dondo
10-06-2011, 12:45 AM
Giants Clip Chiefs
Vancouver 3 Spokane 2 (SO)
The Giants made a deal yesterday to acquire a reliable veteran between the pipes. I think they gave up too much in my opinion for what they got, but tonight the veteran ‘tender Adam Morrison did for what he was traded. Namely to provide a solid presence and give the team a chance to win. Bonner got Morrison (20) and Levi Bews (17) from the Saskatoon Blades. The Giants gave up Michael Burns (20) one of their more complete players (but you have to give a OA player when you already have your maximum allowed, when you acquire one) and Zach Hodder (18) a once highly touted D-man who had fallen into Bonner’s doghouse sitting out, off the roster, as his value was allowed to plummet across the league. I think the situation was badly handled and it was a big waste to allow the young injury-unlucky D-man who had yet to have a real chance at sticking with the team to seemingly be a throw-in. With the team in desperate need of a puck moving defenseman it seems odd to me to let him moulder like that. I am sure there is much more to this story and as I don’t have an inside track or crystal ball so I’ll leave it at that. The Giants also gave-up a 4th round pick, for the OA goaltender and a young prospect who had poor numbers as a 16 yr old, but then playing on the Blades I suppose he was given minimal minutes and played mainly a fourth line fill-in role. I think the Giants reeked of desperation in this deal and were fairly shafted, but if the two acquisitions continue to play like they played tonight it might end up being somewhat fair.
The G’s were out-shot and out-played tonight and they had Morrison to thank for keeping them in the mix. The Chiefs seemed to be moving the puck at will and used their speed to press the G-Men into recovery mode. The Giants hit a lot less than they had in the first two home games and were giving up the puck with great regularity. They were fortunate to get the win in a lot of ways and after a pretty balanced first period the remaining two went by unanimous decision to Spokane. The Giants dominated in OT though and were unlucky not to close it out in extra time. James Henry got the only goal of the shoot-out for the win.
The Giants opened the scoring late in the first, after squandering a couple of PP chances. Cain Franson made some nice moves in the offensive zone, maintaining puck possession, eventually swinging out front and getting a shot on Luke Lee-Knight, one of three 18 year old ‘tenders the Chiefs are currently carrying on their roster. I see a deal in their future, either to acquire a young prospect, or a vet. Franson’s shot did not go, but new arrival Levi Bews was on the doorstep and swiped the loose biscuit in past the Spokane netminder. Teal Burns got the other helper. Brendan Gallagher scored in the second off of some good work by Marek Tvrdon to maintain puck possession, getting it across to David Musil who appeared to deliberately miss the net. Gally picked the rebound off the back-boards on the open side and potted it high as Lee-Knight slid across.
The only real gaffe Morrison made in the game was a delay of game penalty for throwing the puck out of the rink. The Chiefs broke his goose-egg on the PP, making the Giants look like chumps as they failed to take the man and tie up the puck and instead waved their sticks at players who handily stepped around them. Missed assignments at the front of the net left a Spokane player wide-open. My personal whipping boy was on the PK for some reason (WHY??) and the closest player to Anthony Bardaro who made no mistake burying it in the open side. The Chiefs tied it up very late in the third, going en-masse to the net and muscling it past Morrison after yet another poor give-away by the G’s in their own end of the ice. The Giants woke up in OT and had several chances to put the game away, but failed to properly connect. Henry was the third Giants shooter and snapped the puck in. Adam Morrison stopped all Spokane shooters in the shootout for the victory.
Rookie Watch: Logan Harland (16) sent back down to his Junior team, Austin Vetterl (17) had his moments playing with Franson and Bews. Levi Bews (17) acquired from Saskatoon, scored a goal, looked good and tenacious tonight, went to the net and worked hard. Brett Kulak (17) had a decent time on the back-end, made a few rookie errors, but did not give up on the play or his man. Anthony Ast (16), had some forays and chances, but still needs to get his timing right. In a night where no Giants really laid good body-checks the diminutive forward laid a nice one on the forecheck. Dalton Sward (17), looked dangerous most of the time, but could not quite get past the close-checking of the Chiefs.
The Giants were out-shot 27-22 (27-18 in regulation) and went 0 for 4 on the PP. Their PP is looking like a mess, no puck support, relying on individual effort to get something close, instead of using their open-ice. They have a really tough time holding it in the offensive zone, frequently turn it over and rarely get set-up. The Chiefs went 1 for 3 on their PP chances.
