dondo
01-15-2012, 12:56 AM
Rockets Trim Giants
Vancouver 3 Kelowna 4
Not happy. Whistle allowed 4 goals on 15 shots, but the Giants failed to keep the puck out of the sweet spots on the ice, leaving Rockets players wide open for quality opportunities. The home town boys badly out-played the Rockets in the Kelowna end, but left their goalie high and dry when it counted. Whistle has to take most of the blame as he was not able to make a clutch stop to save his life tonight and whiffed on a couple he should have had, but the G’s were guilty of allowing easy goals and not forcing the Rockets to earn anything. Adam Brown was stellar in goal for the Rockets as the Giants worked very hard on the offensive side of the puck. Good forecheck, good pressure on the Rockets D, generating great chances.
Part of me is still happy to see Whistle get the start, but even though he is still learning he really has to make some of those stops and although he faced minimal shots, the chances the Rockets did get were premium ones. It’s a team loss and should be a learning experience that the G’s have to protect their own end better. The Giants opened the scoring and allowed the tying marker on a PP. The Rockets went up in the second in the final minute of the period. They added an unassisted tally to go up 3-1. The G’s battled back to tie the game with two quick goals and they allowed yet another easy goal the following shift. They never recovered. Brown was very good tonight, earning first star honours and the main reason for the Rockets win by turning aside 35 of 38. This is a team we can and should beat and even though the Giants had great effort and tenacity in the Rockets end, when they did give up chances they were quality chances. I feel for Whistle following up a tough shut-out effort with a sieve-like one. It does nothing to help his confidence, but growing pains like this are part of the process. I hope the kid can bounce back and learn from this debacle.
Cain Franson opened the scoring off of Taylor Makin and Brett Kulak. The Rockets scored a PP marker at 13:10 of the opening frame. The two squads played a tight second period, but a breakdown by the Giants very late in the second put them behind for the first time. The Rockets added another goal with very little effort needed 1:30 into the third. The Giants finally battled back and solved Brown after riddling him with shots in the first two periods with little success. Riley Kieser got his second in two nights, assisted by Neil Manning and Anthony Ast. Tyler Vanscourt tied it up on the PP as the Giants scored another in under 30 seconds. Marek Tvrdon and Nathan Burns with the helpers. The Rockets responded less a minute later as Whistle was left high and dry again. Missed assignments and poor positioning could have been allayed if the G’s would have got good goaltending as the Rockets had no problem finding twine, despite their minimal chances.
Rookie Watch: Tyler Morrison (16) smart defensive play and showed some real poise for a rookie. One has to wonder why he hasn’t been here all year. Kieser (18) showing some real promise, scored his second in two nights and had some nice shifts. Kulak (17) an assist, but has not had his best games lately, he needs to return to his smarter game and be more physical in own end of the ice. Cooke (17) some good shifts with Franson and Makin. Nielsen (17) had a fight and an instigator after Makin got laid out with a nice clean open ice hit. Ast (16) some good shifts on the offensive side of the puck and was a +1, with an assist. Vetterl (17) not what I would call his best hockey. Orban (17) his numbers were decent, I don’t recall noticing him much. Whistle (16) got the start against a team he should have been able to contain. Allowed a couple of soft ones, did make some big saves at one point, one of which will probably find it’s way onto highlight reels tonight, but then allowed quick soft goals he would probably want back. It wasn’t all his fault, but he does need to be better as even a mediocre performance by him tonight would have garnered his team the win.
Fight Night: Mitch Chapman v Wes Vannieuwenhuizen 9 seconds into the game. Is there not still a fine/suspension for fights less than a minute into a game? Brett Lyon v Brodyn Nielsen. Good hard open ice hit from Lyon and two Giants react. Lyon chooses Nielsen to go toe-to-toe with. Nielsen gets hammered. Not sure how we get an instigator for a mutual entanglement though.
Zebra Cage: Steve Papp and Jon Stephensen .. ugh can’t be bothered .. I might have to stop writing this section. Even thought it’s fun at times trashing the refs, the negatives are far out-weighing the positives. I was hoping to name names and have refs who I found to be consistently decent, but I cannot think of one ref in the league this year that has not crapped on a game at some point. The Giants earned a bunch of penalties, but a late blatant cross-check from behind was observed from close up by the ref and then blithely ignored. They say they are trying to take dangerous plays out the game and yet keep calling ticky tack crap and letting dangerous plays slide by. It really makes no sense to me.
The Giants out shot the Rockets 38-15 and yet took a 4-3 loss. It was one of those games they probably should have won, but allowed it to get away and then had no help from the crease when they did miss assignments. The G’s were 1 for 5 on the PP, while the Rockets went 1 for 2. The Rockets were a tired team that the Giants tried to take advantage of, but found themselves on the wrong side of the score sheet. It appears that the Giants have picked up Austin Fyten a fairly rugged LW as their third OA player. Musil, Gallagher and Sward are all still injured and probably won’t be playing this next week. Unfortunately Whistle did himself no favours tonight and might not be getting another start any time soon.
The Giants can’t afford a slump right now and even though they are solidly in second place in the BC Division, a few more bad losses could jeopardize that ranking. The G’s have a few days off before taking on the Hurricanes for the 7th game of their 8 game home stand. Their record for this home stand currently sits at 3-3 and they need to win their next two to get back on the proverbial horse. The puck on Tuesday drops at 7pm. It is the first of the Giants season ticket holders unused ticket night. The next one being March 7th.
Three Stars
1. Adam Brown
2. Marek Tvrdon
3. Brett Bulmer
Dondo’s Hardhat: tough call .. I guess Marek Tvrdon as he was generating the most scoring chances. Not exactly hardhat material though .. hmmmm.
