dondo
12-08-2013, 01:34 PM
Giants Oust Royals
Vancouver 7 Victoria 4
I wasn’t able to listen to this one, but I was getting some updates by people in the building. I wish I had listened to it, at least to the second period. Payton Lee got the start after three straight starts for Jared Rathjen. Carter Popoff rediscovered his great game, bumping his mini-slump by potting 1 goal and assisting on 3 more. Both teams came out gunning as they combined for 36 shots in the first period. The Giants had a dominant second period in which they notched 5 unanswered goals. Former Royal Trent Lofthouse, earned the third star by scoring a goal and assisting on two more. The only disappointment was that they allowed a couple in the second after building a sizeable lead. Since getting out of their rut early in the season the Giants have fared well in bounce-back games after a loss.
Victoria opened the scoring and going up 2-0 late in the opening frame. The Giants clawed one back on the PP as Trent Lofthouse scored at 17:54, assisted by Cain Franson and Brett Kulak. The second period was all Giants. Thomas Foster scored his second of the season off of Lofthouse 1:37 into the middle frame and the goals poured in from then on. Mason Geertsen scored his first of the season off of Carter Popoff. Shaun Dosanjh scored his first of the season off of Foster and Luca Leone. Popoff found the back of the net, assisted by Atwal and Franson and Dalton Thrower capped off the period with the Giants second PP marker. Scoring at 18:06 assisted by Popoff and Lofthouse. The Giants came out of the period up 6-2. The home-team bounced back in the third somewhat, scoring early on a PP chance. They added one more past the midway mark of the period. The Giants added a very late PP marker to put a definitive exclamation mark on the evening. Franson found twine with 7 seconds left in the game, assisted by who else but Popoff. The goal came off of an add insult to injury too many men on the ice penalty for the Victoria bench.
Team Notes: Tim Traber was out serving a mandatory 1 game suspension for his match penalty in the previous game. Houck still is out with an as yet to be determined suspension for something invisible the officials found in the Kootenay game. Two Giants scored their first goal of the season with both goals coming from blue-liners.
The Giants out shot the home squad 43-33. They used their PP to great advantage by tallying 3 for 6, while holding the Royals to 1 for 4. 4 of the 5 goals they scored in the second were even-strength. Popoff, Franson, Lofthouse and Foster all had multi point nights. I would love to hear about the specifics of this game. How tested Lee was and the kinds of chances the Giants were getting. Was it just one of those nights where every good chance found the back of the net? I never cease to be amazed how different two back-to-back games can be versus the same teams. Friday night was cautious and studied, with minimal chances and Saturday was all guns a-blazing with the Vancouver squad winning the gunfight. I am curious to see what kind of game we get on Tuesday when the Giants play their third straight versus their rivals across the water. Will it be completely different or a hybrid of the two games they have already played?
I expect that some bad blood has really been built up in this series. Former Royal over-ager Tim Traber will be back in the line-up and might finally get to play a full game against his old squad. I am hoping to see Popoff continue his tear as he has surprised and delighted this season and it was disappointing to see him carrying some big minuses and play a poor game lately. I am enjoying the emergence of Thomas Foster as he has had a couple of nice games and it would be good to see it continue. He is one of the building blocks of this team, as I see it. I was disappointed that Dalton Sward was carrying a –2 tonight and hope that he is one who has a bounce-back game on Tuesday.
The Giants next tilt is back at home versus these same Royals. Tuesday Dec 10th. The puck drops at 7pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Carter Popoff
2. Steven Hodges
3. Trent Lofthouse
Dondo’s Doghouse: a quick trip to the doghouse for Sward who needs a bounce back game on Tuesday. Joel Hamilton was also carrying a –2.
Dondo’s Hardhat: Good to see Carter Popoff out of the doghouse and wearing the construction lid once again. A goal and three assists and +3 look pretty good and help to erase some recent minuses.
Vancouver 7 Victoria 4
I wasn’t able to listen to this one, but I was getting some updates by people in the building. I wish I had listened to it, at least to the second period. Payton Lee got the start after three straight starts for Jared Rathjen. Carter Popoff rediscovered his great game, bumping his mini-slump by potting 1 goal and assisting on 3 more. Both teams came out gunning as they combined for 36 shots in the first period. The Giants had a dominant second period in which they notched 5 unanswered goals. Former Royal Trent Lofthouse, earned the third star by scoring a goal and assisting on two more. The only disappointment was that they allowed a couple in the second after building a sizeable lead. Since getting out of their rut early in the season the Giants have fared well in bounce-back games after a loss.
Victoria opened the scoring and going up 2-0 late in the opening frame. The Giants clawed one back on the PP as Trent Lofthouse scored at 17:54, assisted by Cain Franson and Brett Kulak. The second period was all Giants. Thomas Foster scored his second of the season off of Lofthouse 1:37 into the middle frame and the goals poured in from then on. Mason Geertsen scored his first of the season off of Carter Popoff. Shaun Dosanjh scored his first of the season off of Foster and Luca Leone. Popoff found the back of the net, assisted by Atwal and Franson and Dalton Thrower capped off the period with the Giants second PP marker. Scoring at 18:06 assisted by Popoff and Lofthouse. The Giants came out of the period up 6-2. The home-team bounced back in the third somewhat, scoring early on a PP chance. They added one more past the midway mark of the period. The Giants added a very late PP marker to put a definitive exclamation mark on the evening. Franson found twine with 7 seconds left in the game, assisted by who else but Popoff. The goal came off of an add insult to injury too many men on the ice penalty for the Victoria bench.
Team Notes: Tim Traber was out serving a mandatory 1 game suspension for his match penalty in the previous game. Houck still is out with an as yet to be determined suspension for something invisible the officials found in the Kootenay game. Two Giants scored their first goal of the season with both goals coming from blue-liners.
The Giants out shot the home squad 43-33. They used their PP to great advantage by tallying 3 for 6, while holding the Royals to 1 for 4. 4 of the 5 goals they scored in the second were even-strength. Popoff, Franson, Lofthouse and Foster all had multi point nights. I would love to hear about the specifics of this game. How tested Lee was and the kinds of chances the Giants were getting. Was it just one of those nights where every good chance found the back of the net? I never cease to be amazed how different two back-to-back games can be versus the same teams. Friday night was cautious and studied, with minimal chances and Saturday was all guns a-blazing with the Vancouver squad winning the gunfight. I am curious to see what kind of game we get on Tuesday when the Giants play their third straight versus their rivals across the water. Will it be completely different or a hybrid of the two games they have already played?
I expect that some bad blood has really been built up in this series. Former Royal over-ager Tim Traber will be back in the line-up and might finally get to play a full game against his old squad. I am hoping to see Popoff continue his tear as he has surprised and delighted this season and it was disappointing to see him carrying some big minuses and play a poor game lately. I am enjoying the emergence of Thomas Foster as he has had a couple of nice games and it would be good to see it continue. He is one of the building blocks of this team, as I see it. I was disappointed that Dalton Sward was carrying a –2 tonight and hope that he is one who has a bounce-back game on Tuesday.
The Giants next tilt is back at home versus these same Royals. Tuesday Dec 10th. The puck drops at 7pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Carter Popoff
2. Steven Hodges
3. Trent Lofthouse
Dondo’s Doghouse: a quick trip to the doghouse for Sward who needs a bounce back game on Tuesday. Joel Hamilton was also carrying a –2.
Dondo’s Hardhat: Good to see Carter Popoff out of the doghouse and wearing the construction lid once again. A goal and three assists and +3 look pretty good and help to erase some recent minuses.