dondo
12-06-2012, 01:21 AM
Much better. Taking the momentum that has been building with good effort but a disappointing loss versus the Ams to some close losses versus the Hawks and Blazers, the Giants put forth the effort, got a bit of luck and finally scored a bunch with goals from 6 different players. Not perfect, but pretty solid despite a softish second.
Giants Flush Royals
Vancouver 7 Victoria 2
Nice to see the production come and a bit of puck luck go the Giants way. There were still holes in the G’s game, but for the most part they had nice effort and did not give up on the puck. Also good to see our 20 yr olds be the vanguards of how to play. Trevor Cheek and Kale Kessy put in some good hardworking shifts going to the net and grinding well along the boards. Payton Lee finally gets some goal support, but still puts together a very solid outing – challenging the shooters and getting cross-crease quickly to stymie some great scoring chances. The G’s only got into trouble when they made those soft back-passes and when they sat back in that 1,2,2 – giving the Royals room to run their breakout at speed. The G’s were at their best pressing the zone and tenaciously bringing the back-check in both the defensive and offensive zones. The boys worked to keep the puck in the offensive zone and stripped the Royals of pucks in the Victoria end, creating some excellent scoring chances.
Cain Franson opened the scoring when Jackson Houck stripped the Victoria player of the puck in the slot and Franson grabbed the loose puck wheeled and fired. The puck caromed off of a Royals defender and past Patrik Polivka. The Giants added another marker with seconds ticking down in the period as their PP had just expired. Franson’s work getting the puck to Wes Vannieuwenhuizen at the point was intense. Houck tipped the puck past Polivka with 8 seconds left in the first. Kale Kessy was Johnny on the spot less than a minute into the middle frame. Carter Popoff ground it out getting the puck to Dalton Sward in the slot. Sward snapped it at the net where Kessy tipped it past Polivka. That was it for Polivka, who couldn’t really be blamed for any of the goals, but I saw the switch as more of a wake-up call to the team. It mostly worked as the Royals were putting intense pressure on the Giants on the PP, but it was Blake Orban for the Giants who put it past his goaltender trying to pick off a cross-crease pass. It was a poor brain-fart moment, as the puck would have carried through the blue-ice without incident. Not sure how they give two assists on that play though. Riley Kieser got that back a little later, coming in off the left wing and ripping far side just inside the post. Cheek and Orban had the helpers. Later a poor decision by Cheek at the Victoria blue-line led to a rush up ice the other way and had the Giants scrambling. The pressure continued and eventually a point shot found it’s way onto Lee’s quick pad. The rebound came out and the Royals player in the slot made no mistake burying the puck. The G’s regrouped in the third creating chances with some hard work in the Victoria end of the ice. Popoff was robbed of an assist, as he pressed hard to the Victoria net - falling down he flipped the puck out to the front of the net. A Royals defender passed the puck onto Brett Kulak’s stick as he was pinching down the slot. Kulak buried the gift for an unassisted tally. Less than a minute later Franson buried the puck past Coleman Vollwrath who took over for Polivka after the third goals against. Tipping a Houck shot standing in front of the net. Some solid work by Orban earned him the other assist. Popoff rounded off the scoring on the PP being rewarded for his hard work on the night. Sward and Kulak had the helpers on the play.
Team Notes: Ast was left in Vancouver battling the flu. Franson, scoring two, has 5 of his 9 goals this season versus the Royals. Lee’s solid ‘tending finally earns him a win as the boys gave him the much needed goal support he has been craving. Lee seems to be a very calm, mature player and seems to me to rarely get rattled. Popoff showed some real jump and tenacity today, centring Sward and Cheek. Franson centred Houck and Kessy and looked to be comfortable there.
Fisticuffs: none - although gloves were dropped, just roughings were called. There was also a third man in incident that should have warranted a game suspension imo.
Zebra Cage: Brett Iverson (and Steve Papp – kinda – he didn’t show up until the third period and then called a soft slashing call.). Mostly sucked, missed a big elbow to the head and then had the gall to call a bunch of roughings and an unsportsmanlike, but never punishing the original infraction, which was a cheap hit or the `technically’ third-man-in - had it been called a “fight”. Funny, I thought a check to the head would be considered more dangerous than the plethora of crap they came up with out of the ensuing scrums. Silly me.
