dondo
02-23-2013, 11:45 PM
Fried by Blazer skill - I'm back
Blazers Fry Giants
Vancouver 0 Kamloops 6
It was Gordie Howe night with the boys wearing their special Gordie sweaters, but the skill of that hall of fame player was not theirs to tap into. I was working so was unable to watch and listened to the radio instead, which was fortunate as I heard a couple of very entertaining interviews with Johnny Bower regarding Howe and the hockey at that time.
The game was similar to the game the Giants have been playing all season. Poor gaffes leading to easy goals, lots of effort with no real skill to finish it off and rookie mistakes. I can’t fault the guys for letting up even though they had reason to do so as they really tried to battle back. Watching the game later on TV, as I had PVR’d it, it struck me that the Giants almost didn’t know what to do with quality chances when they would finally get them. The Blazers had quick sharp tape-to tape passes and rarely bobbled the biscuit, but the Vancouver seemed to never have a flat puck on their sticks and frequently had it bouncing around, unable to settle it down. The PP looked alright, not very dangerous, but less sloppy than it has been lately and at least we had players moving through the zone to try and find some open ice. I felt sorry for Payton Lee early on allowing two goals on the first two shots that really weren’t his fault, but on a better night he might have had a piece of them at least. I liked the physical game, but truly this squad was outmatched skill-wise and it was at times to painful to watch how much.
The Blazers opened the scoring 10 seconds in off of a very bad give-away by Arvin Atwal. Atwal had some nice moments in this tilt, but that blind soft back pass behind his own net to a very opportunistic and talented forward was about as dumb as it gets, especially since the Giants won the opening face-off. 1:32 later the G’s allowed a Blazer to come off the half-boards and use a screen to slip the puck past Lee. It was Blazers second shot of the game. Hay took a time-out to settle down the boys. Lee bounced back in the first even though his team really were eager to turn over the puck at pretty much every opportunity in the opening frame and Lee had to be good to hold the fort and stop the bleeding for the time being. 29 seconds into the second the Blazers tipped a puck off the shaft of a stick past the Giants netminder. Former Giant Kale Kessy added one into a wide-open cage off of a odd-man rush and some very skilled give and go hockey. A PP marker 8:06 into the middle frame chased Lee from the net. Another screened shot that he probably should have had on a better night. But then again Colin Smith is the third top scorer in the WHL right now and if anyone can pick a five-hole from the sweet spot in the slot through the screen it would be he. Jared Rathjen in relief held his own fort until 8 minutes into the third period. That’s as much as the Blazers would get as their coach was content to give his young players a lot of playing time in the third.
Team Notes: Wes Vannieuwenhuizen was back in the line-up and ejected from the game for a check from behind that was neither major nor game suspension worthy in my mind and I’ll say why later.
Fight Night: Lots of fights: Mason Geertsen v heavy weight Joel Edmundson - pretty equal with Edmundson getting in some late shots and the take-down. Blake Orban v JC Lipon – Lipon got “checked from behind” on a play and bounced up ready to fight anyone and Orban fit the bill. Lipon got an instigator, 5 and 10 for his trouble. Lipon actively put himself in harms way prior to being hit/pushed. Arvin Atwal and Aaron Macklin dropped the mitts in the third after a cheap take-down along the boards. A decent tilt with both getting shots in. Blake Orban v Dylan Willick. A tilt among many late in the third, when more cheap stuff lead to some brawling. A deliberate knee by Lipon and havoc ensued.
Zebra Cage: Adam Griffiths and Chris Crich. Could have been better, could have been worse. I think the call on Wes was a bit of an over-reaction as Lipon slipped in front of Wes near the boards as Wes was going for the puck. Wes bumped Lipon’s shoulder with his stick, Lipon fell awkwardly into the boards making it look a lot worse than it was. Lipon was already off balance and a replay showed his right skate lifted with the toe picking and sending him flying, off of a tap. I hope Vannieuwenhuizen doesn’t get extra games for this as it really was more Lipon putting himself deliberately into a vulnerable position and then later in the game throwing a cheap knee as some sort of payback. Wes’ check might have been worthy of 2 minutes, but did not warrant a major or a game. Other than that a few missed picks here and there, but fairly well-balanced calls for the most part.
