dondo
09-28-2013, 01:20 AM
Better effort tonight, but how could it not be...
Tips Topple Giants
Vancouver 1 Everett 4
The good news is the Giants played a hell of a lot better than they did on Wednesday, which could arguably stated as the worst Giants hockey game I have ever witnessed. Even in the early days of the franchise at least we had fighting and hard, hard hits – when we didn’t have skill. Now with the rule changes and all of this hand-wringing over players not seeming to be interested in preserving their own health, so much that the league(s) feel they need to step in, the game is so watered down that lack-lustre efforts are practically unbearable to watch. The bad news is that they took another poor loss, failed to capitalise on many chances with and without the man-advantage and basically spent most of the game fumbling for pucks. I am frightened what will happen on their upcoming Eastern road swing. They could come out of it 0-6 or 1-5 and put themselves behind the eight ball for the season very early. I do not see this squad with it’s current skill and effort level winning several games in a row. I know we are destined for another growing (pains) season, but we also need to instil winning habits, effort and intensity now.
The Tips opened the scoring in the first period, a soft one slipping past Payton Lee. They added one in the second off of a horrific defensive breakdown, where the goal scorer was left wide open to receive a cross-ice pass right on the doorstep. Lee had no chance and the blame rests solely on his teammates who abandoned him completely, not unlike they did all night long on Wednesday. The Giants finally found twine on the power-play late in the second as Anthony Ast tipped an Arvin Atwal point shot past Daniel Cotton. Brett Kulak got the other assist. Jackson Houck missed a wide open net as the period was dwindling and it would cost them dearly. The Silvertips notched the insurance marker 20 seconds into the third with a quick snap shot and a badly controlled rebound . While on the PP the Giants lazily iced the puck late in the man-advantage and paid a heavy price. Off the face-off Everett whiffed a puck past what appeared to be a screened Lee. That was all for the game as the Giants were unable to respond and unable to hit the net even though they got some open looks.
Cain Franson got a few opportunities coming down the wing with a step or two on the defender and could not find twine. He needs to pick the corner on those shots. Defense was much better, but still more porous than I like to see. A better of job of boxing out in front of their net was evident, but they still allowed players to walk out from the boards and get quality shots. I think the book on Lee is to shoot low as the Tips seemed to be consciously firing the puck low stick side. The broadcasters were lauding Kulak’s effort, but neglected to note the –3 in his stats column. Houck looked more motivated tonight and was taking the body, but he was a –4 on the night, now with a whopping –9 in four games. Time for the boys to find the back of the net, sharpen up their passing and increase their level of battle. They were better, but still pretty poor.
Team Notes: Jake Kohlhauser was dealt to Victoria for a 2015 conditional pick. Tim Traber who was in my mind the best player on Wednesday was scratched tonight, no word on whether he’s damaged. Mason Geertson, Dalton Sward and Travis McEvoy were all injured scratches signing autographs between periods. Hay hopes to have all three back in Brandon a week from now as the Gs start their Eastern Division road swing. Reid Zalitach was playing up with the forwards.
Rookie Watch: 15 yr old defenseman Matt Barberis was in the line-up and in my mind was a waste of one of his five eligibility games as he had maybe four shifts. Dmitry Osipov continues to be marginalized. He was back in the line-up only to play deep depth minutes. He wasn’t great, but really - when you can’t be bothered to play your top euro pick and a player the KHL deemed worthy of first pick overall then something is terribly wrong. Frankly it’s pretty insulting as the players he is competing for minutes with are not much better than he is. He is bigger (something we lack) and needs to become accustomed to the Canadian game and the only way he does that is by playing, a lot. Ty Ronning again had some jump, but no finish. Andreas Eder has skills, some chances, but needs to commit and bear down when he has the puck. Defenseman Shaun Dosanjh played a bunch and had a few nice hits, but still needs to shore up his game.
Fight Night: Blake Orban v Reid Petryk – Orban seems to be the only one dropping the mitts early this season. Petryk is a 20 year old fighting to keep his job on a team with four over-agers. A quick bout, with Orban getting a quick knockdown.
Zebra Cage: Steve Papp and Mike Langin .. Papp was most definitely lead hand tonight and although a few of his calls seemed a bit precious to me, it was mostly even. Maybe I am mellowing or just that refs like Kirk and Rehman are no longer around, or that the game is simply less intense, but so far this season I find little official-wise that’s egregious. Gimme a dozen or so home games though and I might change my tune. I still am having a tough time with a lot of the linesmen who seem to be entirely arbitrary creatures blowing down whatever.
The Giants out shot the Tips 26-21. They missed the net a bunch and wasted some breakaway and semi-breakaway chances that could have turned the score in this one. The G’s went 1 for 5 on a PP that still suffers from a lack of cohesiveness. The Tips were 0 for 4, with a SH’d marker. I would have liked to see more shots, but the Silvertips were playing fairly solid D in their own end and when they got the insurance they were able to basically shut it down.
