dondo
11-02-2013, 01:26 AM
For those of you who don't like reading me rant about officials, you better skip this recap. Griffiths is the new Kirk/Zalaski/Rehman.
Chiefs Club Giants
Vancouver 4 Spokane 6
The Giants were pretty tired after a plethora of games in minimal nights, but they were battling hard versus an always tenacious Chiefs squad and one that could be considered one of the elite in the West. 20 yr olds Holmberg and Aviani have been deadly so far and a 5 ( 4G and 1A) point night for Helewka was the story. The Giants were coming off of a decent road trip and were on a three game winning streak prior to the start of this game. It seems the other teams are noticing because the Chiefs had their top goalie between the pipes and not their back-up. The boys did a good job of battling back, but the Chiefs took advantage of some seams and made some great plays. They had a bunch of help from the zebras though.
I have a new referee to hate and his name is Adam Griffiths. He has sucked in pretty much every outing I have seen him officiate (and I use that term lightly) so far this season. The Giants lost a battle of the special teams, but they also had to battle a couple of refs that didn’t actually know the rules. Not that the Chiefs were not full value for the win. They checked hard and tight and were tough to play against, but a ton of infractions were missed or glossed over and then late in a close game a couple of seriously bogus calls really tilted the ice. First of all when you have position on a player it is not holding. Secondly, a clean hit where you leave your feet after connecting is not charging. Don’t even get me started on the 5 on 3 to start the game. Meanwhile Franson got levelled from behind, no call and a forechecking Giant got an obvious stick in the mouth in plain sight of Griffiths and no call.
Why are you even wearing stripes?
The game opened with the Giants getting tagged for two infractions on the same play. I admit the slash was pretty obvious, but the charge? Really? Anyway Giants killed that 5 on 3 off and it stayed tied until Spokane found twine. The Giants replied about four minutes later when Jackson Houck just tipped a Mason Geertsen shot past Eric Williams, who had a vocal local contingent in the stands. Blake Orban got the other helper. Early in the second Spokane scored their first PP marker. A solo effort further padded the Spokane lead. In the third Spokane scored again, early. Travis McEvoy got one back, assisted by Brett Kulak. Kulak scored a PP marker not long after to pull the Gs to within one. The Chiefs were gifted PP chances on what appeared to me to both be clean plays. Spokane scored while a delayed penalty was being called and everything stopped for a minute. I’m not sure if the puck hit the netting and was not called down or the Giants thought they had touched the puck and it should have been blown dead, but the puck found twine while everyone stood there expecting a whistle. Odd goal. The next goal came on the ensuing PP, when everyone was still shell-shocked. Cain Franson got it close with a PP marker late in the game. Popoff got the lone helper on a play, but I could have sworn I saw Kulak make the initial a cross-ice pass to Popoff and then cross-crease to Franson for a nice post and in goal. Maybe it tipped off a Chief before getting to Popoff. The last five minutes really was a confused mess fuelled by shoddy officials and confused players.
Team Notes: Eder and Osipov sitting, along with Leone and Dosanjh. Atwal back in. This marked the Giants 6th game in 8 nights. Houck had 9 points (5G 4A) in 5 games coming into this one while Thrower had 7 points (1G, 6A) in his last 5 games.
Rookie Watch: not much from the rookies tonight, a good shift here and there, but very little of impact.
Fight Night: two in the first and then nothing after that. Mason Geertsen v. Riley Whittingham .. Geertsen simply demolished Whittingham in this one. Dalton Sward v. Carter Proft – I felt Sward handled Proft well, Proft tried a couple shots after taking a few but fell down easily.
Zebra Cage: Adam Griffiths and Fraser Lawrence. Abysmal. These two need to go back to their rule books and bone up on what it is they think they are calling. They ruined what was a pretty good game for me, missed a bunch and called cheap and wrong stuff when the game had momentum. First game I have seen this season where the reffing was a major deciding factor in the outcome.
