dondo
01-21-2012, 02:59 AM
Giants Clip Tips
Vancouver 4 Everett 3
The Giants 15 yr old back-up Payton Lee got the nod tonight, which I found odd as I had pegged Lee for a Kelowna start seeing as he is from that region. I guess the coaches were interested in mixing it up and changing the karma. It worked, Lee was serviceable and solid, but never had to be brilliant and the Silvertips fanned on a few too many open shots for my liking. So in the end I have to like the 2 pts, but not necessarily how we got them. Once again there was sloppy play by the boys in their end of the ice. They were better at battles along the boards, but still lost too many of those. I haven’t figured out if the Tips are good team with bad luck or the Giants just made them look that way. The Tips seemed to have good speed and were decent in their own end shutting down chances and limiting shots. The G’s had their moments. Statistically the Tips are one of the worst teams in the league. They have 9 wins on the season and managed to scrape out their 3rd road win last night in Kelowna, so the Giants really should have run them down, but didn’t really get to that level. I think the G’s degree of compete was better tonight than in their previous two games, but they still had holes I found disconcerting.
The Giants opened the scoring and then added another on the PP. The Everett squad responded by scoring 5 on 3 and 5 on 4, back to back. The Giants added two more in the second, one on the PP. Everett got a late PP marker in the third with the goalie pulled, but the home town squad held on for the win - after dropping three straight.
Riley Kieser opened the scoring, off of Jackson Houck and Nathan Burns. Brett Kulak added his first of two on the night on the PP, finding twine through a Kieser screen. Kiefer McNaughton and Alex Kuvaev got the helpers. Everett tied it up before the end of the first with two quick PP goals. Anthony Ast put the G’s up just past the mid-way mark of the middle frame, with McNaughton and Marek Tvrdon getting the assists. Kulak added a PP marker four and a bit minutes later. Jordan Martinook and Burns with the extra points. Everett tallied a late PP marker with the goalie pulled, but could not climb all the way back.
Rookie Watch: Kieser (18) another good night, seems to be one of the few Giants willing to go to the front of the net. Bellerive (17) was healthy, back in the line-up and very eager to play. He showed great speed and the willingness to mix it up. Kulak (17) helped his draft position tonight, making smart plays at both ends and scoring some nice goals with his slapshot. Ast (16) still finding ways to try to create offense. A small guy with a bit of fearless streak in him he is progressing well. Vetterl (17) relegated to depth positions in this one and I did not recall a whole lot one way or the other from him. Houck (16) also healthy and back in the line-up. I liked seeing him playing with Kieser and Burns as a second line unit, they made things happen and pressed well in the offensive end. Orban (17) a solid game for him and a good fight.
Fight Night: Blake Orban v Carson Samoridny .. similar built players, decent tilt. Late on Samoridny got off Orban’s helmet and then ditched his own a few punches later. A classy move and a decent even bout.
Zebra Cage: Matt Kirk and Mike Campbell .. Kirk at his Kirkiest .. some really invisible calls and a few clean checks labelled boarding and then one clear boarding call ignored. I am talking both teams and both situations. The G’s were called for boarding for a nothing play and then when they really did commit a boarding penalty just after they had killed a penalty - it wasn’t called. A hard check on a Giants player in their end, with the player going into the boards and connecting with his shoulder, was called boarding. It was the same deal with the cheap and cheesy “slash” calls. Simply unpredictable for the players what the hell was being called. Complete fail. F
The Giants barely out shot the Tips 23-22. The Tips were 3 for 5 on their PP, as the Giants PK was an unmitigated mess tonight, unable to box out players and caught flatfooted, being forced to scramble far too frequently. The Tips did a good job moving around the puck and when they were on the PK they seemed to press the puck carrier a fair amount. The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP and looked a bit ugly early on, but found more consistency later. I saw Dalton Sward (or his sweater at least) warming up tonight, but about ten minutes later I thought I spied him in the concourse wearing a suit – either that was a very quick change or someone used his sweater warming up – curiouser and curiouser.
It was good to see Bellerive and Houck back and I am looking forward to seeing Musil and Sward return ASAP. Gallagher and Morrison are still week-to-week. If Kuvaev is going to eschew backchecking and be a cherry picker he damn well better start scoring with his chances as I rarely saw him cross his own blue-line tonight. Payton Lee was okay tonight. I thought he got a bit scrambly at times and allowed a few too many juicy rebounds, but he’s 15 yrs old in his first WHL start so slack must be given. I’ll bet he is happy to get his first win in his first start though. I liked a lot of his game. He stayed upright as much as possible and came out to challenge shooters (sometimes a little too enthusiastically). Tyler Vanscourt, continues to worry me as he had a another few bad passes into slot areas and taking unnecessary chances up the gut to covered players for little potential gain. He’s still ducking checks and that bothers me.
Tonight was the Giants first of three in three and the last game of their 8 game home-stand. I expect they were disappointed with their game over this period, but will need to continue to find their better game until they get their top players back in the fold. Tomorrow they take on the Rockets in Kelowna and then come back to the Coliseum on Sunday to tackle the T-Birds. To be honest they should win both of those games, but the team has been a wild card as of late. The puck drops in Kelowna at 7pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Brett Kulak
2. Cody Fowlie
3. Anthony Ast
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to .. Brett Kulak, good at both ends of the arena, often made the safe play, but used his vision and creativity to create scoring chances. Scored a couple of goals, bringing his totals to 14 pts (6G 8A). Honourable mention for me goes to Bellerive, used his speed and tenacity to good purpose tonight (he looked very excited to be back playing).
