dondo
11-29-2012, 02:13 AM
I expected better out of the boys in this one. MJ's defense was better than I anticipated (other than Rielly, man that kid's good), but they ran a lot of interference and the boys needed to battle harder to get through it.
Warriors Club Giants
Vancouver 1 Moose Jaw 2
The Giants were a very disinterested team in this one, having their moments but failing to get enough quality rubber on net to press the Warriors in their zone. The Giants have now lost 5 straight and cannot blame their young goaltender who has done his damnedest to keep his team in the game, but has not got the production he has been desperately needing. The boys are putting forth some big half-effort shifts. Moose Jaw were strong in their own end, but didn’t really need to battle too much harder than being in the right position as the Giants did not battle through the traffic and were rarely fighting to get to the front of the net with or without the puck. The G’s continue to make passes before looking and they seem to panic with the puck more than they should and have more time to make plays than they think they have. Throwing the puck out into the slot doesn’t work if you don’t have a player ready to make some sort of play or shot. The G-Men’s physical game was very sporadic in this one and they were not willing to pay the price to make the play. Lots of soft puck handling and passing from the boys and too much peeling off when pressure was necessary. Their puck support was better on the breakout, but they chose to go against the defender’s strong side as opposed to the weak side where there was open ice. At times they were their own worst enemy, taking unfocused bench penalties and failing to connect passes on good scoring chances. In the end they would have been better to throw the puck on the net and go for the rebound instead of trying the cross-crease passes, but some of those opportunities were excellent so maybe a bit of both would have been best. Most of the few shots they got were of the quality variety, but they could have afforded some more quantity and better effort crashing the net. They also need to make their opportunities count.
The Giants opened the scoring after a bit of pressure in the offensive zone. It was their first shot of the game and nice patient wraparound goal for Tristan Sieben. Dalton Sward (who needs to be channelling more of a Machacek-type of greasy game and gut out more shifts) and Mason Geertson got the helpers. The G’s had about 4 scoring chances and yet only one more shot in rest of the period. Squandering two PP chances, getting precious with the puck instead of shooting and driving for the rebounds. The Warriors got on the scoresheet with 1:30 left in the first, squeaking a very soft five-hole goal through Lee, who up ‘til that point was excellent. Justin Paulic was good for the Warriors between the pipes, but rarely needed to be great except maybe turning away two short-handed breakaways against in the second. The G’s killed a full 2:00 5 on 3 very early in the second to hold some momentum. The home town kid’s best work came on the PK and the 5 on 3 shut-down was a nice example of that. Sadly that’s the only time I saw the intensity I know the boys are capable of in the game. Brett Kulak made dumb low-percentage play along the offensive blue-line, coughing up the puck and sending wunderkind Morgan Rielly in all alone. Lee stopped Rielly’s first shot, but could not stop the rebound and had no help hustling back. The Giants brought sloppy pressure with the goalie pulled, bumbling the puck frequently and killing some of the good scoring chances they were creating.
Team Notes: 5th straight loss and very little intensity. I hope the boys aren’t accepting or getting used to losing. They have had a lot of trouble getting goals lately and this season it has been ether good goaltending and no goals, or good production, but poor defensive work in their own end and at times suspect goaltending. Central scouting has Geertson and Jackson Houck ranked in top 25 skaters in the WHL. Houck has had great production this season, but since Tvrdon’s injury has struggled getting points. Lines continue to be juggled, hurting the player’s chances of developing some chemistry. Lee and Thomas Foster named to Team Pacific for the U-17 tourney and Reid Zalitach will be playing for Team West. Lee’s last three games he has faced 106 shots and allowed 6 goals. His SV% for the last 3 games is around .940 – with three losses to show for his work. Giants PK ranks 19th at 75.5% and their PP sits 18th over-all at a very ineffectual 16%.
Fisticuffs: nada. A few scrums, but to be honest this game lacked a physical edge or emotion.
Zebra Cage: Brett Iverson and Jeff Ingram – they sucked pretty hard in this one and you can include the linesmen as well who seemed to frequently be in the way of players and puck – Justin Hull in particular couldn’t call an offside to save his life. Add-in the useless video judges who couldn’t make a decision on a clear goal by the replay we saw in the arena. They robbed the Giants of a goal, which would have changed the game dynamic. Apparently the video replay folks didn’t have all of the angles? Very poor form if you ask me, as it took forever and the one replay shown on the screen definitively showed the puck a few inches across the line prior to the net being knocked off of it’s moorings. Official fail across the board.
Positives: The PK was solid; creating two of the best scoring chances for the G’s on SH’d breakaways. The Giants were better in their own end, not coughing up real quality chances and limiting open ice. Kulak was better playing with Geertson who is a solid stay at home D. Puck support was a bit better than I have seen. Lee looked good and continued to give his team a chance to win. He was very solid between the pipes, but didn’t have to face the kinds of chances the G’s coughed up to the Blazers and ‘Hawks.