The Giants were out-shot 29-24. The home-town boys went 0 for 7 on the PP, while the Blazers to 1 for 5. Neither one of the special teams for the G’s looked poor tonight and the effort was definitely there. I do think they could have competed harder and most definitely smarter, but other than air-lifting in some more skilled players they did alright with what they had and the score was better than it could have been. Had the Blazers put the pedal down in the first when the G’s were scrambling to wake up and stop stumbling around they could have made it worse for the Vancouver squad and their fans much earlier.
I wanted a better game out of Jackson Houck. He was solid for the most part, but he has much more power-forward in his game than he shows. I liked Dalton Sward’s effort in this one, but again he needs to learn how to finish better around the net. Too many chances he created slipped off of his stick in clutch areas. Players like McEvoy, Sieben and Kieser also were good at creating chances, but could not find that finish. Our back end played alright, but the seams they allowed were not good. A bit too much standing around getting caught flat-footed and waving sticks than good positional man-on-man work. I enjoyed our young guys though. Thomas Foster had a few nice forays. I need to see Taylor Vickerman a bit more physical and use his body more, but he was also trying to make things happen and Luca Leone seems to get more comfortable with each passing game. I need to see more out our 20 year olds in this kind of game – it takes veteran leadership to challenge a skilled team like the Blazers. I did like Wes’ open-ice, clean, hit early on though. It set the tone for the rest of the game in the sense of not backing down or away from the hard areas.
Up Next: The boys take on the Thunderbirds at the Coliseum on Sunday. The game is at 2:00pm NOT 4:00pm FYI – mark that on your calendars. The Thunderbirds are the last team the Giants have beaten, winning in OT. The G’s are currently on a 4 game losing streak.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Ranford
2. Colin Smith
3. Sam Grist
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to: Dalton Sward – he was battling every shift he was out there and created some of the Giants best chances, but could not find twine. I need that game, but more and more skilled and it is something he is capable of and he needs to realize and embrace it.
Blazers Fry Giants
Vancouver 0 Kamloops 6
It was Gordie Howe night with the boys wearing their special Gordie sweaters, but the skill of that hall of fame player was not theirs to tap into. I was working so was unable to watch and listened to the radio instead, which was fortunate as I heard a couple of very entertaining interviews with Johnny Bower regarding Howe and the hockey at that time.
The game was similar to the game the Giants have been playing all season. Poor gaffes leading to easy goals, lots of effort with no real skill to finish it off and rookie mistakes. I can’t fault the guys for letting up even though they had reason to do so as they really tried to battle back. Watching the game later on TV, as I had PVR’d it, it struck me that the Giants almost didn’t know what to do with quality chances when they would finally get them. The Blazers had quick sharp tape-to tape passes and rarely bobbled the biscuit, but the Vancouver seemed to never have a flat puck on their sticks and frequently had it bouncing around, unable to settle it down. The PP looked alright, not very dangerous, but less sloppy than it has been lately and at least we had players moving through the zone to try and find some open ice. I felt sorry for Payton Lee early on allowing two goals on the first two shots that really weren’t his fault, but on a better night he might have had a piece of them at least. I liked the physical game, but truly this squad was outmatched skill-wise and it was at times to painful to watch how much.
The Blazers opened the scoring 10 seconds in off of a very bad give-away by Arvin Atwal. Atwal had some nice moments in this tilt, but that blind soft back pass behind his own net to a very opportunistic and talented forward was about as dumb as it gets, especially since the Giants won the opening face-off. 1:32 later the G’s allowed a Blazer to come off the half-boards and use a screen to slip the puck past Lee. It was Blazers second shot of the game. Hay took a time-out to settle down the boys. Lee bounced back in the first even though his team really were eager to turn over the puck at pretty much every opportunity in the opening frame and Lee had to be good to hold the fort and stop the bleeding for the time being. 29 seconds into the second the Blazers tipped a puck off the shaft of a stick past the Giants netminder. Former Giant Kale Kessy added one into a wide-open cage off of a odd-man rush and some very skilled give and go hockey. A PP marker 8:06 into the middle frame chased Lee from the net. Another screened shot that he probably should have had on a better night. But then again Colin Smith is the third top scorer in the WHL right now and if anyone can pick a five-hole from the sweet spot in the slot through the screen it would be he. Jared Rathjen in relief held his own fort until 8 minutes into the third period. That’s as much as the Blazers would get as their coach was content to give his young players a lot of playing time in the third.
