pulled, it proved too little too late. Very little emotion in this one, bad invasive, petty calls from the zebras and some soft goaltending at times from the homeboys and this is the result.
Rookie Watch: Dalton Sward was tryin’ out there, but not very effectively. Matt Bellerive was given an unsportsmanlike for what I don’t know – maybe telling the zebras what crap they were. Cain Franson was not very evident tonight, I actually don’t remember seeing him out there. Tyler Hart took a soft penalty, but was decent in his own end.
Fight Night: nada
Zebra Cage: It’s a rare ref who makes himself look worse than Matt Kirk when paired with the useless tit, but Dan Cowley called the first four penalties in the game none of which were justified. The refs were petty and inconsistent on the night, pretty much par for the course for Kirk, but Cowley brought prohibitively stifling reffing to another level. They killed any emotion early and made the game less than it should have been. That for me is very bad reffing, actively ruining a game due to your need to be in the spotlight makes me sick and hurts the game and entertainment value.
The G’s out shot the Rockets 36-25, but did not out-chance them. The Giants went 0 for 5 on their PP and only managed to get a special teams goal on the PK. The Rockets went 2 for 5 and that really was the story of the game. The first penalty against the G’s was a goaltender interference penalty when Gallagher was driving the net and then pushed actively from behind by the Rocket player. Not only is that not even close to goaltender interference, it is an all-around poorly observed call. The young players on the G’s did not step up tonight in my mind and although the top guys were trying to gut it out, the lack of emotion in the game and stifling Rocket play made for it to be a shadow of what it should have been. Kelowna is a very beatable team as their record indicates and the Giants meekly gave that game away and did not get to the excellent scoring areas. Adam Brown was good but not spectacular.
The last time these two teams tangled was in Kelowna and it was a game that saw Segal lose his starting job after allowing 5 goals (a lot of them poor) on 21 shots, was a barnburner, where on the back of Jensen the Giants erased a 5 goal deficit to win 7-5 with an empty net tally. Those Giants did not show up in this one. Jensen was ordinary on the night, although made some nice stops along the way. Gallagher and Cunningham both got goals and were gutting it out most shifts despite being hampered heavily by the Rockets. Chucky was gutting it out all over the ice and unlucky not to get two or more goals in this one. The Giants have Saturday off before taking on the Everett Silvertips at the Coliseum on Sunday. The Tips always prove to be a tough game and the Giants are going to need goaltending, great play in their own end and strong special teams to take the win and put a stop to a possible mini-slide. The puck drops at 5pm on Nov 7.
Three Stars
1. Colton Sissons
2. Ty Barrie
3. James Henry
Dondo’s Doghouse: The young players did not play the way they should have, lacked emotion and drive and the team for poor coverage in their own end. No individuals stood out as poor. Jensen could have been better, but not doghouse worthy
Vancouver 3 Kelowna 4
Gordie Howe night and the Giants were not what I would call the most intense group in the game. The almost week off looked pretty rusty on the boys. Kelowna, who is mired at the bottom of the BC Division, came in winning two straight and playing better. Add in a couple of zebras who have nary a clue and you had last nights game. Kelowna played a stifling game, trapping in the neutral zone. The Giants took a couple of lazy penalties, did not get good looks at the net and were not able get puck luck with multiple goalmouth scrambles. The game kind of rolled over me not really pushing me to my usual intense level of emotion and it felt like the same thing happened to the G’s.
Kelowna were allowed two goals in the first, tipping a very nice one from the point and then later using a defensive breakdown to slip the puck past Brendan Jensen. Mid-second the Giants used a Kelowna PP to generate momentum the other way. James Henry challenged the goalie on the PK. Adam Brown had skated out to corral a loose puck around the face-off dot. Henry picked off the attempted up ice pass, giving himself a wide-open net. He did not panic but allowed the puck to settle before ripping it into the yawning cage. Craig Cunningham ripped one past Brown with 1 second left in the second period. Both red lights came on, no green - goal was good. After battling back the Giants spotted the Rockets two more easy goals in the third and although the boys worked their way back to within one, with the goalie pulled, it proved too little too late. Very little emotion in this one, bad invasive, petty calls from the zebras and some soft goaltending at times from the homeboys and this is the result.
Rookie Watch: Dalton Sward was tryin’ out there, but not very effectively. Matt Bellerive was given an unsportsmanlike for what I don’t know – maybe telling the zebras what crap they were. Cain Franson was not very evident tonight, I actually don’t remember seeing him out there. Tyler Hart took a soft penalty, but was decent in his own end.
Fight Night: nada
Zebra Cage: It’s a rare ref who makes himself look worse than Matt Kirk when paired with the useless tit, but Dan Cowley called the first four penalties in the game none of which were justified. The refs were petty and inconsistent on the night, pretty much par for the course for Kirk, but Cowley brought prohibitively stifling reffing to another level. They killed any emotion early and made the game less than it should have been. That for me is very bad reffing, actively ruining a game due to your need to be in the spotlight makes me sick and hurts the game and entertainment value.
The G’s out shot the Rockets 36-25, but did not out-chance them. The Giants went 0 for 5 on their PP and only managed to get a special teams goal on the PK. The Rockets went 2 for 5 and that really was the story of the game. The first penalty against the G’s was a goaltender interference penalty when Gallagher was driving the net and then pushed actively from behind by the Rocket player. Not only is that not even close to goaltender interference, it is an all-around poorly observed call. The young players on the G’s did not step up tonight in my mind and although the top guys were trying to gut it out, the lack of emotion in the game and stifling Rocket play made for it to be a shadow of what it should have been. Kelowna is a very beatable team as their record indicates and the Giants meekly gave that game away and did not get to the excellent scoring areas. Adam Brown was good but not spectacular.
The last time these two teams tangled was in Kelowna and it was a game that saw Segal lose his starting job after allowing 5 goals (a lot of them poor) on 21 shots, was a barnburner, where on the back of Jensen the Giants erased a 5 goal deficit to win 7-5 with an empty net tally. Those Giants did not show up in this one. Jensen was ordinary on the night, although made some nice stops along the way. Gallagher and Cunningham both got goals and were gutting it out most shifts despite being hampered heavily by the Rockets. Chucky was gutting it out all over the ice and unlucky not to get two or more goals in this one. The Giants have Saturday off before taking on the Everett Silvertips at the Coliseum on Sunday. The Tips always prove to be a tough game and the Giants are going to need goaltending, great play in their own end and strong special teams to take the win and put a stop to a possible mini-slide. The puck drops at 5pm on Nov 7.
Three Stars
1. Colton Sissons
2. Ty Barrie
3. James Henry
Dondo’s Doghouse: The young players did not play the way they should have, lacked emotion and drive and the team for poor coverage in their own end. No individuals stood out as poor. Jensen could have been better, but not doghouse worthy