dondo
10-15-2011, 01:09 AM
TBirds Rumble Giants
Vancouver 2 Seattle 3
The Giants suffered their first regulation home loss in game where they had their chances, but were not able to make them count. The T-Birds badly out-shot the Giants on the night and were adept at stripping the puck. However, the Giants out-chanced the T-Birds from my perspective, but were unable to get the puck past Calvin Pickard. The officials were weak tonight, calling soft stuff, ignoring multiple cross-checks and allowing head shots with no calls. The Giants PK and PP were equally weak as their special teams struggled to elevate the team game.
It was a bit frustrating to watch at times and Don Hay has got to stop juggling his lines and allow certain pairings to develop some chemistry. Marek Tvrdon is not going to get better playing with third and fourth liners when he doesn’t play Hay style of hockey. Again this is one of those players who is not in the Hayzer mold, but is very useful if utilised well. He is a very good playmaker who finds open ice and can maintain possession of the puck. He will never be a big hit, take the body kind of guy and that’s okay if he is putting up points the way he did on Monday. This is truly Hay’s blind-spot and more than one skill player has found themselves relegated to other teams or down the depth chart due to this fact. In the meantime my whipping boy who had a nice assist tonight, keeps getting quality minutes and PK time where he waves at the puck and loses his man, causing a wide-open point shot when he gets caught chasing the puck. I mention this because I think he is a great liability to the entire team and yet Hay still seems to think he’s top 6 material, which in three years he has proved he most certainly is not. I still don’t get why some players get the shaft while others who show even less potential or growth continue to get primo chances. As I said it was a very frustrating night.
The Giants opened the scoring on their first PP, benefiting not from any system (which I felt broke down badly tonight) but rather from a big effort from one James Henry who made a great deke on the doorstep flipping the puck past Pickard. Brendan Gallagher and Brett Kulak got the assists on the play. Seattle scored a late PP marker of their own to tie the game. The puck was wired through traffic when the point-man was left all alone. Seattle took the lead on another PP goal which was a huge carom off the back-boards, over-played by Adam Morrison putting himself out of position for the recovery. Despite that gaffe Morrison had a very solid night facing many shots, but was not really tested to make that giant save in my mind,. Cain Franson scored a very nice goal in the second to tie it back up on a give and go, which saw Franson dish the puck to Greg Lamoureux and drive hard straight to the net, while Lammy passed it across the slot to Franson right on the top of the crease. The Giants played their best period in the third, earning some quality chances. The T-Birds closed quickly though and diffused many of the best opportunities. The home squad carried the play through the majority of the third and then were bit by some confusion in their own end of the ice and a very poor line-change (maybe all that line juggling paid its toll), allowing a clean top-shelf shot from the side of the net. Seattle got what proved to be the game-winner amid that confusion. They later rattled one off the post on a late very bogus PP chance, when the refs who had put the whistles away in the third despite a few horse-collars and numerous crosschecks decided to call a stick check as a hook.
Rookie Watch: Franson (17) looked pretty damn good tonight at all ends of the ice. I noticed him every shift, despite being shuffled around the line-up. Kulak (17) played solid D, had some good shots get through to the front of the net and garnered a deserved assist on the Henry goal. Vetterl (17) did what he could with limited ice-time and was good on the back-check and minimal PK time he saw. Ast (16) had some moments, but his size worked against him as he was pushed off the puck far too easily, despite some great effort. Sward (17) was a bit Jekyll and Hyde. Making some nice hits, he was poor at taking care of the puck and grinding out possession along the boards.
Fight Night: McNaugton v Elliot – not a bad tilt. Elliot got the upperhand early, but McNaughton rebounded for a few shots before getting taken down.
Zebra Cage: the Matts, Kirk and Thurston. Looks like Kirk has a protégé who is very comfortable calling crap. Thurston was simply awful in this one. Called soft as butter calls, stick checks as hooks and blithely ignored players being hauled back with an arm around their neck and many cross checks to players who were along the boards and at times down on the ice taking a extra few shots, witnessed by these fellows in orange stripes who are supposed to be monitoring this kind of thing. To be blunt it was pathetic and very sad. Inconsistent and poorly executed across the board. Worst reffing of the season so far for me and it wasn’t really that tough a game to call.
The G’s were badly out-shot 37-20, out-shot every single period, by almost double. They went 1 for 3 on the PP and allowed 2 for 5 against. Morrison turned away 34 of 37 shots on the night, but I really don’t recall that many shots or them being that dangerous. I did recall a very nice cross-crease slide to stop what would have been an almost sure goal, though. I almost have to question the person who was doing the shot counting tonight as it seemed quite suspect considering the game I saw. The Giants, however, did allow themselves to be out-played and allowed themselves to be muscled off the puck with great regularity. They had a good chance to take this game, but could not quite get those close in passes to connect. The home town boys were awful maintaining consistent possession along the boards and were frequently separated from the puck in the offensive zone.
The Giants are now back to .500 hockey and it doesn’t get any easier as they take the looong bus ride down to Kennwick for a tilt tomorrow versus the Tri-City Americans, a barn in which they have had very little success. The puck drops at 7:05 as the Giants try to get their first road win of the season.
Three Stars
1) Shea Theodore
2) Connor Sanvido
3) Adam Morrison
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Henry tonight. Won the majority of his face-offs, looked dangerous at both ends and was really trying to score.
