dondo
03-20-2011, 02:42 AM
Giants Abort Rockets
Vancouver 4 Kelowna 3
I listened to most of this one and for the first time in a while and certainly in March the Giants actually felt like they were in a game from the drop of the puck. Of course they needed the win, but they needed that kind of game even more. A game where they played it smarter, limited their gaffes, had their PK step-up early on when they took a bunch of bad penalties whether due to the refs being a bit over-sensitive, or the Giants just being a bit undisciplined. The effort was back for the majority of the game and a fair amount of the players showed up to play. That hasn’t happened for a while and I for one seriously missed that kind of effort and some collective oneness. The Giants opened the scoring SH’d, getting the only goal of the first. The boys traded goals throughout the second, scoring two each. Kelowna tied it up in the third with their first PP marker of the game, but the Giants were able to get it back and take a hard fought win. Their third period was not quite as good as their first two, but in the end they eked out a much needed win. Sent a small message to the Rockets for the playoffs and got off of an eight game schnide gaining a bit of confidence back.
Luke Fenske opened the scoring short-handed. Brendan Gallagher got the puck up to Spencer Bennett who dished it off to Fenske trailing the play. Luke buried it behind Adam Brown. In the second Geordie Wudrick tied it when the puck squirted loose off of a blocked shot. The Giants got that back on the PP a couple of minutes later. Spencer Bennett found twine, assisted by James Henry and Andrej Stastny. Less than a minute later Zach Franko tied it up ripping one high on Mark Segal, who made some good stops tonight to preserve the win. A few minutes later Stastny was instrumental on Connor Redmond’s first goal of the season. Cutting into the slot and leaving Tyson Barrie’s shorts behind he dished off to Redmond for a tap-in at the side of the net. Neil Manning got the other helper on the goal. In the third Colton Sissons tied the game once again as the Rocket’s PP finally clicked. Stastny finally rippled the twine himself with a nice shot off of Jordan Martinook and Luke Fenske. It was a lead the Giants would manage to hold onto. A few late empty net chances just missed and some chances in the Giants end with about 20 seconds, made for some nail-biting seconds.
Rookie Watch: Brodyn Nielsen who had a great game and one of the bright spots in Vancouver was a healthy scratch. Franson was back in and was a –1. Scott Cooke was even and had a few good hard shifts, bringing his sandpaper game. New D-man Dalton Olsen was in the line-up, didn’t hear much about him. Sward injured. Hart injured. Bellerive a healthy (?) scratch? Hodder was scratched after struggling in Vancouver, I suspect. Anthony Ast almost had his head taken off in Vancouver and is out indefinitely.
Fight Night: David Musil dropped the mitts with Jessey Astles and faired pretty well versus a player who is no stranger to fighting. Musil was able to get some left and rights through, took a few himself, but eventually got the take-down when Astles missed a big haymaker and tumbled.
Zebra Cage: The reffing seemed a tad precious to me from what I was hearing, as there were lots of calls and quite a few consecutive calls. Evan Bloodoff was called after the fact for a 5min major for a charge. I have a feeling it was more due to the injury to Joel Rogers who was levelled, as there did not seem to be the intention of an original call as far as I heard. Being a Giants fan I am happy they made the right call, but if they weren’t ready to make it after the incident then they should not be assessing after the fact due to an injury. I just have to suspect that the same hit not resulting in an injury, even though it was a dangerous play would not have warranted 5 and a game. Being injured is not the issue, dangerous hits and taking liberties is the issue, yet oftentimes that detail seems to be missed. Anyway since I heard it I cannot really damn the refs more than I already have. From the play-x-play it sounded like a few of the calls were soft, though.
The Rockets barely out shot the Giants 27-26. They were 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Giants went 1 for 3. Andrej Stastny had his best game in a while, making things happening as an individual and as a team player. It’s the kind of game he has to play to be successful. He’s very capable of taking over a game when motivated. Now we have to motivate him a fair amount more. Spencer Bennett seems to have returned since getting Gally back. I think he might have been trying to do too much in his absence and ended up getting confused and caught, instead of being as effective as he was with Gally in the line-up. He might have got overloaded a bit, over-loaded himself maybe. Henry had a horrible game in Vancouver vs the Rockets, but seems to have bounced back well in this one. Fenske could have seriously had his best game this season, if not as a Giant. He was holding pucks in at the point, a skill the Giants have been seriously poor at this season, and contributing offensively while still playing solid D. He was a very effective +2 in this one, which I think is about as high in the plusses he’s been all season in a game. Stastny was the only other +2, with a goal and two assists.