The Giants were out-shot 35-27 by the Chiefs. The G’s were 2 for 4 on the PP, while the Chiefs went 3 for 6.
Make no mistake the Chiefs are an excellent team that doggedly close-checked the Giants. The home town squad had very little room to move or make plays, but I love how they battled through the adversity and found twine against a tough opponent. I appreciated how the guys did not give in and did not let the turns of fortune affect their drive. They made some poor errors, none of which really bit them but they were out-matched by a top team. Jared Rathjen was pretty solid for the most part, but he allowed a couple of soft ones and was out and out screened by his own player on one he did not see.
I liked the Giants battle despite a bit of fatigue, which revealed itself on some longer shifts when players got caught not changing quickly enough. A few puck bobbles and couple of poor give-aways, but not as many as I figured the Chiefs pressure would elicit. It was good hockey and edgy, but for some poor decisions. I would have liked to see the Gs fully finish some of their checks harder though and not execute glancing fly-bys, but I cannot fault the effort of most of the players. Guys I do not normally see back-checking hard were below their own goal-line digging out pucks.
No rest for the wicked, as tomorrow the Giants face a rested Kamloops squad who are probably hungry for a win versus a Vancouver team, which so far has had their number. The boys make the trek into the interior Saturday for a 7pm tilt versus the Blazers. Hay has said that Payton Lee, who as had success versus the Kamloops squad, will be in net.
The person who selected the 3 stars tonight left the booth ten minutes into the third and as such chose badly as lots happened for the latter ten minutes. If the person cannot stay for the entire game then they should not be choosing the three stars, just saying. Suppose the Giants managed the full come-back and won in regulation or scored in OT? I wonder how much this happens. There have been a few games where I was scratching my head after hearing the star selections, maybe that’s the reason.
Three Stars
1. Mitch Holmberg (4A)
2. Adam Helewka (4G, 1A)
3. Mike Aviani (1G, 1A)
Dondo’s Doghouse: The officials, all of them.
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Travis McEvoy – he worked his butt off and made things happen most every shift. Sparked the come-back in the third with some great effort and was a solid plus player.
Chiefs Club Giants
Vancouver 4 Spokane 6
The Giants were pretty tired after a plethora of games in minimal nights, but they were battling hard versus an always tenacious Chiefs squad and one that could be considered one of the elite in the West. 20 yr olds Holmberg and Aviani have been deadly so far and a 5 ( 4G and 1A) point night for Helewka was the story. The Giants were coming off of a decent road trip and were on a three game winning streak prior to the start of this game. It seems the other teams are noticing because the Chiefs had their top goalie between the pipes and not their back-up. The boys did a good job of battling back, but the Chiefs took advantage of some seams and made some great plays. They had a bunch of help from the zebras though.
I have a new referee to hate and his name is Adam Griffiths. He has sucked in pretty much every outing I have seen him officiate (and I use that term lightly) so far this season. The Giants lost a battle of the special teams, but they also had to battle a couple of refs that didn’t actually know the rules. Not that the Chiefs were not full value for the win. They checked hard and tight and were tough to play against, but a ton of infractions were missed or glossed over and then late in a close game a couple of seriously bogus calls really tilted the ice. First of all when you have position on a player it is not holding. Secondly, a clean hit where you leave your feet after connecting is not charging. Don’t even get me started on the 5 on 3 to start the game. Meanwhile Franson got levelled from behind, no call and a forechecking Giant got an obvious stick in the mouth in plain sight of Griffiths and no call.
Why are you even wearing stripes?