Negatives: Offense was non-existent and soft. There was no forecheck and the boys spent far too much time back in that useless 1,2,2 stance. There was too much standing around and not enough attention given before passing or trying to make plays. A couple of hits, but nowhere near enough of the physical game. Forecheck was soft. PP was static, predictable and sloppy. The team lacked hunger and intensity and should have been ready to play, especially after a couple of good tilts versus the top teams and coming out with slim losses. Just not enough effort on the ice. Very soft on the puck and were stripped regularly. I would have liked to see them battle through the obstructive traffic Moose Jaw was running. Mainly squandering offensive opportunities and allowed easy breakouts for the Warriors.
The Warriors out shot the Giants 34-16. The G’s had a whopping 2 shots in the first, 5 in the second and 9 in the third. You cannot win convincingly with those kinds of numbers, but oddly enough the boys were in this game right up to 5 minutes left in the game. The G’s went 0 for 4 on the PP, while the Warriors went 1 for 5. All of Moose Jaw’s production came from their back-end who were doing the work at both ends of the rink. Trevor Cheek had some decent shifts and sadly I am noticing Kale Kessy less and less. I expect him to be a leader and bring the kind game he was acquired for. The third line of Sward, Riley Kieser and Tristan Sieben had some good shifts. This was a very winnable game, but the boys have got to want it a lot more than are showing. They seem to be sabotaging themselves and need to find some confidence and momentum. We are lacking game-breakers. It is time for some of these players to step up and control their own destiny.
Next Up: @ the Everett Silvertips. Their last meeting in Everett saw both teams fill the net and the Giants leave points on the ice. The boys should have had at least a point out of that game, but some late game slumping and they ended up with bubkis. I sincerely hope that this, if nothing else, will motivate them to bring a better more complete, dangerous game. The Giants have struggled mightily on the road, but if they hope to dig themselves out of their self-created hole they will need to use games like this one the road as a starting place. It was also the last time Kessy had some serious momentum.
Three Stars
1. Morgan Rielly
2. Payton Lee
3. Joel Edmundson
Dondo’s Hardhat: has to go back to Lee. He battled hard for his saves, but to be honest no other players made themselves evident. I recall scrolling down the list looking for star choices at the end of the game and no Giant other than Lee popped-out. I did like Geertson’s game tonight, but could have used a lot more physical play. When he laid the body he looked good and was effective.
Warriors Club Giants
Vancouver 1 Moose Jaw 2
The Giants were a very disinterested team in this one, having their moments but failing to get enough quality rubber on net to press the Warriors in their zone. The Giants have now lost 5 straight and cannot blame their young goaltender who has done his damnedest to keep his team in the game, but has not got the production he has been desperately needing. The boys are putting forth some big half-effort shifts. Moose Jaw were strong in their own end, but didn’t really need to battle too much harder than being in the right position as the Giants did not battle through the traffic and were rarely fighting to get to the front of the net with or without the puck. The G’s continue to make passes before looking and they seem to panic with the puck more than they should and have more time to make plays than they think they have. Throwing the puck out into the slot doesn’t work if you don’t have a player ready to make some sort of play or shot. The G-Men’s physical game was very sporadic in this one and they were not willing to pay the price to make the play. Lots of soft puck handling and passing from the boys and too much peeling off when pressure was necessary. Their puck support was better on the breakout, but they chose to go against the defender’s strong side as opposed to the weak side where there was open ice. At times they were their own worst enemy, taking unfocused bench penalties and failing to connect passes on good scoring chances. In the end they would have been better to throw the puck on the net and go for the rebound instead of trying the cross-crease passes, but some of those opportunities were excellent so maybe a bit of both would have been best. Most of the few shots they got were of the quality variety, but they could have afforded some more quantity and better effort crashing the net. They also need to make their opportunities count.
The Giants opened the scoring after a bit of pressure in the offensive zone. It was their first shot of the game and nice patient wraparound goal for Tristan Sieben. Dalton Sward (who needs to be channelling more of a Machacek-type of greasy game and gut out more shifts) and Mason Geertson got the helpers. The G’s had about 4 scoring chances and yet only one more shot in rest of the period. Squandering two PP chances, getting precious with the puck instead of shooting and driving for the rebounds. The Warriors got on the scoresheet with 1:30 left in the first, squeaking a very soft five-hole goal through Lee, who up ‘til that point was excellent. Justin Paulic was good for the Warriors between the pipes, but rarely needed to be great except maybe turning away two short-handed breakaways against in the second. The G’s killed a full 2:00 5 on 3 very early in the second to hold some momentum. The home town kid’s best work came on the PK and the 5 on 3 shut-down was a nice example of that. Sadly that’s the only time I saw the intensity I know the boys are capable of in the game. Brett Kulak made dumb low-percentage play along the offensive blue-line, coughing up the puck and sending wunderkind Morgan Rielly in all alone. Lee stopped Rielly’s first shot, but could not stop the rebound and had no help hustling back. The Giants brought sloppy pressure with the goalie pulled, bumbling the puck frequently and killing some of the good scoring chances they were creating.