There were players I had high hopes for watching them in camp, but I have to say that very few of them have shown glimmers of what they can do. Is this coaching? Practice? or something completely different. Maybe it’s that the level of competition from other teams is quite a bit better than they encountered in camp. Lots of 17 year olds who have a chance to step it up and become contributors and need to. Not too fond of the line combos tonight. They seemed to be a mishmash of styles and strengths, but not in what I would call a complementary way. I understand that the line-up is decimated by injuries, but some of the combos left me shaking my head. Why are we playing Eder on what seems to be a third line, as opposed to being matched with skill players? Are we teaching him how to be a reliable plumber, instead of encouraging him to be the skilled power forward he has the potential to be? Why the hell is one of our most unreliable defensive players, someone who dropped below his own hash marks maybe three times in the game, playing on the PK?
The PP was also a mess, despite the goal, there was a plethora of sloppy play, missed passes and a complete failure to break into the zone and get set-up with any consistency. It’s been broken for a few seasons now and maybe it’s time to really change it up. I did appreciate that more shots seemed to be taken tonight (on Wednesday they din;t know what a shot on a PP looked like), but the traffic in front of the net is nonexistent and the passing over-indulgent.
The Giants have a week to get players healthy and back into the line-up and to address the lack of intensity and as Hay says, being hard on the puck. Too many passengers these past few games and I am fully aware we are very early in the season, but I am not currently seeing even the potential for progression and that worries me. When a team plays a game making passes consistently into one another’s feet and behind them then it’s up to the individuals to improve their focus.
A big Eastern division road trip could either gel the team or really damage what is already a very fragile group. They play like they are made of glass most of the time and seem to be unable to dig into that well of reserve to battle back. Wednesday’s game was a surrender from the opening drop of the puck, but there were still aspects of that same fragility which wended their way into tonight’s tilt and the third period was very indicative of letting things slide instead of finding some balls. Next game, next Friday in Brandon. Next home game not until October 18th.
Three Stars
1. Mirco Meuller
2. Manraj Hayer
3. Cain Franson
Dondo’s Doghouse: I am going to put Don Hay in the doghouse. I think there are problems he is in denial about. His obvious bias against euros players has hurt this squad in recent years and his tunnel-vision of the past few seasons means we only get one kind of player on the team. If they are skilled they must play only Hay’s way and if they don’t they are in Hay’s doghouse. I believe his blindspots are becoming more evident with each passing year and making our team one-dimensional and predictable. I hate saying this as I have been a Hay fan for many, many years, but the results on the ice and plummeting of PP and PK effectiveness have me questioning the coaching staff as a whole the past few seasons.
Dondo’s Hardhat: I am giving it to Carter Popoff, who was the most tenacious at both ends of the rink, paid the price blocking shots, had some offensive forays, but played the most complete game of all the Giants tonight.
Tips Topple Giants
Vancouver 1 Everett 4
The good news is the Giants played a hell of a lot better than they did on Wednesday, which could arguably stated as the worst Giants hockey game I have ever witnessed. Even in the early days of the franchise at least we had fighting and hard, hard hits – when we didn’t have skill. Now with the rule changes and all of this hand-wringing over players not seeming to be interested in preserving their own health, so much that the league(s) feel they need to step in, the game is so watered down that lack-lustre efforts are practically unbearable to watch. The bad news is that they took another poor loss, failed to capitalise on many chances with and without the man-advantage and basically spent most of the game fumbling for pucks. I am frightened what will happen on their upcoming Eastern road swing. They could come out of it 0-6 or 1-5 and put themselves behind the eight ball for the season very early. I do not see this squad with it’s current skill and effort level winning several games in a row. I know we are destined for another growing (pains) season, but we also need to instil winning habits, effort and intensity now.
The Tips opened the scoring in the first period, a soft one slipping past Payton Lee. They added one in the second off of a horrific defensive breakdown, where the goal scorer was left wide open to receive a cross-ice pass right on the doorstep. Lee had no chance and the blame rests solely on his teammates who abandoned him completely, not unlike they did all night long on Wednesday. The Giants finally found twine on the power-play late in the second as Anthony Ast tipped an Arvin Atwal point shot past Daniel Cotton. Brett Kulak got the other assist. Jackson Houck missed a wide open net as the period was dwindling and it would cost them dearly. The Silvertips notched the insurance marker 20 seconds into the third with a quick snap shot and a badly controlled rebound . While on the PP the Giants lazily iced the puck late in the man-advantage and paid a heavy price. Off the face-off Everett whiffed a puck past what appeared to be a screened Lee. That was all for the game as the Giants were unable to respond and unable to hit the net even though they got some open looks.
Cain Franson got a few opportunities coming down the wing with a step or two on the defender and could not find twine. He needs to pick the corner on those shots. Defense was much better, but still more porous than I like to see. A better of job of boxing out in front of their net was evident, but they still allowed players to walk out from the boards and get quality shots. I think the book on Lee is to shoot low as the Tips seemed to be consciously firing the puck low stick side. The broadcasters were lauding Kulak’s effort, but neglected to note the –3 in his stats column. Houck looked more motivated tonight and was taking the body, but he was a –4 on the night, now with a whopping –9 in four games. Time for the boys to find the back of the net, sharpen up their passing and increase their level of battle. They were better, but still pretty poor.