Cain Franson continues to impress me. He had some good chances, seems to have good vision, nice speed and battles every shift. I am pleased to see how much he has grown in the off-season and the kind of game he is bringing to the ice. Henry was not played enough imo, he had less minutes than some and as result he didn’t seem as focused when he got out there. There are still some vets who bring less than nothing getting quality minutes and doing nothing with them and when they get their chances, they fan badly on the puck or make dumb passes coughing up the puck. I really need to see the team exorcise themselves of these almost players who should be much better than they are currently showing. We have such exciting young players, aching to make a contribution, playing as hard or harder than some of the passengers and its time to give them more minutes in more situations and the chance to step it up, learn from their mistakes and progress as oppose to stagnate giving half-effort.
I have to say I saw a bunch of gliding into the puck from the Giants, as opposed to skating onto it. I saw very little hitting from the home-squad, but I expect that the Chiefs ability to respond and react and their speed had the G’s hesitant to possibly put themselves out of position laying the body. That should not mean that the Giants should neglect the kind of close-checking the Chiefs were doing, which they did, leaving their goalie alone more frequently than I like to see. Morrison was very good down low and could be relied upon to make the first stop and have a handle on keeping the rebound close. I would say they were lucky to pull this one out on the winning side and they still have work to do to solidify the work in their own end of the ice. I expect the lack of experienced D at this level and the need to work the workhorses on the back-end more than normal has something to do with this. I also think that the Giants are still suffering from poor timing as their almost passes, almost connections, were enticingly tangent.
The Giants have a couple of days to get the new guys on the same page as the rest of the team, but maybe the team should take a page out of the Blades book considering how well these new cogs have fit in, in their first game. Their next game is on Saturday Oct 8 vs the Medicine Hat Tigers. Should be a fun game and good challenge for the boys to bring themselves up to play. They’ll need to solidify positioning and intensity in their own end of the ice and work on their puck support and breakouts. Their failure to clear the zone was one of their downfalls last season, I am hoping they improve that this time around. The puck drops at 7pm PDT at the Coliseum on Thanksgiving weekend.
Three Stars:
1) Adam Morrison
2) Anthony Bardaro
3) Brendan Gallagher
Dondos Hardhat: I have to give it to Cain Franson again for his work all over the ice, with an honourable mention to Gally.
Vancouver 3 Spokane 2 (SO)
The Giants made a deal yesterday to acquire a reliable veteran between the pipes. I think they gave up too much in my opinion for what they got, but tonight the veteran ‘tender Adam Morrison did for what he was traded. Namely to provide a solid presence and give the team a chance to win. Bonner got Morrison (20) and Levi Bews (17) from the Saskatoon Blades. The Giants gave up Michael Burns (20) one of their more complete players (but you have to give a OA player when you already have your maximum allowed, when you acquire one) and Zach Hodder (18) a once highly touted D-man who had fallen into Bonner’s doghouse sitting out, off the roster, as his value was allowed to plummet across the league. I think the situation was badly handled and it was a big waste to allow the young injury-unlucky D-man who had yet to have a real chance at sticking with the team to seemingly be a throw-in. With the team in desperate need of a puck moving defenseman it seems odd to me to let him moulder like that. I am sure there is much more to this story and as I don’t have an inside track or crystal ball so I’ll leave it at that. The Giants also gave-up a 4th round pick, for the OA goaltender and a young prospect who had poor numbers as a 16 yr old, but then playing on the Blades I suppose he was given minimal minutes and played mainly a fourth line fill-in role. I think the Giants reeked of desperation in this deal and were fairly shafted, but if the two acquisitions continue to play like they played tonight it might end up being somewhat fair.
The G’s were out-shot and out-played tonight and they had Morrison to thank for keeping them in the mix. The Chiefs seemed to be moving the puck at will and used their speed to press the G-Men into recovery mode. The Giants hit a lot less than they had in the first two home games and were giving up the puck with great regularity. They were fortunate to get the win in a lot of ways and after a pretty balanced first period the remaining two went by unanimous decision to Spokane. The Giants dominated in OT though and were unlucky not to close it out in extra time. James Henry got the only goal of the shoot-out for the win.