Vancouver 4 Everett 3
The Giants 15 yr old back-up Payton Lee got the nod tonight, which I found odd as I had pegged Lee for a Kelowna start seeing as he is from that region. I guess the coaches were interested in mixing it up and changing the karma. It worked, Lee was serviceable and solid, but never had to be brilliant and the Silvertips fanned on a few too many open shots for my liking. So in the end I have to like the 2 pts, but not necessarily how we got them. Once again there was sloppy play by the boys in their end of the ice. They were better at battles along the boards, but still lost too many of those. I haven’t figured out if the Tips are good team with bad luck or the Giants just made them look that way. The Tips seemed to have good speed and were decent in their own end shutting down chances and limiting shots. The G’s had their moments. Statistically the Tips are one of the worst teams in the league. They have 9 wins on the season and managed to scrape out their 3rd road win last night in Kelowna, so the Giants really should have run them down, but didn’t really get to that level. I think the G’s degree of compete was better tonight than in their previous two games, but they still had holes I found disconcerting.
The Giants opened the scoring and then added another on the PP. The Everett squad responded by scoring 5 on 3 and 5 on 4, back to back. The Giants added two more in the second, one on the PP. Everett got a late PP marker in the third with the goalie pulled, but the home town squad held on for the win - after dropping three straight.
Riley Kieser opened the scoring, off of Jackson Houck and Nathan Burns. Brett Kulak added his first of two on the night on the PP, finding twine through a Kieser screen. Kiefer McNaughton and Alex Kuvaev got the helpers. Everett tied it up before the end of the first with two quick PP goals. Anthony Ast put the G’s up just past the mid-way mark of the middle frame, with McNaughton and Marek Tvrdon getting the assists. Kulak added a PP marker four and a bit minutes later. Jordan Martinook and Burns with the extra points. Everett tallied a late PP marker with the goalie pulled, but could not climb all the way back.
Rookie Watch: Kieser (18) another good night, seems to be one of the few Giants willing to go to the front of the net. Bellerive (17) was healthy, back in the line-up and very eager to play. He showed great speed and the willingness to mix it up. Kulak (17) helped his draft position tonight, making smart plays at both ends and scoring some nice goals with his slapshot. Ast (16) still finding ways to try to create offense. A small guy with a bit of fearless streak in him he is progressing well. Vetterl (17) relegated to depth positions in this one and I did not recall a whole lot one way or the other from him. Houck (16) also healthy and back in the line-up. I liked seeing him playing with Kieser and Burns as a second line unit, they made things happen and pressed well in the offensive end. Orban (17) a solid game for him and a good fight.
Fight Night: Blake Orban v Carson Samoridny .. similar built players, decent tilt. Late on Samoridny got off Orban’s helmet and then ditched his own a few punches later. A classy move and a decent even bout.
Zebra Cage: Matt Kirk and Mike Campbell .. Kirk at his Kirkiest .. some really invisible calls and a few clean checks labelled boarding and then one clear boarding call ignored. I am talking both teams and both situations. The G’s were called for boarding for a nothing play and then when they really did commit a boarding penalty just after they had killed a penalty - it wasn’t called. A hard check on a Giants player in their end, with the player going into the boards and connecting with his shoulder, was called boarding. It was the same deal with the cheap and cheesy “slash” calls. Simply unpredictable for the players what the hell was being called. Complete fail. F
The Giants barely out shot the Tips 23-22. The Tips were 3 for 5 on their PP, as the Giants PK was an unmitigated mess tonight, unable to box out players and caught flatfooted, being forced to scramble far too frequently. The Tips did a good job moving around the puck and when they were on the PK they seemed to press the puck carrier a fair amount. The Giants went 2 for 7 on the PP and looked a bit ugly early on, but found more consistency later. I saw Dalton Sward (or his sweater at least) warming up tonight, but about ten minutes later I thought I spied him in the concourse wearing a suit – either that was a very quick change or someone used his sweater warming up – curiouser and curiouser.
It was good to see Bellerive and Houck back and I am looking forward to seeing Musil and Sward return ASAP. Gallagher and Morrison are still week-to-week. If Kuvaev is going to eschew backchecking and be a cherry picker he damn well better start scoring with his chances as I rarely saw him cross his own blue-line tonight. Payton Lee was okay tonight. I thought he got a bit scrambly at times and allowed a few too many juicy rebounds, but he’s 15 yrs old in his first WHL start so slack must be given. I’ll bet he is happy to get his first win in his first start though. I liked a lot of his game. He stayed upright as much as possible and came out to challenge shooters (sometimes a little too enthusiastically). Tyler Vanscourt, continues to worry me as he had a another few bad passes into slot areas and taking unnecessary chances up the gut to covered players for little potential gain. He’s still ducking checks and that bothers me.
Tonight was the Giants first of three in three and the last game of their 8 game home-stand. I expect they were disappointed with their game over this period, but will need to continue to find their better game until they get their top players back in the fold. Tomorrow they take on the Rockets in Kelowna and then come back to the Coliseum on Sunday to tackle the T-Birds. To be honest they should win both of those games, but the team has been a wild card as of late. The puck drops in Kelowna at 7pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Brett Kulak
2. Cody Fowlie
3. Anthony Ast
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to .. Brett Kulak, good at both ends of the arena, often made the safe play, but used his vision and creativity to create scoring chances. Scored a couple of goals, bringing his totals to 14 pts (6G 8A). Honourable mention for me goes to Bellerive, used his speed and tenacity to good purpose tonight (he looked very excited to be back playing).