dondo
01-18-2014, 12:51 AM
Nice to hear the boys dominate the retooled and new coach-ed Blazers.
Giants Smother Blazers
Vancouver 6 Kamloops 2
Don Hay gets his 600th regulation win as a head coach in the WHL. Only the third person to achieve the feat. A fitting place for him to attain this milestone where it all began with the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants were hungry to get their coach his 600th win as they came out hard and fast. It was the line of Sward, Hamilton and Foster carrying the torch the highest on the night as that line gave the Blazers fits. Sward notched two goals and was very close to a hat trick marker. Foster scored a nice goal and Hamilton had three assists. The Giants cruised to a 6-0 bulge but could not get their goalie the shut out as they backed off a bit in the third. I would have preferred they kept their foot on the pedal and made sure they earned Payton Lee a blank sheet.
Dalton Sward opened the scoring mid-first period. Joel Hamilton and Brett Kulak had helpers. Thomas Foster found twine going to the net 57 seconds into the middle frame. Hamilton had the lone assist. Travis McEvoy found the back of the net later in the period, assisted by Ty Ronning. Tyler Morrison cleaned up the garbage as Alec Baer and Carter Popoff took it hard to the front of the net creating a lively rebound, scoring the Giants third goal of the period. Sward scored his second of the game just past the 5 minute mark of the final stanza, with usual suspect Hamilton earning the lone assist. Has anybody else noticed that the Giants consistently are awarded single assists? I scan scoresheets with great regularity and the Giants seem to have goals with only one assist more often than other squads. Odd. Anyway, Arvin Atwal added another one a couple of minutes later on the PP. Morrison had the lone assist. See? Kamloops used a PP chance to break Lee’s shutout bid. They added another soft one down the stretch.
Team Notes: Rathjen still out with an upper body injury. 15 yr old goalie Ryan Kubic got some time to practice with the team this week before being slotted in as Lee’s back-up. Kubic will travel with the team on their current road trip. Hay says he’s confident putting the young goalie into the game if Lee gets into trouble. Kubic looks to be the Giants goalie of the future and go-to guy to be. I sincerely hope they give the kid the chance to play and develop, learn the game and get enough starts to stay sharp come next season. A side-note: Kubic was very impressive in camp this year. Lofthouse, Leone, Osipov were the other scratches.
Rookie Watch: some nice work by Baer and Ronning tonight. Kubic played back-up. Osipov was scratched.
Fight Night: nada .. not too much energy for such a blow-out. The Blazers eked out a couple of goals, but they basically rolled over in this one.
Zebra Cage: Jeff Ingram and Mike Langin .. tripping, tripping, tripping - seemed to be all these refs saw. I question that the Blazers playing behind almost the whole night did not take more hooking, or obstruction penalties, but meh – I just listened and didn’t watch.
The Giants and Blazers had 31 shots apiece. The Blazers went 1 for 5 on the PP, while the Giants were 1 for 3. Sward had another great game and Hamilton was in on every goal from that line. It was the grinders who showed up and now it’s time for the top players to get some production. Disappointed to see minuses by some of our better players in this one which honestly should never had a sniff by a Blazer team dominated at both ends of the ice. I also have to laugh at the token homer star nod to the Blazer getting his first WHL goal ever.
The Giants have a travel day tomorrow as they overnight to Kennewick to take on the Americans on Sunday in the early evening. The puck drops versus Tri-City at 5pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Joel Hamilton
2. Dalton Sward
3. Nathan Looysen
Dondo’s Doghouse: The top line.. Traber, Franson and Houck struggled in a game where their teammates shone. They were the only line to carry minuses and allowed a 16 yr old player score his first goal in his 30th WHL game. They simply have got to be better. I expect them to be front and centre versus Tri-City and in Portland or we have a tough time winning.
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Sward.. just edging out Joel Hamilton. Sward had two goals, almost a third and was a dominant force at both ends of the ice. He Foster and Hamilton have found some good chemistry. He opened the scoring and got some insurance early in the third to quell a possible Blazer push-back.
