Giants 1 Bruins 5 - Nov 11, 2010

[dondo]

Bruins Beat Giants
Vancouver 1 Chilliwack 5


The Bruins beat the Giants with no help whatsoever. The Giants apparently just couldn't keep up with mighty Bruins who managed to score twice on 11 PP chances.

Let's just hope the Giants don't face the mighty Bruins again anytime soon, because they would have no hope whatsoever, depsite historically crushing the Bruins and playing pretty evenly 5 on 5 in their traditional Remembrance Day tilt.

Three Stars

1. Brandon Manning
2. Brendan Persley
3. Kevin Sundher (even though he had no points and was a -2, when Forsyth was +2 and had 1G and 1A)

better? :p ;)

An open response:

- so apparently someone deleted the previous thread, without informing me or giving me a chance to support my perspective. I realize that the Bruins fans tend to throw bile my way, skimming the recap for what they want to comment on and ignoring the rest. I did not get a chance to read the responses on here, but suffice to say I am very disappointed in the site's response as there was no swearing in the thread (unless freaking has all of a sudden become a swear word) and it told a particular perspective .. not an objective viewpoint.. but one supported by observations.

The officating this season has gone from gawd awful to pretty damn good and sadly after seeing a very well officiated game the bad ones stand out. I realize that my recap was angry, but that's what discussion is for. If you don't like what I write don't read it - or rather read all of it and then respond in a way that evokes discussion. You who read my posts already know I have bias against officiating and for some reason this seems to come up frequently in Bruins games, but to be honest I have been more generous to the refs this season than in the past and expect them to be consistent. That may be overly optimistic, but its what I expect.

In this particular game -- the refs played a major role (which is never good) and if those of you who read my recap took the time to actually read all of it you will notice that I actually do blame the Giants for soft play and taking poor penalties. I also was not happy with Wes' hit on Soudek if for some reason someone seems to think that I felt we were robbed by the major call -- it was a major and a game and he will get suspended for at least one game, probably more.

btw-- for those of you who commented on my blog and didn't leave a real email address your comments won't be seen. If, however, you do provide a real confirmable email I will allow your comments whether or not you agree with my position.

I welcome contrary discussion as that is what a forum is for -- there need to be some disagreements for there to be conversation.

[dondo]

The following is the orginal, with a few edits to tone down some language and the anger which generated it. It was either deleted by someone who is not owning up to it, or was lost in the ether when it was being posted either due to webby madness or my own carelessness.

Bruins Gouge Giants

Vancouver 1 Chilliwack 5


The Giants were guilty of some very lazy, very soft play taking a couple of bad penalties over and above those assigned to them by an incompetent officiating crew. By crew I mean the full bolt. Neither refs nor linesmen seemed capable of performing their duties and seemed to be more concerned about their egos and being the show than actually calling the game in front of them. The Giants skated like they had cement in their blades and were allowing themselves to get caught out of position. Mark Segal started off strong and then crapped the bed with poor focus and a couple of really poor goals against. The G-Men lacked heart and drive, partly because the refs sucked it out of the game early on, but mainly because they just weren’t gutting it out and sticking up for their teammates. Craig Cunningham lost his temper after being called for a goaltender interference that clearly was not and in fact should have been an interference call on the Bruins for pushing him into their goaltender after he had come to a complete stop outside the blue ice. This was the level of officiating that was on tap today.

The Giants got the only goal of the first when James Henry got the puck past Lucas Gore off of Cunningham. Early in the middle frame Wes Vannieuwenhuizen was given a 5 min major for checking from behind. It was a play that saw Robin Soudek motionless on the ice for some time after the hit. Wes was also given 5 and a game for fighting. Roman Horak tallied one later in the second off the face-off for an unassisted tally on the PP. The Giants had weathered the major penalty and several more in a row before giving up that goal. The Giants let in another PP marker later in the second, giving the Bruins their first lead. Brandon Manning put it past Segal. The Giants managed a paltry four shots in the period spending most of their time killing penalties. Cunningham was given a 10-minute misconduct for slamming the penalty box door after trying to tell the ref that he made the wrong call. Cunner very rarely loses his cool like that and to be honest that outburst was justified in this one, considering the quality of officiating on display.