The Giants were out shot 33-28, but not on the scoresheet. The G’s went 1 for 2 on the PP, while the Royals were 1 for 5. The G’s gifted the Royals a PP marker knocking it into their own net, but the rest of the time their pressure was very good and their goaltender excellent. It was good to see the Giants lay a few one-timers at the net as well. Kulak had a nice chance off of a Tyler Morrison pass to the right face off circle. I would be happy to see more of that.
I suspect Lee will prove to be a very good big game goalie. He seems to elevate his game when it gets toughest. Popoff was a hard worker out there and made Sward look better and made Cheek a little more dangerous. Franson got a bit of luck, but found his scoring touch and was solid at both ends. I was really happy with how hard the G’s chased down pucks, hunted down Victoria players from behind and caused them to cough up the biscuit. This effort led to at least two of their goals. I would have liked to see a more physical game from the G’s though. Their hitting was sporadic, but then they did not get caught out of position laying the hit instead of playing their position, but I still say they could have finished more checks in this game and still been in position. I liked Mason Geertson’s game again tonight. His work in his own end and his ability to check the body and then peel off to get to the puck was very smart. Riley Kieser put together a solid outing playing with McEvoy and Sieben or at times Cheek. He scored a nice goal off the rush.
I have to say that I truly hate Dan Russell and the way he calls a hockey game. He spends more time giving me useless back-ground than the play by play. Minutes of mindless droning will be going on while the play continues and I’d rather hear who has the freaking puck, not who played for the Buffaloes ten years ago you freaking clown. Russell brings out the most inane comments from Wilms too. Hey Dan! Do the play by play and let the colour guy do colour and stop talking about whether a Victoria defenseman should go get a stick and tell me what the hell is going on - ON THE ICE – that’s your job – if you want to bore people with mindless background blather then take up baseball – that’s a game that’s about your speed. You make hockey games painful to watch.
Next Up: The Giants take on a dangerous Swift Current at the Coliseum on Friday. The boys would do well to take their current momentum and bring a full game effort to the Broncos, as they can be a very dangerous squad when left unchecked. The G’s have another chance for a statement game versus the Silvertips in Everett on Saturday and will be in tough versus the dominant Blazers back at the Rink on Renfrew on Sunday.
Three Stars
1. Cain Franson
2. Payton Lee
3. Jackson Houck
Dondo’s Hardhat: I’m giving it to Carter Popoff – he had a goal and an assist and could have had more. He created more scoring chances than he was credited for and played his balls off every shift. It was very nice to see. He’s a pure centre, something this team has been lacking.
Giants Flush Royals
Vancouver 7 Victoria 2
Nice to see the production come and a bit of puck luck go the Giants way. There were still holes in the G’s game, but for the most part they had nice effort and did not give up on the puck. Also good to see our 20 yr olds be the vanguards of how to play. Trevor Cheek and Kale Kessy put in some good hardworking shifts going to the net and grinding well along the boards. Payton Lee finally gets some goal support, but still puts together a very solid outing – challenging the shooters and getting cross-crease quickly to stymie some great scoring chances. The G’s only got into trouble when they made those soft back-passes and when they sat back in that 1,2,2 – giving the Royals room to run their breakout at speed. The G’s were at their best pressing the zone and tenaciously bringing the back-check in both the defensive and offensive zones. The boys worked to keep the puck in the offensive zone and stripped the Royals of pucks in the Victoria end, creating some excellent scoring chances.
Cain Franson opened the scoring when Jackson Houck stripped the Victoria player of the puck in the slot and Franson grabbed the loose puck wheeled and fired. The puck caromed off of a Royals defender and past Patrik Polivka. The Giants added another marker with seconds ticking down in the period as their PP had just expired. Franson’s work getting the puck to Wes Vannieuwenhuizen at the point was intense. Houck tipped the puck past Polivka with 8 seconds left in the first. Kale Kessy was Johnny on the spot less than a minute into the middle frame. Carter Popoff ground it out getting the puck to Dalton Sward in the slot. Sward snapped it at the net where Kessy tipped it past Polivka. That was it for Polivka, who couldn’t really be blamed for any of the goals, but I saw the switch as more of a wake-up call to the team. It mostly worked as the Royals were putting intense pressure on the Giants on the PP, but it was Blake Orban for the Giants who put it past his goaltender trying to pick off a cross-crease pass. It was a poor brain-fart moment, as the puck would have carried through the blue-ice without incident. Not sure how they give two assists on that play though. Riley Kieser got that back a little later, coming in off the left wing and ripping far side just inside the post. Cheek and Orban had the helpers. Later a poor decision by Cheek at the Victoria blue-line led to a rush up ice the other way and had the Giants scrambling. The pressure continued and eventually a point shot found it’s way onto Lee’s quick pad. The rebound came out and the Royals player in the slot made no mistake burying the puck. The G’s regrouped in the third creating chances with some hard work in the Victoria end of the ice. Popoff was robbed of an assist, as he pressed hard to the Victoria net - falling down he flipped the puck out to the front of the net. A Royals defender passed the puck onto Brett Kulak’s stick as he was pinching down the slot. Kulak buried the gift for an unassisted tally. Less than a minute later Franson buried the puck past Coleman Vollwrath who took over for Polivka after the third goals against. Tipping a Houck shot standing in front of the net. Some solid work by Orban earned him the other assist. Popoff rounded off the scoring on the PP being rewarded for his hard work on the night. Sward and Kulak had the helpers on the play.