Giants Smother Blazers
Vancouver 6 Kamloops 2
Don Hay gets his 600th regulation win as a head coach in the WHL. Only the third person to achieve the feat. A fitting place for him to attain this milestone where it all began with the Kamloops Blazers. The Giants were hungry to get their coach his 600th win as they came out hard and fast. It was the line of Sward, Hamilton and Foster carrying the torch the highest on the night as that line gave the Blazers fits. Sward notched two goals and was very close to a hat trick marker. Foster scored a nice goal and Hamilton had three assists. The Giants cruised to a 6-0 bulge but could not get their goalie the shut out as they backed off a bit in the third. I would have preferred they kept their foot on the pedal and made sure they earned Payton Lee a blank sheet.
Dalton Sward opened the scoring mid-first period. Joel Hamilton and Brett Kulak had helpers. Thomas Foster found twine going to the net 57 seconds into the middle frame. Hamilton had the lone assist. Travis McEvoy found the back of the net later in the period, assisted by Ty Ronning. Tyler Morrison cleaned up the garbage as Alec Baer and Carter Popoff took it hard to the front of the net creating a lively rebound, scoring the Giants third goal of the period. Sward scored his second of the game just past the 5 minute mark of the final stanza, with usual suspect Hamilton earning the lone assist. Has anybody else noticed that the Giants consistently are awarded single assists? I scan scoresheets with great regularity and the Giants seem to have goals with only one assist more often than other squads. Odd. Anyway, Arvin Atwal added another one a couple of minutes later on the PP. Morrison had the lone assist. See? Kamloops used a PP chance to break Lee’s shutout bid. They added another soft one down the stretch.
Team Notes: Rathjen still out with an upper body injury. 15 yr old goalie Ryan Kubic got some time to practice with the team this week before being slotted in as Lee’s back-up. Kubic will travel with the team on their current road trip. Hay says he’s confident putting the young goalie into the game if Lee gets into trouble. Kubic looks to be the Giants goalie of the future and go-to guy to be. I sincerely hope they give the kid the chance to play and develop, learn the game and get enough starts to stay sharp come next season. A side-note: Kubic was very impressive in camp this year. Lofthouse, Leone, Osipov were the other scratches.
Rookie Watch: some nice work by Baer and Ronning tonight. Kubic played back-up. Osipov was scratched.
Fight Night: nada .. not too much energy for such a blow-out. The Blazers eked out a couple of goals, but they basically rolled over in this one.
Zebra Cage: Jeff Ingram and Mike Langin .. tripping, tripping, tripping - seemed to be all these refs saw. I question that the Blazers playing behind almost the whole night did not take more hooking, or obstruction penalties, but meh – I just listened and didn’t watch.
The Giants and Blazers had 31 shots apiece. The Blazers went 1 for 5 on the PP, while the Giants were 1 for 3. Sward had another great game and Hamilton was in on every goal from that line. It was the grinders who showed up and now it’s time for the top players to get some production. Disappointed to see minuses by some of our better players in this one which honestly should never had a sniff by a Blazer team dominated at both ends of the ice. I also have to laugh at the token homer star nod to the Blazer getting his first WHL goal ever.
The Giants have a travel day tomorrow as they overnight to Kennewick to take on the Americans on Sunday in the early evening. The puck drops versus Tri-City at 5pm PST.
Three Stars
1. Joel Hamilton
2. Dalton Sward
3. Nathan Looysen
Dondo’s Doghouse: The top line.. Traber, Franson and Houck struggled in a game where their teammates shone. They were the only line to carry minuses and allowed a 16 yr old player score his first goal in his 30th WHL game. They simply have got to be better. I expect them to be front and centre versus Tri-City and in Portland or we have a tough time winning.
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Sward.. just edging out Joel Hamilton. Sward had two goals, almost a third and was a dominant force at both ends of the ice. He Foster and Hamilton have found some good chemistry. He opened the scoring and got some insurance early in the third to quell a possible Blazer push-back.