dondo
03-10-2011, 01:59 PM
Bruins Headhunt Giants
Vancouver 0 Chilliwack 2
The Giants lost their 4th straight as the visitors from down the valley went for the head, sending Michael Burns out on a stretcher and Wes Vannieuwenhuizen out a for a good chunk of the game after being levelled viciously and mercilessly with a gutless hit to the head from behind by Gogol the goon. The refs allowed some suspect hits in the first and then had to scramble in the second to try and gain any kind of control over this game, which they allowed to get out of hand early. Lucas Gore was brilliant between the pipes for the Bruins, robbing more than a few prime scoring chances, which were given to the Giants due to the Bruins careless and dangerous play. The boys finally improved their PK, but their PP has gone far south, their guns have been silenced and their play with the puck continues to be very poor. The Bruins opened the scoring in the first, just after their PP expired. The Giants battled back in the second, but some cheap hits and a line brawl took their toll on the roster. The G’s got a few stellar opportunities to draw even, but could not solve Gore. The Bears scored another one in the third on their first shot of the period. The Giants were carrying the play up until that point, but one careless defensive breakdown and the puck was in their net. Gore got the shut-out; stopping all 36 shots the Giants threw his way.
Robins Soudek opened the scoring in the first as the Giants second consecutive call against had just expired. The Bruins were sent back on the PP a minute later. The Bruins brought a physical game early with some suspect non-calls off of questionable hits in the first, that could have set-up the free-for-all cheapshot fest in the second. Neither team were able to capitalize on their respective PPs in the opening frame. The Giants pushed their game up in the second, but lost a few players due to hits on and completely over, the edge. Tyler Stahl levelled M. Burns behind the net, connecting shoulder to head, on a moderately blindside shot, throwing the player up and into the boards as his head smacked against the back glass as he was coming down. Burns had to be taken out on a stretcher, no call. Stahl later showed what a classy fellow he was by deliberately and mercenarily hacking at the back of a Giants player’s legs while skating to the bench. This lead to a line-brawl in which, Lamoureux of all people took Stahl to task for his cheap act of stupidity.
When the dust settled only Stahl got the penalty, sending the Giants to 5 on 3. The Giants failed to make the Bruins pay for their antics, so Curtis Gogol took it upon himself to really class the place up, smashing Wes Vannieuwenhuizen into the glass with a vicious check from behind that seriously and deliberately targeted the defenseman’s head. Then added another level, by rag-dolling and mugging Matt Bellerive, capping it all off with a dusting of his hands as he skated by the Giants bench, proud of himself that he cowardly crushed a player from behind, attempted to ram his skull through the glass and then mugged a 16 yr old kid. Yup Curt you one classy dude, maybe you should reward yourself today and push kids off of their swings in the playground. Gogol earned a 5 min major, a fighting major and a game. I expect the league will be giving him a few games or more off for his act of cowardice. The Bruins played a defensively oriented period, not getting a shot until well into the final frame. Unfortunately that shot beat Mark Segal and gave the Bears the insurance they had been looking for. Vannieuwenhuizen managed to return in the third, despite being heavily rattled in the second. Credit the Giants for not giving up in the second or third and battling pretty hard most of the periods despite a depleted line-up, but the skill they had on the PP and 5 on 5 was not enough to solve a stellar outing by the Bruins netminder. Gore earned his first star tonight, absolutely robbing the home squad a few key times. A quick paddle at one point was pure thievery versus Andrej Stastny who was creating chances throughout the game, but could not finish.
Rookie Watch: Sward was even, with a few chances. Bellerive had a 5 min fighting major and I’m not sure if he even dropped his gloves. Hart still out. Franson playing bigger minutes and some PP time with not much to show for it. Martinook and Hodder were even. Nathan Smith, a very small AJHL 17 year old, was a –1 and played some big PP minutes, but is not the answer to their scoring woes.
