dondo
11-10-2011, 03:09 AM
Giants Drain Oil Kings
Vancouver 4 Edmonton 1 (EN)
This game was shown on Shaw and I am sorry to those who had to watch it. Other than a few bright moments here and there this game had no emotion and was frequently coasted through by the two squads. The powers that be are saying this was a great tight checking game giving the opponent nothing, but to be brutally honest this was kind of soft sell hockey for me. The third period was one of the best of a poor lot. The first had sparks, but the Giants brought a truly anemic PP, which was more concerned about putting a pedantic plethora of passing plays together than actually trying to score. The best forecheck the Giants brought tended to be on their PK. Once in a while the forecheck would show up, but mostly of the waving stick variety and not of the ramming the other team into the boards variety. The G’s got an earlyish lead and led by two after one. The second period was a wash of poorly executed PPs and half-assed effort. The Oil Kings scored a goal they shouldn’t have got a sniff at as Adam Morrison was forced to make three stops while the rest of his team stood around and watched the puck. What followed was the only five minutes in which the Oil Kings actually got real pressure on the Giants in their zone, before killing their own momentum by taking some penalties. The Giants got the insurance marker off of a very nice play and some good forechecking by Jordan Martinook who buried the puck past Laurent Brossiot. Nathan Burns finally bumped the slump scoring an unassisted empty net tally.
The game opened with the fans waiting for the officials to drop the puck for a full 1 and half minutes while the TV ads finished; pretty bad timing on the broadcasters part me-thinks. Literally, 90 seconds. I sit right by the Shaw camera guy and he told me it was 90 seconds. Hay also started off with a line of Neil Manning, Brendan Gallagher and James Henry as the forward unit? Funnily enough even as a forward Neil’s defensive liabilities shone through. The Giants opened the scoring 13:17 in after trading moderate chances with the Oil Kings. Cain Franson scored a beauty; a quick tip of a Taylor Makin shot deflecting the puck down and past Brossiot. Jackson Houck scored a few minutes later off of some great work by Henry along the boards keeping the puck in the zone and by Taylor Makin who gutted out his own puck possession, never giving up until he got the puck out front and deflected in by Houck.
The Giants spent the majority of the second squandering PP chances, by passing, passing, passing and then setting up the big slap shot from the circle which would invariably miss the net, over and over and over. They had the chance to put this game out of reach multiple times, but didn’t bear down and really press the attack. They sat back protecting the lead and boring the crap out of the fans and it almost cost them. They allowed a few too many really great chances on Morrison they shouldn’t have, backing into their own zone instead of taking the man hard. They gave up a goal as the visitors were allowed to stuff a puck past Morrison at the side of the net and then barely weathered an onslaught for about five minutes late in the middle frame, as Morrison had to make a few very good stops to keep the game from being tied. Those were really the only times Morrison was challenged, except one 2 on 1 while the Giants were on the PP, where he got an arm on a shot labelled top corner. Makin got his third assist on Martinook’s gutsy goal driving the net and flipping it past Brossiot. Houck got the other helper as he got the chance to play some very good minutes. Nathan Burns added an empty net marker when the Oil Kings coughed up the puck in the neutral zone. Burns skated in and put the puck dead centre of the empty 6 by 4 making sure he bumped his slump with careful precise placement. It was important as Burns had been garnering himself scoring chance after scoring chance and coming away with nothing but the occasional assist off of a goal he should have had. To be blunt he was being snake-bit badly, so although it is just an empty netter it is also a very important goal for Nathan’s psyche.
Rookie Watch: Houck (16) had some shifts on the PP and the PK, played some good minutes and at times with Gallagher. Bews (17) had some forays, decent effort just not quite as effective. Bellerive (17) back in the line-up, saw some decent minutes and had a scoring chance or two. Sward (17) played a gutsy game, when he was allowed to bring the forecheck. Laid some big hits late in the game. Vetterl (17) like Bews had his moments. Some PK time. Kulak (17) was pretty solid on the back-end, eliminating chances early. Found himself a respectable +3 as well. Arvin Atwal (15/16) was on the roster list, but I do not recall ever seeing him on the ice. I think the failed Manning experiment moved him back to D and Atwal riding the pine.