This team has been injury plagued this season and it’s been part, but nowhere near all of their woes. The problem is that it seems to be continuous and even young guys coming into the line-up are being damaged. Is this because the Giants instill zero fear in other teams and they feel free to take big liberties or is it just some sort of run of bad luck? 15 year old Anthony Ast is out with a possible concussion. This is the kind of injury that not only puts him out for the short term, but possibly the long term and could end up being chronic. You never know how head injuries are going to go. Joel Rogers who was out for a while with a concussion, just had his head hunted again and looks to have another concussion. The really sad thing is that concussions are cumulative injuries and could not only affect his future career, but his life if it gets to a point where it begins to affect motor skills and cognitive abilities. Dalton Sward, the player of the future with the G’s is out with an ankle (I believe) injury and could miss the playoffs. Connor Redmond has been out since camp where he injured himself and only recently has been cleared to play. I have never seen the sheer number of injuries to this team that I have seen this year.
So… Sunday. The Everett Silvertips come to town. The Giants have absolutely had their number all season. The G’s could seriously use another good win before going into the playoffs. I’m not necessarily talking about a blow-out, but one where they do all the right team things they have been neglecting lately. They need to reinforce that kind of work ethic and team unity. Anyway, the Giants look to be sitting in 6th spot with the win tonight. Kelowna gets second as top of the BC division so the G’s won’t face them. I would really love to see the G’s not face Tri-City who have absolutely crushed us this season, either. The Everett game is “jersey (sweater) off of our backs” night and the final game of the Giants regular season. Puck drops at 5pm PDT at the Coliseum.
Three Stars
1. Andrej Stastny
2. Brett Bulmer
3. Spencer Bennett
Dondo’s Honour Roll: Changing it up a bit and putting a spin on the positives as opposed to the negatives. Fenske gets on the honour roll, as does Stastny, Bennett is a honourable mention. Gally is still not back in prime form, but seems to have had a positive affect on the team as a whole. At least the feel they can actually win now.
Vancouver 4 Kelowna 3
I listened to most of this one and for the first time in a while and certainly in March the Giants actually felt like they were in a game from the drop of the puck. Of course they needed the win, but they needed that kind of game even more. A game where they played it smarter, limited their gaffes, had their PK step-up early on when they took a bunch of bad penalties whether due to the refs being a bit over-sensitive, or the Giants just being a bit undisciplined. The effort was back for the majority of the game and a fair amount of the players showed up to play. That hasn’t happened for a while and I for one seriously missed that kind of effort and some collective oneness. The Giants opened the scoring SH’d, getting the only goal of the first. The boys traded goals throughout the second, scoring two each. Kelowna tied it up in the third with their first PP marker of the game, but the Giants were able to get it back and take a hard fought win. Their third period was not quite as good as their first two, but in the end they eked out a much needed win. Sent a small message to the Rockets for the playoffs and got off of an eight game schnide gaining a bit of confidence back.
Luke Fenske opened the scoring short-handed. Brendan Gallagher got the puck up to Spencer Bennett who dished it off to Fenske trailing the play. Luke buried it behind Adam Brown. In the second Geordie Wudrick tied it when the puck squirted loose off of a blocked shot. The Giants got that back on the PP a couple of minutes later. Spencer Bennett found twine, assisted by James Henry and Andrej Stastny. Less than a minute later Zach Franko tied it up ripping one high on Mark Segal, who made some good stops tonight to preserve the win. A few minutes later Stastny was instrumental on Connor Redmond’s first goal of the season. Cutting into the slot and leaving Tyson Barrie’s shorts behind he dished off to Redmond for a tap-in at the side of the net. Neil Manning got the other helper on the goal. In the third Colton Sissons tied the game once again as the Rocket’s PP finally clicked. Stastny finally rippled the twine himself with a nice shot off of Jordan Martinook and Luke Fenske. It was a lead the Giants would manage to hold onto. A few late empty net chances just missed and some chances in the Giants end with about 20 seconds, made for some nail-biting seconds.
