dondo
12-09-2012, 01:58 AM
same old, same old in Everett - maybe next season the boys will show up at the Comcast Events Center - happy we aren't going back there in the regular season this year.
Tips Chop Giants
Vancouver 1 Everett 4
I have to say I am getting tired of writing the same thing after every game it seems. The Giants did not show up until the third period. Liam Liston got the start and was very good in the first and solid the rest of the way through. The G-Men who used to go into Everett and if not dominate at least compete, have dropped three games to a less than excellent Silvertips team by simply not showing up. The possible exception was the 6-5 tilt in which the Giants gave up a couple of late ones to hand back points they should have had in the bag. The Tips star selectors chose Austin Lotz as a star player and he never had to be and was never forced to really, make any big stops and was handcuffed on a few routine shots that the Giants should have been able to capitalise upon. Had the Giants actually showed up for more than one period and not made the struggling Tips look like a top contender, maybe they could have shot Lotz’s confidence early and ran the table, but those are what ifs and the G’s have finished their games in Everett now and looked pretty piss poor in all of them. Even the high-scoring game goals were not hard to come by for either team and some focus and effort could have turned the tide. As usual the boys made some really bad give-aways, watched the other team run plays in the Giants end of the ice with nary a challenge to complain about. In blunt it was, for the third time in Everett, not freaking good enough - not by a long-shot and no excuses are accepted for a team unwilling to make the effort and show up to the rink to do what they were drafted to do.
Liston held the boys in the game in the first as the Giants slopped about their own end of the ice, gifting wide open lanes and great scoring chances with lazy, sloppy and careless puck handling combined with no hunger. They were very fortunate to come out of the period tied at 0’s. The Tips used a carry-over penalty from the first to score early in the second. Trent Lofthouse scored his first of what would be a hat-trick night being given tons of room to make a play. Lofthouse is not what you would call a power forward and more of a sniper, but the G’s consistently gave him great chances and open ice to play with and he buried those chances. A bit of hunger and effort could have kept him off the scoresheet. The Tips added another one off of a gift give-away before the end of the second. Tanner Moar scored a long-distance back-hand on Lotz in the third off of a Tip turnover. The goal was officially unassisted. Moar then proceeded to give that goal back a couple of minutes later with a bad turnover of his own, taking a Reid Zalitach feed and putting it onto a Silvertip stick. About 4 minutes after that the hat-trick goal was scored when the Giants were once again sloppy. Up ‘til that point they were actually pushing back and with the Tips sitting back the Giants only needed to step it up a notch or two and really send bodies to the net, but instead they gave up a goal which sealed their fate. A fate completely engineered by their own lack of desire to win. They are allowing poor teams they can beat to look a lot better than they are and they are not willing to pay the price to get to the net consistently enough. The minuses are piling up across the board and only Orban seems to be able to maintain a solid +/- in the black.
Team Notes: Anthony Ast and Dalton Sward were on the shelf still battling the flu. According to Hanlon the rest of team do not seem to be ailing and are not affected by this strain of the flu that have affected Ast and Sward.
Fisticuffs: Scott Cooke v. Ben Betker – the only real bright spot of the game for the G’s – Cooke gives up a few inches and more than a few pounds to the bigger heavier Betker. Despite the discrepancy they had a strong, long toe-to-toe battle in which both of their lids stayed firmly planted on their noggins. Frankly I think it’s tons more dangerous for the helmets to stay on during a fight as the possibility of a broken hand is far more likely than a concussion from slipping and falling to the ice, despite the lip-service and bull crap propaganda leagues like the OHL are feeding us. Suffice to say it was good tilt from both combatants, but I suspect it lifted the home town fans and their team more than it elevated the Giants.
Zebra Cage: Mike Campbell and Jeff Ingram – nothing glaringly amiss in this one but it didn’t sound like either team did enough to warrant calls one way or the other.
The Giants were out shot 30-21 by the Silvertips and out-worked and out-skated for the most part as well. The Giants went 0 for 2 on the PP, spending most of their man-advantages trying to get out of their own end of the ice. The Tips were 1 for 4, including a longish 5 on 3. The boys once again did not show up in Everett and part of one period does not count in my books. When they did show up the boys played a better physical game than they did versus the Broncos, but their mistakes and unwillingness to battle to recover was their downfall in the end.