Vancouver 3 Kelowna 4
Not happy. Whistle allowed 4 goals on 15 shots, but the Giants failed to keep the puck out of the sweet spots on the ice, leaving Rockets players wide open for quality opportunities. The home town boys badly out-played the Rockets in the Kelowna end, but left their goalie high and dry when it counted. Whistle has to take most of the blame as he was not able to make a clutch stop to save his life tonight and whiffed on a couple he should have had, but the G’s were guilty of allowing easy goals and not forcing the Rockets to earn anything. Adam Brown was stellar in goal for the Rockets as the Giants worked very hard on the offensive side of the puck. Good forecheck, good pressure on the Rockets D, generating great chances.
Part of me is still happy to see Whistle get the start, but even though he is still learning he really has to make some of those stops and although he faced minimal shots, the chances the Rockets did get were premium ones. It’s a team loss and should be a learning experience that the G’s have to protect their own end better. The Giants opened the scoring and allowed the tying marker on a PP. The Rockets went up in the second in the final minute of the period. They added an unassisted tally to go up 3-1. The G’s battled back to tie the game with two quick goals and they allowed yet another easy goal the following shift. They never recovered. Brown was very good tonight, earning first star honours and the main reason for the Rockets win by turning aside 35 of 38. This is a team we can and should beat and even though the Giants had great effort and tenacity in the Rockets end, when they did give up chances they were quality chances. I feel for Whistle following up a tough shut-out effort with a sieve-like one. It does nothing to help his confidence, but growing pains like this are part of the process. I hope the kid can bounce back and learn from this debacle.
Cain Franson opened the scoring off of Taylor Makin and Brett Kulak. The Rockets scored a PP marker at 13:10 of the opening frame. The two squads played a tight second period, but a breakdown by the Giants very late in the second put them behind for the first time. The Rockets added another goal with very little effort needed 1:30 into the third. The Giants finally battled back and solved Brown after riddling him with shots in the first two periods with little success. Riley Kieser got his second in two nights, assisted by Neil Manning and Anthony Ast. Tyler Vanscourt tied it up on the PP as the Giants scored another in under 30 seconds. Marek Tvrdon and Nathan Burns with the helpers. The Rockets responded less a minute later as Whistle was left high and dry again. Missed assignments and poor positioning could have been allayed if the G’s would have got good goaltending as the Rockets had no problem finding twine, despite their minimal chances.
Rookie Watch: Tyler Morrison (16) smart defensive play and showed some real poise for a rookie. One has to wonder why he hasn’t been here all year. Kieser (18) showing some real promise, scored his second in two nights and had some nice shifts. Kulak (17) an assist, but has not had his best games lately, he needs to return to his smarter game and be more physical in own end of the ice. Cooke (17) some good shifts with Franson and Makin. Nielsen (17) had a fight and an instigator after Makin got laid out with a nice clean open ice hit. Ast (16) some good shifts on the offensive side of the puck and was a +1, with an assist. Vetterl (17) not what I would call his best hockey. Orban (17) his numbers were decent, I don’t recall noticing him much. Whistle (16) got the start against a team he should have been able to contain. Allowed a couple of soft ones, did make some big saves at one point, one of which will probably find it’s way onto highlight reels tonight, but then allowed quick soft goals he would probably want back. It wasn’t all his fault, but he does need to be better as even a mediocre performance by him tonight would have garnered his team the win.
Fight Night: Mitch Chapman v Wes Vannieuwenhuizen 9 seconds into the game. Is there not still a fine/suspension for fights less than a minute into a game? Brett Lyon v Brodyn Nielsen. Good hard open ice hit from Lyon and two Giants react. Lyon chooses Nielsen to go toe-to-toe with. Nielsen gets hammered. Not sure how we get an instigator for a mutual entanglement though.
Zebra Cage: Steve Papp and Jon Stephensen .. ugh can’t be bothered .. I might have to stop writing this section. Even thought it’s fun at times trashing the refs, the negatives are far out-weighing the positives. I was hoping to name names and have refs who I found to be consistently decent, but I cannot think of one ref in the league this year that has not crapped on a game at some point. The Giants earned a bunch of penalties, but a late blatant cross-check from behind was observed from close up by the ref and then blithely ignored. They say they are trying to take dangerous plays out the game and yet keep calling ticky tack crap and letting dangerous plays slide by. It really makes no sense to me.
The Giants out shot the Rockets 38-15 and yet took a 4-3 loss. It was one of those games they probably should have won, but allowed it to get away and then had no help from the crease when they did miss assignments. The G’s were 1 for 5 on the PP, while the Rockets went 1 for 2. The Rockets were a tired team that the Giants tried to take advantage of, but found themselves on the wrong side of the score sheet. It appears that the Giants have picked up Austin Fyten a fairly rugged LW as their third OA player. Musil, Gallagher and Sward are all still injured and probably won’t be playing this next week. Unfortunately Whistle did himself no favours tonight and might not be getting another start any time soon.
The Giants can’t afford a slump right now and even though they are solidly in second place in the BC Division, a few more bad losses could jeopardize that ranking. The G’s have a few days off before taking on the Hurricanes for the 7th game of their 8 game home stand. Their record for this home stand currently sits at 3-3 and they need to win their next two to get back on the proverbial horse. The puck on Tuesday drops at 7pm. It is the first of the Giants season ticket holders unused ticket night. The next one being March 7th.
Three Stars
1. Adam Brown
2. Marek Tvrdon
3. Brett Bulmer
Dondo’s Hardhat: tough call .. I guess Marek Tvrdon as he was generating the most scoring chances. Not exactly hardhat material though .. hmmmm.