dondo
10-04-2014, 01:06 AM
I expected more from the boys in this one
Broncos Buck Giants
Vancouver 4 Swift Current 5
It was one of those games, which is a good time for reflection. The boys gave up goals they wouldn’t have playing for Don Hay, but they also scored goals they would have playing for Don Hay. The Giants allowed themselves to be victims of very badly timed goals. Last minute of a period, first couple of minutes of a period and some poor positional coverage goals. Ryan Kubic got his first WHL start and he looked nervous and a bit shaky in the first period. Later he settled down and played some good positional hockey. Sadly his team let him down with poor coverage in their own end of the ice. The Giants opened the game well, but relaxed after getting a 2-0 lead and could not recover. I really did not like Troy Ward’s line combos at times and barely saw captain Dalton Sward and Kirichenko got maybe two shifts. Ward seems to have a very quick doghouse in a game and benches players for extended times for transgressions, which go against unwritten law. There were positives and negatives, but the Giants allowed themselves lapses at poor times and lost focus too frequently.
The Giants opened the scoring when Alex Baer found the twine, assisted by Joel Hamilton. Matt Bellerive peeked out of his doghouse to get his first point of the young season. Taking a sweet cross crease Thomas Foster pass, while Bellerive driving hard to the net snapped home the puck. Jackson Houck got the second assist also going to the net. The Gs coughed up their early lead allowing a PP goal against. The penalty call was pretty weak as well, which adds insult to injury. The next shift, (this has become a disturbing trend for the Giants so far this season) the Broncos tied the game. Sloppy play, but mostly a serious lack of focus after a goal against. The G-Men allowed the Broncos one dangerous line to feast tonight and that is not acceptable. The Broncos added one more, three goals unanswered for those of you scoring at home, early in the second. The Gs stopped the bleeding as Foster gutted out a goal off of Houck. With time winding down the visitors scored with 4.9 seconds left in the middle frame off of a face-off that should never have been.
Early in the third Carter Popoff pounded the puck in from the side of the net, taking a nice feed from Hamilton after Alex Baer worked the puck to the front of the net. The boys coughed up another poor goal mid-third and could not come back. They had a nice flurry in the final five minutes, which at least woke up the fans, but it amounted to their first home loss this season. The Broncos came into this game on a four game losing streak. What is it with Vancouver teams giving up games to teams on poor streaks?
Team Notes: Tyler Benson was serving a bogus one game suspension for a gutless league incapable of controlling their officials and then covering for their egregious mistakes. 16 yr old Ryan Kubic got his first WHL start and looked a bit on edge to begin, but settled down decently. There are a few goals he would like back, but had a decent outing regardless. He looked positionally solid and maybe went down a bit easy into the butterfly leaving the top half of the net open at times.
Fight Night: Arvin Atwal vs Tanner LeSann - LeSann is a true heavyweight and Atwal did well against him. LeSann got the upperhand early tying up Atwal’s right hand, but when Atwal got rid of an elbow pad and got his right arm free he made it a fight. Not a toe to toe rock-em-sock-robots kind of pounding, but hits were landed by both guys and Atwal got the marginal take-down. Clayton Kirichenko tangled with Dakota Odgers. It was a decent fight with the upper-hand going to Odgers and the definitive take-down going to Kirichenko. Kirichenko got an unsportsmanlike, and a game for the fight. It looked like an even mutual ‘let’s go’ bit of fisticuffs to me.
Zebra Cage: Dexter Rasmussen (with his cheering group in my section) and Jason Cramer. They didn’t call a lot and for the most part I like that, but they let go a few they could have called on the Broncos and they invented a couple in my mind out of thin air. An obvious and blatant hook on a Giant player late in the game most definitely should have been a penalty. A bonus insult was the slashing call on Hamilton at the final buzzer. Kind of a joke for how much they let go. That said, the Giants needed to do much more to clearly earn more calls, but the Broncos were not choir boys.
The teams both had 30 shots apiece. The Broncos went 1 for 4 (1 for 3 really as the final call was a joke) on the PP. The Giants went 0 for 0.
I have a problem with how Ward coached this game. I rarely saw some players who I feel are some of our strongest. Sward had very few shifts, considering that he is the captain and is one who leads by example. The Bellerive, Foster, Houck line played a ton. The fourth line also seemed to play a bunch. I don’t get it. The second line seemed to be Baer, Hamilton and Popoff and we also saw far less of that line than we should have in my estimation. Kirichenko, who I felt was the Giants best D-man in the Kelowna game, played very little and I was wondering if he had been scratched, until I saw him fighting. Saw a lot of Atwal and Dosanjh and struggling Osipov and Geertsen seemed to be the second pairing. I have to say the boys should have been better as this was an opportunity to take the victory, but the team allowed the Broncos top line to shine and their strong PP to find twine and generate momentum. The story of this game was goals at really bad times, some good battle back but not enough to really turn the tide. I can’t stand it when teams give up a goal in the last minute due to a lack of focus.
The Giants will get some practice tomorrow before taking on Prince George who come to town on Sunday. The puck drops as it usually does on Sundays at 5:00pm PDT at the Rink on Renfrew.
Three Stars
1. Coda Gordon
2. Thomas Foster
3. Jake DeBrusk
Dondo’s Doghouse: I’m putting coach Ward in the doghouse. A poor “too many men” penalty against a dangerous PP and I felt he badly mismanaged his line-up and his players. The team felt disjointed and too many potential impact players got marginal ice-time.