The Bruins continued to roll in the third adding three more. The first one being a puck Segal chose to skate out and play a puck (which would have been blown down as a hand pass had he not touched it) and try to shoot it down the ice and leave his net wide open. The next one Segal (who was clearly still rattled) was out of position and failed to make the clutch stop his team needed. The Bruins added insult to injury adding a late one on a nice play off of a complete defensive breakdown. The Giants didn’t really play at all in the third and though they may have been tired they showed very little heart even trying to get back into this one. That was partly understandable as the refs had their arms in the air whenever the Giants attempted to step up their game. The parade to the penalty box in the final frame did not stop, however, but the sheer number of coincidental penalties showed how little control the refs had – calling a minor wrestling match after the whistle a double minor for each player was laughable. The linesmen failing to get into the fray in a timely fashion prolonged scrums that should easily have been dispersed with a different crew on the ice. The Giants allowed the Bruins to out-muscle them in the game and did not step up when their guy was targeted. They would get no help from the officials and seemed to be very tentative, probably for fear of being tagged for another invisible call.

Rookie Watch: Dalton Sward was –2 in this one, as Hay trusted him with a bit more ice time hoping to get some young energy to spur on the team. Cain Franson was back in the line-up, had some okay shifts. Matt Bellerive was alright tonight. Tyler Hart had a late wrestling match and was given some decent ice time, he was a –1 with 8 PIMs.

Fight Night: Wes Vannieuwenhuizen dropped the mitts with Tim Traber, after levelling Soudek from behind near his bench. Soudek left the game and did not return. Vannieuwenhuizen could be looking at a suspension as he was tagged with a major and game misconduct. Min 1 game by league rules and it could be up to 5 depending upon severity and the intention as determined by the league.

Zebra Cage: They can’t be much worse than they were in this one. Sadly I don’t expect any league reprimand despite the poor judgements, as they never seem to take bad reffing seriously despite lip service to the contrary. Had the Giants managed to win this game or even stay competitive in it I would be saying the same thing. I have seen some very well called games this season so it makes ones like this that much more glaring for their deficiencies.

The Giants were out shot by the Bruins 37-18. The Giants had 10 shots in the first and only 4 in each of the two other periods. That’s not acceptable no matter what the situation and truly not acceptable if you want to battle back. The G’s went 0 for 4 on the PP, while the Bruins were 2 for 11. The Giants held their own 5 on 5 early on, but as the game wore on the multiple PKs and energy sucking vampires had them chasing from behind. The Giants needed their goalie to keep his focus, but after a strong start and a couple of really sharp stops the wheels came off and with Segal sadly once they come off it’s very hard to get them back on. The Bruins worked the Giants over, often targeting players with hits and the Giants really needed to start hitting back hard and smart, standing up for their fellow G-men. The Giants were guilty of poor judgement in this one, but also seemed to be playing in the crosshairs. The Bruins score five unanswered and bury the Giants in this one.

The officiating was definitely a factor, but the Giants cannot be excused for stopping playing or failing to work through it. There are times where the bounces/calls are not going to go your way, but the only way to break through is by continuing to press the offensive zone and play smarter. The G’s need to reload and get ready for Prince George on Saturday at the Coliseum. PG are not quite the whipping boys they have been in the past and tend to play the Giants well in Vancouver, so this game by no means is a gimme. Puck drops at the Coliseum at 7pm PST.

Three Stars

1. Brandon Manning
2. Brendan Persley
3. Kevin Sundher (not sure about this one – Sundher was –1 with no contributions, but Forsyth had a goal and an assist and was contributing with a +2)

Dondo’s Doghouse: Officials. Soft team play. Segal.