They suck on the road, have two wins away from the Coliseum and have the record they do - not due simply to lack of skill, but mainly lack of hunger. They seem also to be incapable of taking a good solid effort one night and carrying it over to the next tilt. They don’t look awful on the ice when they play hard and get their chances, but when they coast they embarrass themselves. No team should ever coast I don’t care how young or under-skilled they may be and for those teams that are under-skilled well then the work ethic has to be that much more. You never get any better by not showing up and don’t get better by using excuses. Time for a hard look in the mirror for each player to make for himself and find the willingness to press for their best game every shift. I am not seeing that at all. Once they rid themselves of those soft shifts then they will get better as a team.
Next Up: Tomorrow a tilt versus the Kamloops Blazers who have shown themselves vulnerable lately. It’s a perfect opportunity for the Giants to get another notch of confidence taking out a great team, which might not be playing so great right now. The problem is… which Giants squad will show up. Will it be the team that showed up in Portland and Kamloops and forced the better team to prove themselves or the lack-lustre lazy squad that have taken to the ice the past two nights? The truth is I don’t know and sadly I am not sure if the players themselves know. Their game seems to depend on whether or not they feel confident as a team when they come to the dressing room or when they hit the ice for warm-up or have the right meal or some other ephemeral planets aligning happenstance. Their inconsistency is so predictable that it has become one of the few constants this season – consistently inconsistent – not exactly something a team ever shoots for, is it. They also seem to either all show up or none of them do – rarely do we get anyone who can put this team on their back and run with them, drag them out the doldrums and make them better than just the individual parts. I am hoping to see a motivated hungry squad Sunday afternoon, but I cannot predict comfortably who or what is going to show up. The Blazers have played three in three like the Giants so fatigue should not be an excuse. I really hope the boys are able to recognize an opportunity and run with it win or lose.
Three Stars
1. Trent Lofthouse
2. Landon Oslanski
3. Austin Lotz (a bad choice by the Everett selectors)
Dondo’s Hardhat: I am tempted to give it to Lofthouse, but I guess it goes to Cooke for that hard fought tilt. Not many other players were noticed and those that had positives had some big negatives as well.
Tips Chop Giants
Vancouver 1 Everett 4
I have to say I am getting tired of writing the same thing after every game it seems. The Giants did not show up until the third period. Liam Liston got the start and was very good in the first and solid the rest of the way through. The G-Men who used to go into Everett and if not dominate at least compete, have dropped three games to a less than excellent Silvertips team by simply not showing up. The possible exception was the 6-5 tilt in which the Giants gave up a couple of late ones to hand back points they should have had in the bag. The Tips star selectors chose Austin Lotz as a star player and he never had to be and was never forced to really, make any big stops and was handcuffed on a few routine shots that the Giants should have been able to capitalise upon. Had the Giants actually showed up for more than one period and not made the struggling Tips look like a top contender, maybe they could have shot Lotz’s confidence early and ran the table, but those are what ifs and the G’s have finished their games in Everett now and looked pretty piss poor in all of them. Even the high-scoring game goals were not hard to come by for either team and some focus and effort could have turned the tide. As usual the boys made some really bad give-aways, watched the other team run plays in the Giants end of the ice with nary a challenge to complain about. In blunt it was, for the third time in Everett, not freaking good enough - not by a long-shot and no excuses are accepted for a team unwilling to make the effort and show up to the rink to do what they were drafted to do.
Liston held the boys in the game in the first as the Giants slopped about their own end of the ice, gifting wide open lanes and great scoring chances with lazy, sloppy and careless puck handling combined with no hunger. They were very fortunate to come out of the period tied at 0’s. The Tips used a carry-over penalty from the first to score early in the second. Trent Lofthouse scored his first of what would be a hat-trick night being given tons of room to make a play. Lofthouse is not what you would call a power forward and more of a sniper, but the G’s consistently gave him great chances and open ice to play with and he buried those chances. A bit of hunger and effort could have kept him off the scoresheet. The Tips added another one off of a gift give-away before the end of the second. Tanner Moar scored a long-distance back-hand on Lotz in the third off of a Tip turnover. The goal was officially unassisted. Moar then proceeded to give that goal back a couple of minutes later with a bad turnover of his own, taking a Reid Zalitach feed and putting it onto a Silvertip stick. About 4 minutes after that the hat-trick goal was scored when the Giants were once again sloppy. Up ‘til that point they were actually pushing back and with the Tips sitting back the Giants only needed to step it up a notch or two and really send bodies to the net, but instead they gave up a goal which sealed their fate. A fate completely engineered by their own lack of desire to win. They are allowing poor teams they can beat to look a lot better than they are and they are not willing to pay the price to get to the net consistently enough. The minuses are piling up across the board and only Orban seems to be able to maintain a solid +/- in the black.
