dondo
10-30-2012, 11:58 PM
Wilms and Alex whatsit were in fine cheerleading form tonight and had their homer caps firmly attached - with the little propeller and everything. Not really sure what I listening to or how accurate it was compared to how the boys really played.
Giants Scrape By
Vancouver 4 Lethbridge 3 OT/SO
Liston finally won a game in the regular season. Against his old team. In a shootout. Nice to get the win, but it allows the team to continue to delude themselves. Listening to Hanlon after the game proves how deep the denial has gotten. Kulak makes a blind backhand pass, through the slot at speed and he gets “a bit lucky” to get the puck to Popoff who goes in for the goal – 99 times out of 100 that pass gets picked off and it goes back the other way and we get what we have had all season long – bad goals against on bad giveaways – basically we got really lucky on a very low percentage play that probably should never have been attempted. I am not being a pessimist here, I am being a realist and their record shows that encouraging those kinds of plays is in one sense admirable (encouraging the creativity), but in the other not advised if they want some consistency and would like to teach their players to make the smart play to get the win. It is progress, it is a win and the first time the Giants have forced OT, but it is just one win and a proper work ethic and smart play are not yet a habit.
Nathan Burns broke his six game pointless streak at 4:36 of the first. Marek Tvrdon and Blake Orban got the extra points on the play. Lethbridge tied it up later in the period. The Canes took the lead in the second. Carter Popoff evened it up late in the middle frame off of a broken play. The play started with the aforementioned low-percentage play by Kulak. Popoff got the puck to Tvrodon who whiffed on the puck and had it go off of his skate. Popoff capitalised on the loose puck and buried his first goal in the WHL. Lethbridge tied it back up in the third. Liston made a nice breakaway stop a shift earlier when the Giants gave up the biscuit. A scramble in front of the net a bit later had the ‘canes slip it past Liston. The Giants needed the final minute with the goalie pulled to solve Ty Rimmer and tie the game, sending it to OT. Dalton Sward found the twine in the clutch, with Wes Vannnieuwenhuizen and Brett Kulak garnering the assists. Neither team got a shot off in OT, making me think they were playing for the shootout – something I truly hate. The game went to a shootout where Burns got the only goal off of a nice forehand, backhand deke. I appreciate the effort and not giving in, but hardly a game to hang your hat on. Liston made a few good stops, spectacular! if you are listening to the ever homer leaning Wilms and whatshisface – You can probably tell I am not really enjoying how games are being called these days. It felt as if the team had a talk to their broadcast crew to accentuate the positive and elim–mi-nate the negative, as they were rather cheerleadery. I have no clue how the boys really played to be honest, or Liston for that matter.
Team Notes: Thomas Foster and Cain Franson are out for this road trip with undisclosed injuries. I suspect Foster’s shoulder is still bothering him. Austin Vetterl continues to be a scratch, haven’t heard if he is injured or still laying down in the doghouse of Hay.
Fisticuffs: nada, but some chippy cheap shots and many misconducts
Zebra Cage: Jonathan Spurgeon and Kevin Webinger. They called a ton early, not necessarily for PPs, but lots of coincidentals of the roughing, slashing, misconduct variety. Makes me think that they were calling some pretty soft stuff because the same type of play continued in the third when they put away the whistles. Consistently inconsistent I would say.
The Giants out shot the Hurricanes 37-29. Neither team scored on the PP. Giants going 0 for 4 while the Hurricanes went 0 for 5. The G’s made some progress and it was good to see them not give in and battle for the win, but I would still like to see the franchise divest themselves of Liston and let the young guys play. The PK seems to be clicking better lately with the effort appearing to be more committed, but then we have had nice wins followed up by crashing defeats this season, so I will reserve my enthusiasm until we have a few solid wins in a row.
Next Up: Tigers in Medicine Hat. The G’s beat the Hat when they were at the Coliseum quite convincingly, but don’t expect such an easy result in MH.