Fight Night: Only one fight and it came after a very nice open-ice hit on Gallagher. It was hard and clean, but Makin decided he would stick up for the team’s star. To be honest I wish that players wouldn’t do this after a clean hit. I understand the need to send the message and I applaud the support Makin showed for sure, but if players react like this after big clean hits, pretty soon players aren’t even going to go there. Then our game suffers more than it currently is in this kinder, gentler, dumbed-down game, which is being spoon fed to us as opposed to thrown into our laps as in the past. A good toe to toe bout. Makin v Lowe (not sure if Lowe laid the check or was the willing combatant) both players getting in their shots, with Lowe finally getting a marginal take-down. Score one for both sides.
Zebra Cage: Matt Kirk and Sean Raphael **cringe** I have to say though that I had more of a problem with the linesmen tonight than these two who usually increase my blood-pressure exponentially when they ref. The linesmen called a lot of very marginal and frequently (from my perspective) incorrect off-sides, they also took forever to blow down delayed off-sides, even though the player at fault was still carrying the puck. I think they slowed the game down unnecessarily. The refs were mostly consistent. I think they missed a few dangerous moves, but they did so on both sides of the puck. They seemed to call only infractions where something definitive happened to warrant the call. I was surprised they didn’t call a ton of goaltender interferences on the Giants who when they went to the net, went to the net hard. Most of the incidents were defensive players guiding them into their own goalie, but in the past those have definitely been called goaltender interference regardless.
The Giants out shot the Oil Kings 34-23, they were 0 for 8 on the PP, while the Oil Kings went 0 for 4. There were flashes of a forecheck from the boys. I felt the second they sat back until pressed to react. Their PP chances served mainly to kill Oil King momentum, rather than bump up their own. A minor but important distinction in my mind. The Oil Kings PK was okay, but it was the Giants who over-worked themselves to a point of stultification, electing to always pass over taking the shot and then taking the shot they did take from the same spot on the ice. Um why? Why the big slapper all the time? Why the extra pass? Why not a nice wrister through traffic to the crease and then gutting out the goals on the doorstep? Change it up boys! I feel the Giants let the Oil Kings PK off the hook in this one, by playing passive hockey instead of aggressive active hockey trying to score every chance they could get. I liked a bunch of individual efforts and when the bench allowed them to press and pinch they did well. Sward, Franson, Makin and Houck all brought a hard forecheck when given the green light. Others brought a tenacious game and Henry and Gally were their usual intense selves. I’m not sure what the face-off percentage was tonight, but I recall seeing the Giants losing a ton of face-offs. Marek Tvrdon was not in the line-up and I suspect still feeling effects of that open-ice head shot in Victoria. They missed his presence on the point on the PP. Not fond of the star selection either. Neither goalie were that brilliant (although both made some great stops) and the Oil Kings did not earn a star in my opinion, if they did maybe Reinhart, but Makin was bang-on. He was all over the ice at times in a good way and had three assists usually off of some hard concerted work on his part.
The boys have a bit of time to heal and practice, before taking on the Kelowna Rockets, a team that they have had a tough time versus this season. Usually an intensely emotional game, the Giants will have to bring all the have to the table to gut out a win. The tilt versus the Rockets comes on Saturday, followed by a game versus the Cougars on Sunday, both at the Coliseum. A couple of wins would look mighty nice before Hayzer has to focus on the CHL/Russia Subway series and the World Junior Canadian Squad. The puck on Saturday drops at 7:00pm PST.
Three Stars
1) Taylor Makin
2) Adam Morrison
3) Laurent Brossiot
Dondo Hardhat: goes to Taylor Makin – the broadcast boys were saying this was his home debut, but I am not sure. I recall seeing his number in a warm-up after Tvrdon had switched over to #17. Anyway, he worked hard at both ends of the ice and got some special teams time. Worked his butt off and set-up some nice goals.