Team Notes: Jake Kohlhauser was dealt to Victoria for a 2015 conditional pick. Tim Traber who was in my mind the best player on Wednesday was scratched tonight, no word on whether he’s damaged. Mason Geertson, Dalton Sward and Travis McEvoy were all injured scratches signing autographs between periods. Hay hopes to have all three back in Brandon a week from now as the Gs start their Eastern Division road swing. Reid Zalitach was playing up with the forwards.
Rookie Watch: 15 yr old defenseman Matt Barberis was in the line-up and in my mind was a waste of one of his five eligibility games as he had maybe four shifts. Dmitry Osipov continues to be marginalized. He was back in the line-up only to play deep depth minutes. He wasn’t great, but really - when you can’t be bothered to play your top euro pick and a player the KHL deemed worthy of first pick overall then something is terribly wrong. Frankly it’s pretty insulting as the players he is competing for minutes with are not much better than he is. He is bigger (something we lack) and needs to become accustomed to the Canadian game and the only way he does that is by playing, a lot. Ty Ronning again had some jump, but no finish. Andreas Eder has skills, some chances, but needs to commit and bear down when he has the puck. Defenseman Shaun Dosanjh played a bunch and had a few nice hits, but still needs to shore up his game.
Fight Night: Blake Orban v Reid Petryk – Orban seems to be the only one dropping the mitts early this season. Petryk is a 20 year old fighting to keep his job on a team with four over-agers. A quick bout, with Orban getting a quick knockdown.
Zebra Cage: Steve Papp and Mike Langin .. Papp was most definitely lead hand tonight and although a few of his calls seemed a bit precious to me, it was mostly even. Maybe I am mellowing or just that refs like Kirk and Rehman are no longer around, or that the game is simply less intense, but so far this season I find little official-wise that’s egregious. Gimme a dozen or so home games though and I might change my tune. I still am having a tough time with a lot of the linesmen who seem to be entirely arbitrary creatures blowing down whatever.
The Giants out shot the Tips 26-21. They missed the net a bunch and wasted some breakaway and semi-breakaway chances that could have turned the score in this one. The G’s went 1 for 5 on a PP that still suffers from a lack of cohesiveness. The Tips were 0 for 4, with a SH’d marker. I would have liked to see more shots, but the Silvertips were playing fairly solid D in their own end and when they got the insurance they were able to basically shut it down.
There were players I had high hopes for watching them in camp, but I have to say that very few of them have shown glimmers of what they can do. Is this coaching? Practice? or something completely different. Maybe it’s that the level of competition from other teams is quite a bit better than they encountered in camp. Lots of 17 year olds who have a chance to step it up and become contributors and need to. Not too fond of the line combos tonight. They seemed to be a mishmash of styles and strengths, but not in what I would call a complementary way. I understand that the line-up is decimated by injuries, but some of the combos left me shaking my head. Why are we playing Eder on what seems to be a third line, as opposed to being matched with skill players? Are we teaching him how to be a reliable plumber, instead of encouraging him to be the skilled power forward he has the potential to be? Why the hell is one of our most unreliable defensive players, someone who dropped below his own hash marks maybe three times in the game, playing on the PK?
The PP was also a mess, despite the goal, there was a plethora of sloppy play, missed passes and a complete failure to break into the zone and get set-up with any consistency. It’s been broken for a few seasons now and maybe it’s time to really change it up. I did appreciate that more shots seemed to be taken tonight (on Wednesday they din;t know what a shot on a PP looked like), but the traffic in front of the net is nonexistent and the passing over-indulgent.
The Giants have a week to get players healthy and back into the line-up and to address the lack of intensity and as Hay says, being hard on the puck. Too many passengers these past few games and I am fully aware we are very early in the season, but I am not currently seeing even the potential for progression and that worries me. When a team plays a game making passes consistently into one another’s feet and behind them then it’s up to the individuals to improve their focus.
A big Eastern division road trip could either gel the team or really damage what is already a very fragile group. They play like they are made of glass most of the time and seem to be unable to dig into that well of reserve to battle back. Wednesday’s game was a surrender from the opening drop of the puck, but there were still aspects of that same fragility which wended their way into tonight’s tilt and the third period was very indicative of letting things slide instead of finding some balls. Next game, next Friday in Brandon. Next home game not until October 18th.
Three Stars
1. Mirco Meuller
2. Manraj Hayer
3. Cain Franson
Dondo’s Doghouse: I am going to put Don Hay in the doghouse. I think there are problems he is in denial about. His obvious bias against euros players has hurt this squad in recent years and his tunnel-vision of the past few seasons means we only get one kind of player on the team. If they are skilled they must play only Hay’s way and if they don’t they are in Hay’s doghouse. I believe his blindspots are becoming more evident with each passing year and making our team one-dimensional and predictable. I hate saying this as I have been a Hay fan for many, many years, but the results on the ice and plummeting of PP and PK effectiveness have me questioning the coaching staff as a whole the past few seasons.
Dondo’s Hardhat: I am giving it to Carter Popoff, who was the most tenacious at both ends of the rink, paid the price blocking shots, had some offensive forays, but played the most complete game of all the Giants tonight.