Fight Night: Where to begin: Oddly enough Neil Manning beat the crap out of Jamie Crooks. Lamoureux held his own and got some hits in versus Stahl and Henry worked over Brandon Manning fairly well in the line-brawl coming out of the Stahl cheapshot slash. Fights evened up, Stahl got the slashing call and a game misconduct for second fight, Lammy got a game, N Manning got a game, Crooks got a game, B Manning and Henry just got the slash/rough and fighting majors. Gogol vs Bellerive a few minutes later off of a Gogol’s deliberate intent to injure play. Gogol crushed a reluctant Bellerive. That was it for the fights, all in the second period – I don’t think either team could afford to lose more players as both benches were depleted, with the Giants roster taking the heavier blow.
Zebra Cage: Trent Knorr and Steve Papp let a lot go early in the first, which could have been called, which imo lead to the extremity of the calls in the second. Had they nipped it in the bud earlier this kind of play might not have continued or caused injuries. That’s speculation though. They weren’t awful, but they weren’t great either. The way they handled the calls for the line-brawl was pretty good though, tagging just the original offender and letting all of the other scrums settle themselves out.
As a Giants fan I might have liked to see them send a message to the Bruins with a couple of extras and given Bellerive a roughing and Gogol a fighting major, but in the end they were actually consistent once they acknowledged the high hits. A call on the Stahl hit on Burns would have been an automatic four to five after the fact for most refs because of the extent of the injury, but it appeared to initially look clean to them so I have respect (rarely can I say that) the refs for being consistent with that call and not letting the injury sway their original call. What’s disappointing is that by not making a call they might have given the Bruins the green light to go out and try to injure players. The refs were also very restrained not giving Habschied a technical when he was screaming at them from the bench. That also could easily have been a call – and maybe should have been as his team was out of control in this one.
I have to say I’m on the fence in some ways with this game and the reffing as they could have been a lot better and more proactive early on, but did not add many, many bonus “just because” double minors, like some pathetic (recent) games I have seen. Maybe they could have been more severe with their calls, but I have to applaud them for sticking to their guns in the face of an angry crowd out for orange-stripe blood.
The Giants out shot the Bruins 36-24 and really should have been able to punish them on the scoresheet for all the liberties the Bears had been taking, but Gore was the answer tonight and had to be exceptional for the shut-out. Gore is one of those goalies that seems to thrive on a lot of work, which is a good fit for him with Chilliwack who tends to allow a lot of shots on goal. Neither team could find twine on the PP as the G’s went a pathetic 0 for 7 (including two 5 on 3s and a 5 min major) and the Bears 0 for 5. I have to credit the Giants for not backing down in the face of adversity and stepping up when they needed to step up and having guys you don’t normally see mixing it up, showing some character by standing up to the bigger Bruin players.
The Giants are missing Gallagher badly and a damaged Bennett who managed to play some good minutes, but appeared he could barely hold his stick in the warm-up. Stastny will need to elevate his game and get the Giants that much needed scoring. Michael Burns is out with a concussion and some back problems after the hit, which lead to his injury. Vannieuwenhuizen despite coming back into the game, needs to be reassessed before Friday’s tilt. Teal Burns is still out, day-to-day. The Giants gave a ton of ice-time to Nathan Smith for some reason as I have yet to see any real positives, or latent skill from this player. I thought he was 15 or 16, but as a 17 yr old that is just not good enough.
The Giants have a day off to heal a bit, before taking on PG at home on Friday and heading out to Chilliwack for a re-match on Saturday. PG is a must win in every sense of the word (as is Chilliwack) as the free-falling Giants cannot afford to allow teams below them in the standings to get wins against them. The Bruins got ridiculous goaltending in this one, but the Giants also had more to give to really gut out some goals. The Giants keep losing some of their bigger players and are the skating wounded right now with the raft of injuries adding insult to a less than deep line-up in terms of skill and scoring ability. It really is time to see what some of our younger prospects are made-of and push them to carry the team, the way Gally has carried them so far. Will over Skill needs to return as the team mantra and any player taking a shift off should be riding pine. Puck drops at the Coliseum at 7:30pm on Friday.
Three Stars
1. Lucas Gore
2. Robin Soudek
3. Andrej Stastny
Dondo’s Doghouse: PP should be getting better chances and maintaining puck possession a lot better. Their sloppy play kills precious PP minutes they can ill-afford to give away. Goal scorers need to be found and if it’s a matter of putting your head down and driving the net to either get the goal or draw the penalty then you have to go to those tough areas and gut out some goals.