Vancouver 4 Edmonton 1 (EN)
This game was shown on Shaw and I am sorry to those who had to watch it. Other than a few bright moments here and there this game had no emotion and was frequently coasted through by the two squads. The powers that be are saying this was a great tight checking game giving the opponent nothing, but to be brutally honest this was kind of soft sell hockey for me. The third period was one of the best of a poor lot. The first had sparks, but the Giants brought a truly anemic PP, which was more concerned about putting a pedantic plethora of passing plays together than actually trying to score. The best forecheck the Giants brought tended to be on their PK. Once in a while the forecheck would show up, but mostly of the waving stick variety and not of the ramming the other team into the boards variety. The G’s got an earlyish lead and led by two after one. The second period was a wash of poorly executed PPs and half-assed effort. The Oil Kings scored a goal they shouldn’t have got a sniff at as Adam Morrison was forced to make three stops while the rest of his team stood around and watched the puck. What followed was the only five minutes in which the Oil Kings actually got real pressure on the Giants in their zone, before killing their own momentum by taking some penalties. The Giants got the insurance marker off of a very nice play and some good forechecking by Jordan Martinook who buried the puck past Laurent Brossiot. Nathan Burns finally bumped the slump scoring an unassisted empty net tally.
The game opened with the fans waiting for the officials to drop the puck for a full 1 and half minutes while the TV ads finished; pretty bad timing on the broadcasters part me-thinks. Literally, 90 seconds. I sit right by the Shaw camera guy and he told me it was 90 seconds. Hay also started off with a line of Neil Manning, Brendan Gallagher and James Henry as the forward unit? Funnily enough even as a forward Neil’s defensive liabilities shone through. The Giants opened the scoring 13:17 in after trading moderate chances with the Oil Kings. Cain Franson scored a beauty; a quick tip of a Taylor Makin shot deflecting the puck down and past Brossiot. Jackson Houck scored a few minutes later off of some great work by Henry along the boards keeping the puck in the zone and by Taylor Makin who gutted out his own puck possession, never giving up until he got the puck out front and deflected in by Houck.
The Giants spent the majority of the second squandering PP chances, by passing, passing, passing and then setting up the big slap shot from the circle which would invariably miss the net, over and over and over. They had the chance to put this game out of reach multiple times, but didn’t bear down and really press the attack. They sat back protecting the lead and boring the crap out of the fans and it almost cost them. They allowed a few too many really great chances on Morrison they shouldn’t have, backing into their own zone instead of taking the man hard. They gave up a goal as the visitors were allowed to stuff a puck past Morrison at the side of the net and then barely weathered an onslaught for about five minutes late in the middle frame, as Morrison had to make a few very good stops to keep the game from being tied. Those were really the only times Morrison was challenged, except one 2 on 1 while the Giants were on the PP, where he got an arm on a shot labelled top corner. Makin got his third assist on Martinook’s gutsy goal driving the net and flipping it past Brossiot. Houck got the other helper as he got the chance to play some very good minutes. Nathan Burns added an empty net marker when the Oil Kings coughed up the puck in the neutral zone. Burns skated in and put the puck dead centre of the empty 6 by 4 making sure he bumped his slump with careful precise placement. It was important as Burns had been garnering himself scoring chance after scoring chance and coming away with nothing but the occasional assist off of a goal he should have had. To be blunt he was being snake-bit badly, so although it is just an empty netter it is also a very important goal for Nathan’s psyche.
Rookie Watch: Houck (16) had some shifts on the PP and the PK, played some good minutes and at times with Gallagher. Bews (17) had some forays, decent effort just not quite as effective. Bellerive (17) back in the line-up, saw some decent minutes and had a scoring chance or two. Sward (17) played a gutsy game, when he was allowed to bring the forecheck. Laid some big hits late in the game. Vetterl (17) like Bews had his moments. Some PK time. Kulak (17) was pretty solid on the back-end, eliminating chances early. Found himself a respectable +3 as well. Arvin Atwal (15/16) was on the roster list, but I do not recall ever seeing him on the ice. I think the failed Manning experiment moved him back to D and Atwal riding the pine.