Three Stars
1. Russell Maxwell
2. Daniel Johnston
3. Nathan Burns
Dondo’s Hardhat goes to - Nathan Burns… I’m happy to see him get off the schnide and by the sounds of it he played a pretty solid game.
Giants Scrape By
Vancouver 4 Lethbridge 3 OT/SO
Liston finally won a game in the regular season. Against his old team. In a shootout. Nice to get the win, but it allows the team to continue to delude themselves. Listening to Hanlon after the game proves how deep the denial has gotten. Kulak makes a blind backhand pass, through the slot at speed and he gets “a bit lucky” to get the puck to Popoff who goes in for the goal – 99 times out of 100 that pass gets picked off and it goes back the other way and we get what we have had all season long – bad goals against on bad giveaways – basically we got really lucky on a very low percentage play that probably should never have been attempted. I am not being a pessimist here, I am being a realist and their record shows that encouraging those kinds of plays is in one sense admirable (encouraging the creativity), but in the other not advised if they want some consistency and would like to teach their players to make the smart play to get the win. It is progress, it is a win and the first time the Giants have forced OT, but it is just one win and a proper work ethic and smart play are not yet a habit.
Nathan Burns broke his six game pointless streak at 4:36 of the first. Marek Tvrdon and Blake Orban got the extra points on the play. Lethbridge tied it up later in the period. The Canes took the lead in the second. Carter Popoff evened it up late in the middle frame off of a broken play. The play started with the aforementioned low-percentage play by Kulak. Popoff got the puck to Tvrodon who whiffed on the puck and had it go off of his skate. Popoff capitalised on the loose puck and buried his first goal in the WHL. Lethbridge tied it back up in the third. Liston made a nice breakaway stop a shift earlier when the Giants gave up the biscuit. A scramble in front of the net a bit later had the ‘canes slip it past Liston. The Giants needed the final minute with the goalie pulled to solve Ty Rimmer and tie the game, sending it to OT. Dalton Sward found the twine in the clutch, with Wes Vannnieuwenhuizen and Brett Kulak garnering the assists. Neither team got a shot off in OT, making me think they were playing for the shootout – something I truly hate. The game went to a shootout where Burns got the only goal off of a nice forehand, backhand deke. I appreciate the effort and not giving in, but hardly a game to hang your hat on. Liston made a few good stops, spectacular! if you are listening to the ever homer leaning Wilms and whatshisface – You can probably tell I am not really enjoying how games are being called these days. It felt as if the team had a talk to their broadcast crew to accentuate the positive and elim–mi-nate the negative, as they were rather cheerleadery. I have no clue how the boys really played to be honest, or Liston for that matter.
Team Notes: Thomas Foster and Cain Franson are out for this road trip with undisclosed injuries. I suspect Foster’s shoulder is still bothering him. Austin Vetterl continues to be a scratch, haven’t heard if he is injured or still laying down in the doghouse of Hay.
Fisticuffs: nada, but some chippy cheap shots and many misconducts
Zebra Cage: Jonathan Spurgeon and Kevin Webinger. They called a ton early, not necessarily for PPs, but lots of coincidentals of the roughing, slashing, misconduct variety. Makes me think that they were calling some pretty soft stuff because the same type of play continued in the third when they put away the whistles. Consistently inconsistent I would say.
The Giants out shot the Hurricanes 37-29. Neither team scored on the PP. Giants going 0 for 4 while the Hurricanes went 0 for 5. The G’s made some progress and it was good to see them not give in and battle for the win, but I would still like to see the franchise divest themselves of Liston and let the young guys play. The PK seems to be clicking better lately with the effort appearing to be more committed, but then we have had nice wins followed up by crashing defeats this season, so I will reserve my enthusiasm until we have a few solid wins in a row.
Next Up: Tigers in Medicine Hat. The G’s beat the Hat when they were at the Coliseum quite convincingly, but don’t expect such an easy result in MH.
Three Stars
1. Russell Maxwell
2. Daniel Johnston
3. Nathan Burns
Dondo’s Hardhat goes to - Nathan Burns… I’m happy to see him get off the schnide and by the sounds of it he played a pretty solid game.