Team Notes: Ast was left in Vancouver battling the flu. Franson, scoring two, has 5 of his 9 goals this season versus the Royals. Lee’s solid ‘tending finally earns him a win as the boys gave him the much needed goal support he has been craving. Lee seems to be a very calm, mature player and seems to me to rarely get rattled. Popoff showed some real jump and tenacity today, centring Sward and Cheek. Franson centred Houck and Kessy and looked to be comfortable there.
Fisticuffs: none - although gloves were dropped, just roughings were called. There was also a third man in incident that should have warranted a game suspension imo.
Zebra Cage: Brett Iverson (and Steve Papp – kinda – he didn’t show up until the third period and then called a soft slashing call.). Mostly sucked, missed a big elbow to the head and then had the gall to call a bunch of roughings and an unsportsmanlike, but never punishing the original infraction, which was a cheap hit or the `technically’ third-man-in - had it been called a “fight”. Funny, I thought a check to the head would be considered more dangerous than the plethora of crap they came up with out of the ensuing scrums. Silly me.
The Giants were out shot 33-28, but not on the scoresheet. The G’s went 1 for 2 on the PP, while the Royals were 1 for 5. The G’s gifted the Royals a PP marker knocking it into their own net, but the rest of the time their pressure was very good and their goaltender excellent. It was good to see the Giants lay a few one-timers at the net as well. Kulak had a nice chance off of a Tyler Morrison pass to the right face off circle. I would be happy to see more of that.
I suspect Lee will prove to be a very good big game goalie. He seems to elevate his game when it gets toughest. Popoff was a hard worker out there and made Sward look better and made Cheek a little more dangerous. Franson got a bit of luck, but found his scoring touch and was solid at both ends. I was really happy with how hard the G’s chased down pucks, hunted down Victoria players from behind and caused them to cough up the biscuit. This effort led to at least two of their goals. I would have liked to see a more physical game from the G’s though. Their hitting was sporadic, but then they did not get caught out of position laying the hit instead of playing their position, but I still say they could have finished more checks in this game and still been in position. I liked Mason Geertson’s game again tonight. His work in his own end and his ability to check the body and then peel off to get to the puck was very smart. Riley Kieser put together a solid outing playing with McEvoy and Sieben or at times Cheek. He scored a nice goal off the rush.
I have to say that I truly hate Dan Russell and the way he calls a hockey game. He spends more time giving me useless back-ground than the play by play. Minutes of mindless droning will be going on while the play continues and I’d rather hear who has the freaking puck, not who played for the Buffaloes ten years ago you freaking clown. Russell brings out the most inane comments from Wilms too. Hey Dan! Do the play by play and let the colour guy do colour and stop talking about whether a Victoria defenseman should go get a stick and tell me what the hell is going on - ON THE ICE – that’s your job – if you want to bore people with mindless background blather then take up baseball – that’s a game that’s about your speed. You make hockey games painful to watch.
Next Up: The Giants take on a dangerous Swift Current at the Coliseum on Friday. The boys would do well to take their current momentum and bring a full game effort to the Broncos, as they can be a very dangerous squad when left unchecked. The G’s have another chance for a statement game versus the Silvertips in Everett on Saturday and will be in tough versus the dominant Blazers back at the Rink on Renfrew on Sunday.
Three Stars
1. Cain Franson
2. Payton Lee
3. Jackson Houck
Dondo’s Hardhat: I’m giving it to Carter Popoff – he had a goal and an assist and could have had more. He created more scoring chances than he was credited for and played his balls off every shift. It was very nice to see. He’s a pure centre, something this team has been lacking.