Vancouver 2 Seattle 3
The Giants suffered their first regulation home loss in game where they had their chances, but were not able to make them count. The T-Birds badly out-shot the Giants on the night and were adept at stripping the puck. However, the Giants out-chanced the T-Birds from my perspective, but were unable to get the puck past Calvin Pickard. The officials were weak tonight, calling soft stuff, ignoring multiple cross-checks and allowing head shots with no calls. The Giants PK and PP were equally weak as their special teams struggled to elevate the team game.
It was a bit frustrating to watch at times and Don Hay has got to stop juggling his lines and allow certain pairings to develop some chemistry. Marek Tvrdon is not going to get better playing with third and fourth liners when he doesn’t play Hay style of hockey. Again this is one of those players who is not in the Hayzer mold, but is very useful if utilised well. He is a very good playmaker who finds open ice and can maintain possession of the puck. He will never be a big hit, take the body kind of guy and that’s okay if he is putting up points the way he did on Monday. This is truly Hay’s blind-spot and more than one skill player has found themselves relegated to other teams or down the depth chart due to this fact. In the meantime my whipping boy who had a nice assist tonight, keeps getting quality minutes and PK time where he waves at the puck and loses his man, causing a wide-open point shot when he gets caught chasing the puck. I mention this because I think he is a great liability to the entire team and yet Hay still seems to think he’s top 6 material, which in three years he has proved he most certainly is not. I still don’t get why some players get the shaft while others who show even less potential or growth continue to get primo chances. As I said it was a very frustrating night.
The Giants opened the scoring on their first PP, benefiting not from any system (which I felt broke down badly tonight) but rather from a big effort from one James Henry who made a great deke on the doorstep flipping the puck past Pickard. Brendan Gallagher and Brett Kulak got the assists on the play. Seattle scored a late PP marker of their own to tie the game. The puck was wired through traffic when the point-man was left all alone. Seattle took the lead on another PP goal which was a huge carom off the back-boards, over-played by Adam Morrison putting himself out of position for the recovery. Despite that gaffe Morrison had a very solid night facing many shots, but was not really tested to make that giant save in my mind,. Cain Franson scored a very nice goal in the second to tie it back up on a give and go, which saw Franson dish the puck to Greg Lamoureux and drive hard straight to the net, while Lammy passed it across the slot to Franson right on the top of the crease. The Giants played their best period in the third, earning some quality chances. The T-Birds closed quickly though and diffused many of the best opportunities. The home squad carried the play through the majority of the third and then were bit by some confusion in their own end of the ice and a very poor line-change (maybe all that line juggling paid its toll), allowing a clean top-shelf shot from the side of the net. Seattle got what proved to be the game-winner amid that confusion. They later rattled one off the post on a late very bogus PP chance, when the refs who had put the whistles away in the third despite a few horse-collars and numerous crosschecks decided to call a stick check as a hook.
Rookie Watch: Franson (17) looked pretty damn good tonight at all ends of the ice. I noticed him every shift, despite being shuffled around the line-up. Kulak (17) played solid D, had some good shots get through to the front of the net and garnered a deserved assist on the Henry goal. Vetterl (17) did what he could with limited ice-time and was good on the back-check and minimal PK time he saw. Ast (16) had some moments, but his size worked against him as he was pushed off the puck far too easily, despite some great effort. Sward (17) was a bit Jekyll and Hyde. Making some nice hits, he was poor at taking care of the puck and grinding out possession along the boards.
Fight Night: McNaugton v Elliot – not a bad tilt. Elliot got the upperhand early, but McNaughton rebounded for a few shots before getting taken down.
Zebra Cage: the Matts, Kirk and Thurston. Looks like Kirk has a protégé who is very comfortable calling crap. Thurston was simply awful in this one. Called soft as butter calls, stick checks as hooks and blithely ignored players being hauled back with an arm around their neck and many cross checks to players who were along the boards and at times down on the ice taking a extra few shots, witnessed by these fellows in orange stripes who are supposed to be monitoring this kind of thing. To be blunt it was pathetic and very sad. Inconsistent and poorly executed across the board. Worst reffing of the season so far for me and it wasn’t really that tough a game to call.
The G’s were badly out-shot 37-20, out-shot every single period, by almost double. They went 1 for 3 on the PP and allowed 2 for 5 against. Morrison turned away 34 of 37 shots on the night, but I really don’t recall that many shots or them being that dangerous. I did recall a very nice cross-crease slide to stop what would have been an almost sure goal, though. I almost have to question the person who was doing the shot counting tonight as it seemed quite suspect considering the game I saw. The Giants, however, did allow themselves to be out-played and allowed themselves to be muscled off the puck with great regularity. They had a good chance to take this game, but could not quite get those close in passes to connect. The home town boys were awful maintaining consistent possession along the boards and were frequently separated from the puck in the offensive zone.
The Giants are now back to .500 hockey and it doesn’t get any easier as they take the looong bus ride down to Kennwick for a tilt tomorrow versus the Tri-City Americans, a barn in which they have had very little success. The puck drops at 7:05 as the Giants try to get their first road win of the season.
Three Stars
1) Shea Theodore
2) Connor Sanvido
3) Adam Morrison
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Henry tonight. Won the majority of his face-offs, looked dangerous at both ends and was really trying to score.