Vancouver 0 Chilliwack 2
The Giants lost their 4th straight as the visitors from down the valley went for the head, sending Michael Burns out on a stretcher and Wes Vannieuwenhuizen out a for a good chunk of the game after being levelled viciously and mercilessly with a gutless hit to the head from behind by Gogol the goon. The refs allowed some suspect hits in the first and then had to scramble in the second to try and gain any kind of control over this game, which they allowed to get out of hand early. Lucas Gore was brilliant between the pipes for the Bruins, robbing more than a few prime scoring chances, which were given to the Giants due to the Bruins careless and dangerous play. The boys finally improved their PK, but their PP has gone far south, their guns have been silenced and their play with the puck continues to be very poor. The Bruins opened the scoring in the first, just after their PP expired. The Giants battled back in the second, but some cheap hits and a line brawl took their toll on the roster. The G’s got a few stellar opportunities to draw even, but could not solve Gore. The Bears scored another one in the third on their first shot of the period. The Giants were carrying the play up until that point, but one careless defensive breakdown and the puck was in their net. Gore got the shut-out; stopping all 36 shots the Giants threw his way.
Robins Soudek opened the scoring in the first as the Giants second consecutive call against had just expired. The Bruins were sent back on the PP a minute later. The Bruins brought a physical game early with some suspect non-calls off of questionable hits in the first, that could have set-up the free-for-all cheapshot fest in the second. Neither team were able to capitalize on their respective PPs in the opening frame. The Giants pushed their game up in the second, but lost a few players due to hits on and completely over, the edge. Tyler Stahl levelled M. Burns behind the net, connecting shoulder to head, on a moderately blindside shot, throwing the player up and into the boards as his head smacked against the back glass as he was coming down. Burns had to be taken out on a stretcher, no call. Stahl later showed what a classy fellow he was by deliberately and mercenarily hacking at the back of a Giants player’s legs while skating to the bench. This lead to a line-brawl in which, Lamoureux of all people took Stahl to task for his cheap act of stupidity.
When the dust settled only Stahl got the penalty, sending the Giants to 5 on 3. The Giants failed to make the Bruins pay for their antics, so Curtis Gogol took it upon himself to really class the place up, smashing Wes Vannieuwenhuizen into the glass with a vicious check from behind that seriously and deliberately targeted the defenseman’s head. Then added another level, by rag-dolling and mugging Matt Bellerive, capping it all off with a dusting of his hands as he skated by the Giants bench, proud of himself that he cowardly crushed a player from behind, attempted to ram his skull through the glass and then mugged a 16 yr old kid. Yup Curt you one classy dude, maybe you should reward yourself today and push kids off of their swings in the playground. Gogol earned a 5 min major, a fighting major and a game. I expect the league will be giving him a few games or more off for his act of cowardice. The Bruins played a defensively oriented period, not getting a shot until well into the final frame. Unfortunately that shot beat Mark Segal and gave the Bears the insurance they had been looking for. Vannieuwenhuizen managed to return in the third, despite being heavily rattled in the second. Credit the Giants for not giving up in the second or third and battling pretty hard most of the periods despite a depleted line-up, but the skill they had on the PP and 5 on 5 was not enough to solve a stellar outing by the Bruins netminder. Gore earned his first star tonight, absolutely robbing the home squad a few key times. A quick paddle at one point was pure thievery versus Andrej Stastny who was creating chances throughout the game, but could not finish.
Rookie Watch: Sward was even, with a few chances. Bellerive had a 5 min fighting major and I’m not sure if he even dropped his gloves. Hart still out. Franson playing bigger minutes and some PP time with not much to show for it. Martinook and Hodder were even. Nathan Smith, a very small AJHL 17 year old, was a –1 and played some big PP minutes, but is not the answer to their scoring woes.