The game opened with the Giants getting tagged for two infractions on the same play. I admit the slash was pretty obvious, but the charge? Really? Anyway Giants killed that 5 on 3 off and it stayed tied until Spokane found twine. The Giants replied about four minutes later when Jackson Houck just tipped a Mason Geertsen shot past Eric Williams, who had a vocal local contingent in the stands. Blake Orban got the other helper. Early in the second Spokane scored their first PP marker. A solo effort further padded the Spokane lead. In the third Spokane scored again, early. Travis McEvoy got one back, assisted by Brett Kulak. Kulak scored a PP marker not long after to pull the Gs to within one. The Chiefs were gifted PP chances on what appeared to me to both be clean plays. Spokane scored while a delayed penalty was being called and everything stopped for a minute. I’m not sure if the puck hit the netting and was not called down or the Giants thought they had touched the puck and it should have been blown dead, but the puck found twine while everyone stood there expecting a whistle. Odd goal. The next goal came on the ensuing PP, when everyone was still shell-shocked. Cain Franson got it close with a PP marker late in the game. Popoff got the lone helper on a play, but I could have sworn I saw Kulak make the initial a cross-ice pass to Popoff and then cross-crease to Franson for a nice post and in goal. Maybe it tipped off a Chief before getting to Popoff. The last five minutes really was a confused mess fuelled by shoddy officials and confused players.
Team Notes: Eder and Osipov sitting, along with Leone and Dosanjh. Atwal back in. This marked the Giants 6th game in 8 nights. Houck had 9 points (5G 4A) in 5 games coming into this one while Thrower had 7 points (1G, 6A) in his last 5 games.
Rookie Watch: not much from the rookies tonight, a good shift here and there, but very little of impact.
Fight Night: two in the first and then nothing after that. Mason Geertsen v. Riley Whittingham .. Geertsen simply demolished Whittingham in this one. Dalton Sward v. Carter Proft – I felt Sward handled Proft well, Proft tried a couple shots after taking a few but fell down easily.
Zebra Cage: Adam Griffiths and Fraser Lawrence. Abysmal. These two need to go back to their rule books and bone up on what it is they think they are calling. They ruined what was a pretty good game for me, missed a bunch and called cheap and wrong stuff when the game had momentum. First game I have seen this season where the reffing was a major deciding factor in the outcome.
The Giants were out-shot 35-27 by the Chiefs. The G’s were 2 for 4 on the PP, while the Chiefs went 3 for 6.
Make no mistake the Chiefs are an excellent team that doggedly close-checked the Giants. The home town squad had very little room to move or make plays, but I love how they battled through the adversity and found twine against a tough opponent. I appreciated how the guys did not give in and did not let the turns of fortune affect their drive. They made some poor errors, none of which really bit them but they were out-matched by a top team. Jared Rathjen was pretty solid for the most part, but he allowed a couple of soft ones and was out and out screened by his own player on one he did not see.
I liked the Giants battle despite a bit of fatigue, which revealed itself on some longer shifts when players got caught not changing quickly enough. A few puck bobbles and couple of poor give-aways, but not as many as I figured the Chiefs pressure would elicit. It was good hockey and edgy, but for some poor decisions. I would have liked to see the Gs fully finish some of their checks harder though and not execute glancing fly-bys, but I cannot fault the effort of most of the players. Guys I do not normally see back-checking hard were below their own goal-line digging out pucks.
No rest for the wicked, as tomorrow the Giants face a rested Kamloops squad who are probably hungry for a win versus a Vancouver team, which so far has had their number. The boys make the trek into the interior Saturday for a 7pm tilt versus the Blazers. Hay has said that Payton Lee, who as had success versus the Kamloops squad, will be in net.
The person who selected the 3 stars tonight left the booth ten minutes into the third and as such chose badly as lots happened for the latter ten minutes. If the person cannot stay for the entire game then they should not be choosing the three stars, just saying. Suppose the Giants managed the full come-back and won in regulation or scored in OT? I wonder how much this happens. There have been a few games where I was scratching my head after hearing the star selections, maybe that’s the reason.
Three Stars
1. Mitch Holmberg (4A)
2. Adam Helewka (4G, 1A)
3. Mike Aviani (1G, 1A)
Dondo’s Doghouse: The officials, all of them.
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Travis McEvoy – he worked his butt off and made things happen most every shift. Sparked the come-back in the third with some great effort and was a solid plus player.