The Giants opened the scoring late in the first, after squandering a couple of PP chances. Cain Franson made some nice moves in the offensive zone, maintaining puck possession, eventually swinging out front and getting a shot on Luke Lee-Knight, one of three 18 year old ‘tenders the Chiefs are currently carrying on their roster. I see a deal in their future, either to acquire a young prospect, or a vet. Franson’s shot did not go, but new arrival Levi Bews was on the doorstep and swiped the loose biscuit in past the Spokane netminder. Teal Burns got the other helper. Brendan Gallagher scored in the second off of some good work by Marek Tvrdon to maintain puck possession, getting it across to David Musil who appeared to deliberately miss the net. Gally picked the rebound off the back-boards on the open side and potted it high as Lee-Knight slid across.
The only real gaffe Morrison made in the game was a delay of game penalty for throwing the puck out of the rink. The Chiefs broke his goose-egg on the PP, making the Giants look like chumps as they failed to take the man and tie up the puck and instead waved their sticks at players who handily stepped around them. Missed assignments at the front of the net left a Spokane player wide-open. My personal whipping boy was on the PK for some reason (WHY??) and the closest player to Anthony Bardaro who made no mistake burying it in the open side. The Chiefs tied it up very late in the third, going en-masse to the net and muscling it past Morrison after yet another poor give-away by the G’s in their own end of the ice. The Giants woke up in OT and had several chances to put the game away, but failed to properly connect. Henry was the third Giants shooter and snapped the puck in. Adam Morrison stopped all Spokane shooters in the shootout for the victory.
Rookie Watch: Logan Harland (16) sent back down to his Junior team, Austin Vetterl (17) had his moments playing with Franson and Bews. Levi Bews (17) acquired from Saskatoon, scored a goal, looked good and tenacious tonight, went to the net and worked hard. Brett Kulak (17) had a decent time on the back-end, made a few rookie errors, but did not give up on the play or his man. Anthony Ast (16), had some forays and chances, but still needs to get his timing right. In a night where no Giants really laid good body-checks the diminutive forward laid a nice one on the forecheck. Dalton Sward (17), looked dangerous most of the time, but could not quite get past the close-checking of the Chiefs.
The Giants were out-shot 27-22 (27-18 in regulation) and went 0 for 4 on the PP. Their PP is looking like a mess, no puck support, relying on individual effort to get something close, instead of using their open-ice. They have a really tough time holding it in the offensive zone, frequently turn it over and rarely get set-up. The Chiefs went 1 for 3 on their PP chances.
Cain Franson continues to impress me. He had some good chances, seems to have good vision, nice speed and battles every shift. I am pleased to see how much he has grown in the off-season and the kind of game he is bringing to the ice. Henry was not played enough imo, he had less minutes than some and as result he didn’t seem as focused when he got out there. There are still some vets who bring less than nothing getting quality minutes and doing nothing with them and when they get their chances, they fan badly on the puck or make dumb passes coughing up the puck. I really need to see the team exorcise themselves of these almost players who should be much better than they are currently showing. We have such exciting young players, aching to make a contribution, playing as hard or harder than some of the passengers and its time to give them more minutes in more situations and the chance to step it up, learn from their mistakes and progress as oppose to stagnate giving half-effort.
I have to say I saw a bunch of gliding into the puck from the Giants, as opposed to skating onto it. I saw very little hitting from the home-squad, but I expect that the Chiefs ability to respond and react and their speed had the G’s hesitant to possibly put themselves out of position laying the body. That should not mean that the Giants should neglect the kind of close-checking the Chiefs were doing, which they did, leaving their goalie alone more frequently than I like to see. Morrison was very good down low and could be relied upon to make the first stop and have a handle on keeping the rebound close. I would say they were lucky to pull this one out on the winning side and they still have work to do to solidify the work in their own end of the ice. I expect the lack of experienced D at this level and the need to work the workhorses on the back-end more than normal has something to do with this. I also think that the Giants are still suffering from poor timing as their almost passes, almost connections, were enticingly tangent.
The Giants have a couple of days to get the new guys on the same page as the rest of the team, but maybe the team should take a page out of the Blades book considering how well these new cogs have fit in, in their first game. Their next game is on Saturday Oct 8 vs the Medicine Hat Tigers. Should be a fun game and good challenge for the boys to bring themselves up to play. They’ll need to solidify positioning and intensity in their own end of the ice and work on their puck support and breakouts. Their failure to clear the zone was one of their downfalls last season, I am hoping they improve that this time around. The puck drops at 7pm PDT at the Coliseum on Thanksgiving weekend.
Three Stars:
1) Adam Morrison
2) Anthony Bardaro
3) Brendan Gallagher
Dondos Hardhat: I have to give it to Cain Franson again for his work all over the ice, with an honourable mention to Gally.