Fight Night: Where to begin: Oddly enough Neil Manning beat the crap out of Jamie Crooks. Lamoureux held his own and got some hits in versus Stahl and Henry worked over Brandon Manning fairly well in the line-brawl coming out of the Stahl cheapshot slash. Fights evened up, Stahl got the slashing call and a game misconduct for second fight, Lammy got a game, N Manning got a game, Crooks got a game, B Manning and Henry just got the slash/rough and fighting majors. Gogol vs Bellerive a few minutes later off of a Gogol’s deliberate intent to injure play. Gogol crushed a reluctant Bellerive. That was it for the fights, all in the second period – I don’t think either team could afford to lose more players as both benches were depleted, with the Giants roster taking the heavier blow.
Zebra Cage: Trent Knorr and Steve Papp let a lot go early in the first, which could have been called, which imo lead to the extremity of the calls in the second. Had they nipped it in the bud earlier this kind of play might not have continued or caused injuries. That’s speculation though. They weren’t awful, but they weren’t great either. The way they handled the calls for the line-brawl was pretty good though, tagging just the original offender and letting all of the other scrums settle themselves out.
As a Giants fan I might have liked to see them send a message to the Bruins with a couple of extras and given Bellerive a roughing and Gogol a fighting major, but in the end they were actually consistent once they acknowledged the high hits. A call on the Stahl hit on Burns would have been an automatic four to five after the fact for most refs because of the extent of the injury, but it appeared to initially look clean to them so I have respect (rarely can I say that) the refs for being consistent with that call and not letting the injury sway their original call. What’s disappointing is that by not making a call they might have given the Bruins the green light to go out and try to injure players. The refs were also very restrained not giving Habschied a technical when he was screaming at them from the bench. That also could easily have been a call – and maybe should have been as his team was out of control in this one.
I have to say I’m on the fence in some ways with this game and the reffing as they could have been a lot better and more proactive early on, but did not add many, many bonus “just because” double minors, like some pathetic (recent) games I have seen. Maybe they could have been more severe with their calls, but I have to applaud them for sticking to their guns in the face of an angry crowd out for orange-stripe blood.
The Giants out shot the Bruins 36-24 and really should have been able to punish them on the scoresheet for all the liberties the Bears had been taking, but Gore was the answer tonight and had to be exceptional for the shut-out. Gore is one of those goalies that seems to thrive on a lot of work, which is a good fit for him with Chilliwack who tends to allow a lot of shots on goal. Neither team could find twine on the PP as the G’s went a pathetic 0 for 7 (including two 5 on 3s and a 5 min major) and the Bears 0 for 5. I have to credit the Giants for not backing down in the face of adversity and stepping up when they needed to step up and having guys you don’t normally see mixing it up, showing some character by standing up to the bigger Bruin players.
The Giants are missing Gallagher badly and a damaged Bennett who managed to play some good minutes, but appeared he could barely hold his stick in the warm-up. Stastny will need to elevate his game and get the Giants that much needed scoring. Michael Burns is out with a concussion and some back problems after the hit, which lead to his injury. Vannieuwenhuizen despite coming back into the game, needs to be reassessed before Friday’s tilt. Teal Burns is still out, day-to-day. The Giants gave a ton of ice-time to Nathan Smith for some reason as I have yet to see any real positives, or latent skill from this player. I thought he was 15 or 16, but as a 17 yr old that is just not good enough.
The Giants have a day off to heal a bit, before taking on PG at home on Friday and heading out to Chilliwack for a re-match on Saturday. PG is a must win in every sense of the word (as is Chilliwack) as the free-falling Giants cannot afford to allow teams below them in the standings to get wins against them. The Bruins got ridiculous goaltending in this one, but the Giants also had more to give to really gut out some goals. The Giants keep losing some of their bigger players and are the skating wounded right now with the raft of injuries adding insult to a less than deep line-up in terms of skill and scoring ability. It really is time to see what some of our younger prospects are made-of and push them to carry the team, the way Gally has carried them so far. Will over Skill needs to return as the team mantra and any player taking a shift off should be riding pine. Puck drops at the Coliseum at 7:30pm on Friday.
Three Stars
1. Lucas Gore
2. Robin Soudek
3. Andrej Stastny
Dondo’s Doghouse: PP should be getting better chances and maintaining puck possession a lot better. Their sloppy play kills precious PP minutes they can ill-afford to give away. Goal scorers need to be found and if it’s a matter of putting your head down and driving the net to either get the goal or draw the penalty then you have to go to those tough areas and gut out some goals.