Fight Night: Only one fight and it came after a very nice open-ice hit on Gallagher. It was hard and clean, but Makin decided he would stick up for the team’s star. To be honest I wish that players wouldn’t do this after a clean hit. I understand the need to send the message and I applaud the support Makin showed for sure, but if players react like this after big clean hits, pretty soon players aren’t even going to go there. Then our game suffers more than it currently is in this kinder, gentler, dumbed-down game, which is being spoon fed to us as opposed to thrown into our laps as in the past. A good toe to toe bout. Makin v Lowe (not sure if Lowe laid the check or was the willing combatant) both players getting in their shots, with Lowe finally getting a marginal take-down. Score one for both sides.
Zebra Cage: Matt Kirk and Sean Raphael **cringe** I have to say though that I had more of a problem with the linesmen tonight than these two who usually increase my blood-pressure exponentially when they ref. The linesmen called a lot of very marginal and frequently (from my perspective) incorrect off-sides, they also took forever to blow down delayed off-sides, even though the player at fault was still carrying the puck. I think they slowed the game down unnecessarily. The refs were mostly consistent. I think they missed a few dangerous moves, but they did so on both sides of the puck. They seemed to call only infractions where something definitive happened to warrant the call. I was surprised they didn’t call a ton of goaltender interferences on the Giants who when they went to the net, went to the net hard. Most of the incidents were defensive players guiding them into their own goalie, but in the past those have definitely been called goaltender interference regardless.
The Giants out shot the Oil Kings 34-23, they were 0 for 8 on the PP, while the Oil Kings went 0 for 4. There were flashes of a forecheck from the boys. I felt the second they sat back until pressed to react. Their PP chances served mainly to kill Oil King momentum, rather than bump up their own. A minor but important distinction in my mind. The Oil Kings PK was okay, but it was the Giants who over-worked themselves to a point of stultification, electing to always pass over taking the shot and then taking the shot they did take from the same spot on the ice. Um why? Why the big slapper all the time? Why the extra pass? Why not a nice wrister through traffic to the crease and then gutting out the goals on the doorstep? Change it up boys! I feel the Giants let the Oil Kings PK off the hook in this one, by playing passive hockey instead of aggressive active hockey trying to score every chance they could get. I liked a bunch of individual efforts and when the bench allowed them to press and pinch they did well. Sward, Franson, Makin and Houck all brought a hard forecheck when given the green light. Others brought a tenacious game and Henry and Gally were their usual intense selves. I’m not sure what the face-off percentage was tonight, but I recall seeing the Giants losing a ton of face-offs. Marek Tvrdon was not in the line-up and I suspect still feeling effects of that open-ice head shot in Victoria. They missed his presence on the point on the PP. Not fond of the star selection either. Neither goalie were that brilliant (although both made some great stops) and the Oil Kings did not earn a star in my opinion, if they did maybe Reinhart, but Makin was bang-on. He was all over the ice at times in a good way and had three assists usually off of some hard concerted work on his part.
The boys have a bit of time to heal and practice, before taking on the Kelowna Rockets, a team that they have had a tough time versus this season. Usually an intensely emotional game, the Giants will have to bring all the have to the table to gut out a win. The tilt versus the Rockets comes on Saturday, followed by a game versus the Cougars on Sunday, both at the Coliseum. A couple of wins would look mighty nice before Hayzer has to focus on the CHL/Russia Subway series and the World Junior Canadian Squad. The puck on Saturday drops at 7:00pm PST.
Three Stars
1) Taylor Makin
2) Adam Morrison
3) Laurent Brossiot
Dondo Hardhat: goes to Taylor Makin – the broadcast boys were saying this was his home debut, but I am not sure. I recall seeing his number in a warm-up after Tvrdon had switched over to #17. Anyway, he worked hard at both ends of the ice and got some special teams time. Worked his butt off and set-up some nice goals.