Team Notes: 5th straight loss and very little intensity. I hope the boys aren’t accepting or getting used to losing. They have had a lot of trouble getting goals lately and this season it has been ether good goaltending and no goals, or good production, but poor defensive work in their own end and at times suspect goaltending. Central scouting has Geertson and Jackson Houck ranked in top 25 skaters in the WHL. Houck has had great production this season, but since Tvrdon’s injury has struggled getting points. Lines continue to be juggled, hurting the player’s chances of developing some chemistry. Lee and Thomas Foster named to Team Pacific for the U-17 tourney and Reid Zalitach will be playing for Team West. Lee’s last three games he has faced 106 shots and allowed 6 goals. His SV% for the last 3 games is around .940 – with three losses to show for his work. Giants PK ranks 19th at 75.5% and their PP sits 18th over-all at a very ineffectual 16%.
Fisticuffs: nada. A few scrums, but to be honest this game lacked a physical edge or emotion.
Zebra Cage: Brett Iverson and Jeff Ingram – they sucked pretty hard in this one and you can include the linesmen as well who seemed to frequently be in the way of players and puck – Justin Hull in particular couldn’t call an offside to save his life. Add-in the useless video judges who couldn’t make a decision on a clear goal by the replay we saw in the arena. They robbed the Giants of a goal, which would have changed the game dynamic. Apparently the video replay folks didn’t have all of the angles? Very poor form if you ask me, as it took forever and the one replay shown on the screen definitively showed the puck a few inches across the line prior to the net being knocked off of it’s moorings. Official fail across the board.
Positives: The PK was solid; creating two of the best scoring chances for the G’s on SH’d breakaways. The Giants were better in their own end, not coughing up real quality chances and limiting open ice. Kulak was better playing with Geertson who is a solid stay at home D. Puck support was a bit better than I have seen. Lee looked good and continued to give his team a chance to win. He was very solid between the pipes, but didn’t have to face the kinds of chances the G’s coughed up to the Blazers and ‘Hawks.
Negatives: Offense was non-existent and soft. There was no forecheck and the boys spent far too much time back in that useless 1,2,2 stance. There was too much standing around and not enough attention given before passing or trying to make plays. A couple of hits, but nowhere near enough of the physical game. Forecheck was soft. PP was static, predictable and sloppy. The team lacked hunger and intensity and should have been ready to play, especially after a couple of good tilts versus the top teams and coming out with slim losses. Just not enough effort on the ice. Very soft on the puck and were stripped regularly. I would have liked to see them battle through the obstructive traffic Moose Jaw was running. Mainly squandering offensive opportunities and allowed easy breakouts for the Warriors.
The Warriors out shot the Giants 34-16. The G’s had a whopping 2 shots in the first, 5 in the second and 9 in the third. You cannot win convincingly with those kinds of numbers, but oddly enough the boys were in this game right up to 5 minutes left in the game. The G’s went 0 for 4 on the PP, while the Warriors went 1 for 5. All of Moose Jaw’s production came from their back-end who were doing the work at both ends of the rink. Trevor Cheek had some decent shifts and sadly I am noticing Kale Kessy less and less. I expect him to be a leader and bring the kind game he was acquired for. The third line of Sward, Riley Kieser and Tristan Sieben had some good shifts. This was a very winnable game, but the boys have got to want it a lot more than are showing. They seem to be sabotaging themselves and need to find some confidence and momentum. We are lacking game-breakers. It is time for some of these players to step up and control their own destiny.
Next Up: @ the Everett Silvertips. Their last meeting in Everett saw both teams fill the net and the Giants leave points on the ice. The boys should have had at least a point out of that game, but some late game slumping and they ended up with bubkis. I sincerely hope that this, if nothing else, will motivate them to bring a better more complete, dangerous game. The Giants have struggled mightily on the road, but if they hope to dig themselves out of their self-created hole they will need to use games like this one the road as a starting place. It was also the last time Kessy had some serious momentum.
Three Stars
1. Morgan Rielly
2. Payton Lee
3. Joel Edmundson
Dondo’s Hardhat: has to go back to Lee. He battled hard for his saves, but to be honest no other players made themselves evident. I recall scrolling down the list looking for star choices at the end of the game and no Giant other than Lee popped-out. I did like Geertson’s game tonight, but could have used a lot more physical play. When he laid the body he looked good and was effective.