Team Notes: Wes Vannieuwenhuizen was back in the line-up and ejected from the game for a check from behind that was neither major nor game suspension worthy in my mind and I’ll say why later.
Fight Night: Lots of fights: Mason Geertsen v heavy weight Joel Edmundson - pretty equal with Edmundson getting in some late shots and the take-down. Blake Orban v JC Lipon – Lipon got “checked from behind” on a play and bounced up ready to fight anyone and Orban fit the bill. Lipon got an instigator, 5 and 10 for his trouble. Lipon actively put himself in harms way prior to being hit/pushed. Arvin Atwal and Aaron Macklin dropped the mitts in the third after a cheap take-down along the boards. A decent tilt with both getting shots in. Blake Orban v Dylan Willick. A tilt among many late in the third, when more cheap stuff lead to some brawling. A deliberate knee by Lipon and havoc ensued.
Zebra Cage: Adam Griffiths and Chris Crich. Could have been better, could have been worse. I think the call on Wes was a bit of an over-reaction as Lipon slipped in front of Wes near the boards as Wes was going for the puck. Wes bumped Lipon’s shoulder with his stick, Lipon fell awkwardly into the boards making it look a lot worse than it was. Lipon was already off balance and a replay showed his right skate lifted with the toe picking and sending him flying, off of a tap. I hope Vannieuwenhuizen doesn’t get extra games for this as it really was more Lipon putting himself deliberately into a vulnerable position and then later in the game throwing a cheap knee as some sort of payback. Wes’ check might have been worthy of 2 minutes, but did not warrant a major or a game. Other than that a few missed picks here and there, but fairly well-balanced calls for the most part.
The Giants were out-shot 29-24. The home-town boys went 0 for 7 on the PP, while the Blazers to 1 for 5. Neither one of the special teams for the G’s looked poor tonight and the effort was definitely there. I do think they could have competed harder and most definitely smarter, but other than air-lifting in some more skilled players they did alright with what they had and the score was better than it could have been. Had the Blazers put the pedal down in the first when the G’s were scrambling to wake up and stop stumbling around they could have made it worse for the Vancouver squad and their fans much earlier.
I wanted a better game out of Jackson Houck. He was solid for the most part, but he has much more power-forward in his game than he shows. I liked Dalton Sward’s effort in this one, but again he needs to learn how to finish better around the net. Too many chances he created slipped off of his stick in clutch areas. Players like McEvoy, Sieben and Kieser also were good at creating chances, but could not find that finish. Our back end played alright, but the seams they allowed were not good. A bit too much standing around getting caught flat-footed and waving sticks than good positional man-on-man work. I enjoyed our young guys though. Thomas Foster had a few nice forays. I need to see Taylor Vickerman a bit more physical and use his body more, but he was also trying to make things happen and Luca Leone seems to get more comfortable with each passing game. I need to see more out our 20 year olds in this kind of game – it takes veteran leadership to challenge a skilled team like the Blazers. I did like Wes’ open-ice, clean, hit early on though. It set the tone for the rest of the game in the sense of not backing down or away from the hard areas.
Up Next: The boys take on the Thunderbirds at the Coliseum on Sunday. The game is at 2:00pm NOT 4:00pm FYI – mark that on your calendars. The Thunderbirds are the last team the Giants have beaten, winning in OT. The G’s are currently on a 4 game losing streak.
Three Stars
1. Brendan Ranford
2. Colin Smith
3. Sam Grist
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to: Dalton Sward – he was battling every shift he was out there and created some of the Giants best chances, but could not find twine. I need that game, but more and more skilled and it is something he is capable of and he needs to realize and embrace it.