Rookie Watch: Brodyn Nielsen who had a great game and one of the bright spots in Vancouver was a healthy scratch. Franson was back in and was a –1. Scott Cooke was even and had a few good hard shifts, bringing his sandpaper game. New D-man Dalton Olsen was in the line-up, didn’t hear much about him. Sward injured. Hart injured. Bellerive a healthy (?) scratch? Hodder was scratched after struggling in Vancouver, I suspect. Anthony Ast almost had his head taken off in Vancouver and is out indefinitely.
Fight Night: David Musil dropped the mitts with Jessey Astles and faired pretty well versus a player who is no stranger to fighting. Musil was able to get some left and rights through, took a few himself, but eventually got the take-down when Astles missed a big haymaker and tumbled.
Zebra Cage: The reffing seemed a tad precious to me from what I was hearing, as there were lots of calls and quite a few consecutive calls. Evan Bloodoff was called after the fact for a 5min major for a charge. I have a feeling it was more due to the injury to Joel Rogers who was levelled, as there did not seem to be the intention of an original call as far as I heard. Being a Giants fan I am happy they made the right call, but if they weren’t ready to make it after the incident then they should not be assessing after the fact due to an injury. I just have to suspect that the same hit not resulting in an injury, even though it was a dangerous play would not have warranted 5 and a game. Being injured is not the issue, dangerous hits and taking liberties is the issue, yet oftentimes that detail seems to be missed. Anyway since I heard it I cannot really damn the refs more than I already have. From the play-x-play it sounded like a few of the calls were soft, though.
The Rockets barely out shot the Giants 27-26. They were 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Giants went 1 for 3. Andrej Stastny had his best game in a while, making things happening as an individual and as a team player. It’s the kind of game he has to play to be successful. He’s very capable of taking over a game when motivated. Now we have to motivate him a fair amount more. Spencer Bennett seems to have returned since getting Gally back. I think he might have been trying to do too much in his absence and ended up getting confused and caught, instead of being as effective as he was with Gally in the line-up. He might have got overloaded a bit, over-loaded himself maybe. Henry had a horrible game in Vancouver vs the Rockets, but seems to have bounced back well in this one. Fenske could have seriously had his best game this season, if not as a Giant. He was holding pucks in at the point, a skill the Giants have been seriously poor at this season, and contributing offensively while still playing solid D. He was a very effective +2 in this one, which I think is about as high in the plusses he’s been all season in a game. Stastny was the only other +2, with a goal and two assists.
This team has been injury plagued this season and it’s been part, but nowhere near all of their woes. The problem is that it seems to be continuous and even young guys coming into the line-up are being damaged. Is this because the Giants instill zero fear in other teams and they feel free to take big liberties or is it just some sort of run of bad luck? 15 year old Anthony Ast is out with a possible concussion. This is the kind of injury that not only puts him out for the short term, but possibly the long term and could end up being chronic. You never know how head injuries are going to go. Joel Rogers who was out for a while with a concussion, just had his head hunted again and looks to have another concussion. The really sad thing is that concussions are cumulative injuries and could not only affect his future career, but his life if it gets to a point where it begins to affect motor skills and cognitive abilities. Dalton Sward, the player of the future with the G’s is out with an ankle (I believe) injury and could miss the playoffs. Connor Redmond has been out since camp where he injured himself and only recently has been cleared to play. I have never seen the sheer number of injuries to this team that I have seen this year.
So… Sunday. The Everett Silvertips come to town. The Giants have absolutely had their number all season. The G’s could seriously use another good win before going into the playoffs. I’m not necessarily talking about a blow-out, but one where they do all the right team things they have been neglecting lately. They need to reinforce that kind of work ethic and team unity. Anyway, the Giants look to be sitting in 6th spot with the win tonight. Kelowna gets second as top of the BC division so the G’s won’t face them. I would really love to see the G’s not face Tri-City who have absolutely crushed us this season, either. The Everett game is “jersey (sweater) off of our backs” night and the final game of the Giants regular season. Puck drops at 5pm PDT at the Coliseum.
Three Stars
1. Andrej Stastny
2. Brett Bulmer
3. Spencer Bennett
Dondo’s Honour Roll: Changing it up a bit and putting a spin on the positives as opposed to the negatives. Fenske gets on the honour roll, as does Stastny, Bennett is a honourable mention. Gally is still not back in prime form, but seems to have had a positive affect on the team as a whole. At least the feel they can actually win now.