Team Notes: Anthony Ast and Dalton Sward were on the shelf still battling the flu. According to Hanlon the rest of team do not seem to be ailing and are not affected by this strain of the flu that have affected Ast and Sward.
Fisticuffs: Scott Cooke v. Ben Betker – the only real bright spot of the game for the G’s – Cooke gives up a few inches and more than a few pounds to the bigger heavier Betker. Despite the discrepancy they had a strong, long toe-to-toe battle in which both of their lids stayed firmly planted on their noggins. Frankly I think it’s tons more dangerous for the helmets to stay on during a fight as the possibility of a broken hand is far more likely than a concussion from slipping and falling to the ice, despite the lip-service and bull crap propaganda leagues like the OHL are feeding us. Suffice to say it was good tilt from both combatants, but I suspect it lifted the home town fans and their team more than it elevated the Giants.
Zebra Cage: Mike Campbell and Jeff Ingram – nothing glaringly amiss in this one but it didn’t sound like either team did enough to warrant calls one way or the other.
The Giants were out shot 30-21 by the Silvertips and out-worked and out-skated for the most part as well. The Giants went 0 for 2 on the PP, spending most of their man-advantages trying to get out of their own end of the ice. The Tips were 1 for 4, including a longish 5 on 3. The boys once again did not show up in Everett and part of one period does not count in my books. When they did show up the boys played a better physical game than they did versus the Broncos, but their mistakes and unwillingness to battle to recover was their downfall in the end.
They suck on the road, have two wins away from the Coliseum and have the record they do - not due simply to lack of skill, but mainly lack of hunger. They seem also to be incapable of taking a good solid effort one night and carrying it over to the next tilt. They don’t look awful on the ice when they play hard and get their chances, but when they coast they embarrass themselves. No team should ever coast I don’t care how young or under-skilled they may be and for those teams that are under-skilled well then the work ethic has to be that much more. You never get any better by not showing up and don’t get better by using excuses. Time for a hard look in the mirror for each player to make for himself and find the willingness to press for their best game every shift. I am not seeing that at all. Once they rid themselves of those soft shifts then they will get better as a team.
Next Up: Tomorrow a tilt versus the Kamloops Blazers who have shown themselves vulnerable lately. It’s a perfect opportunity for the Giants to get another notch of confidence taking out a great team, which might not be playing so great right now. The problem is… which Giants squad will show up. Will it be the team that showed up in Portland and Kamloops and forced the better team to prove themselves or the lack-lustre lazy squad that have taken to the ice the past two nights? The truth is I don’t know and sadly I am not sure if the players themselves know. Their game seems to depend on whether or not they feel confident as a team when they come to the dressing room or when they hit the ice for warm-up or have the right meal or some other ephemeral planets aligning happenstance. Their inconsistency is so predictable that it has become one of the few constants this season – consistently inconsistent – not exactly something a team ever shoots for, is it. They also seem to either all show up or none of them do – rarely do we get anyone who can put this team on their back and run with them, drag them out the doldrums and make them better than just the individual parts. I am hoping to see a motivated hungry squad Sunday afternoon, but I cannot predict comfortably who or what is going to show up. The Blazers have played three in three like the Giants so fatigue should not be an excuse. I really hope the boys are able to recognize an opportunity and run with it win or lose.
Three Stars
1. Trent Lofthouse
2. Landon Oslanski
3. Austin Lotz (a bad choice by the Everett selectors)
Dondo’s Hardhat: I am tempted to give it to Lofthouse, but I guess it goes to Cooke for that hard fought tilt. Not many other players were noticed and those that had positives had some big negatives as well.