Dondo’s Hardhat: I’m giving it to Foster who showed some nice speed and seemed to be buzzing around the Broncos net the whole night. 1G and 1A doesn’t hurt either.
Broncos Buck Giants
Vancouver 4 Swift Current 5
It was one of those games, which is a good time for reflection. The boys gave up goals they wouldn’t have playing for Don Hay, but they also scored goals they would have playing for Don Hay. The Giants allowed themselves to be victims of very badly timed goals. Last minute of a period, first couple of minutes of a period and some poor positional coverage goals. Ryan Kubic got his first WHL start and he looked nervous and a bit shaky in the first period. Later he settled down and played some good positional hockey. Sadly his team let him down with poor coverage in their own end of the ice. The Giants opened the game well, but relaxed after getting a 2-0 lead and could not recover. I really did not like Troy Ward’s line combos at times and barely saw captain Dalton Sward and Kirichenko got maybe two shifts. Ward seems to have a very quick doghouse in a game and benches players for extended times for transgressions, which go against unwritten law. There were positives and negatives, but the Giants allowed themselves lapses at poor times and lost focus too frequently.
The Giants opened the scoring when Alex Baer found the twine, assisted by Joel Hamilton. Matt Bellerive peeked out of his doghouse to get his first point of the young season. Taking a sweet cross crease Thomas Foster pass, while Bellerive driving hard to the net snapped home the puck. Jackson Houck got the second assist also going to the net. The Gs coughed up their early lead allowing a PP goal against. The penalty call was pretty weak as well, which adds insult to injury. The next shift, (this has become a disturbing trend for the Giants so far this season) the Broncos tied the game. Sloppy play, but mostly a serious lack of focus after a goal against. The G-Men allowed the Broncos one dangerous line to feast tonight and that is not acceptable. The Broncos added one more, three goals unanswered for those of you scoring at home, early in the second. The Gs stopped the bleeding as Foster gutted out a goal off of Houck. With time winding down the visitors scored with 4.9 seconds left in the middle frame off of a face-off that should never have been.
Early in the third Carter Popoff pounded the puck in from the side of the net, taking a nice feed from Hamilton after Alex Baer worked the puck to the front of the net. The boys coughed up another poor goal mid-third and could not come back. They had a nice flurry in the final five minutes, which at least woke up the fans, but it amounted to their first home loss this season. The Broncos came into this game on a four game losing streak. What is it with Vancouver teams giving up games to teams on poor streaks?
Team Notes: Tyler Benson was serving a bogus one game suspension for a gutless league incapable of controlling their officials and then covering for their egregious mistakes. 16 yr old Ryan Kubic got his first WHL start and looked a bit on edge to begin, but settled down decently. There are a few goals he would like back, but had a decent outing regardless. He looked positionally solid and maybe went down a bit easy into the butterfly leaving the top half of the net open at times.
Fight Night: Arvin Atwal vs Tanner LeSann - LeSann is a true heavyweight and Atwal did well against him. LeSann got the upperhand early tying up Atwal’s right hand, but when Atwal got rid of an elbow pad and got his right arm free he made it a fight. Not a toe to toe rock-em-sock-robots kind of pounding, but hits were landed by both guys and Atwal got the marginal take-down. Clayton Kirichenko tangled with Dakota Odgers. It was a decent fight with the upper-hand going to Odgers and the definitive take-down going to Kirichenko. Kirichenko got an unsportsmanlike, and a game for the fight. It looked like an even mutual ‘let’s go’ bit of fisticuffs to me.
Zebra Cage: Dexter Rasmussen (with his cheering group in my section) and Jason Cramer. They didn’t call a lot and for the most part I like that, but they let go a few they could have called on the Broncos and they invented a couple in my mind out of thin air. An obvious and blatant hook on a Giant player late in the game most definitely should have been a penalty. A bonus insult was the slashing call on Hamilton at the final buzzer. Kind of a joke for how much they let go. That said, the Giants needed to do much more to clearly earn more calls, but the Broncos were not choir boys.
The teams both had 30 shots apiece. The Broncos went 1 for 4 (1 for 3 really as the final call was a joke) on the PP. The Giants went 0 for 0.
I have a problem with how Ward coached this game. I rarely saw some players who I feel are some of our strongest. Sward had very few shifts, considering that he is the captain and is one who leads by example. The Bellerive, Foster, Houck line played a ton. The fourth line also seemed to play a bunch. I don’t get it. The second line seemed to be Baer, Hamilton and Popoff and we also saw far less of that line than we should have in my estimation. Kirichenko, who I felt was the Giants best D-man in the Kelowna game, played very little and I was wondering if he had been scratched, until I saw him fighting. Saw a lot of Atwal and Dosanjh and struggling Osipov and Geertsen seemed to be the second pairing. I have to say the boys should have been better as this was an opportunity to take the victory, but the team allowed the Broncos top line to shine and their strong PP to find twine and generate momentum. The story of this game was goals at really bad times, some good battle back but not enough to really turn the tide. I can’t stand it when teams give up a goal in the last minute due to a lack of focus.
The Giants will get some practice tomorrow before taking on Prince George who come to town on Sunday. The puck drops as it usually does on Sundays at 5:00pm PDT at the Rink on Renfrew.
Three Stars
1. Coda Gordon
2. Thomas Foster
3. Jake DeBrusk
Dondo’s Doghouse: I’m putting coach Ward in the doghouse. A poor “too many men” penalty against a dangerous PP and I felt he badly mismanaged his line-up and his players. The team felt disjointed and too many potential impact players got marginal ice-time.
Dondo’s Hardhat: I’m giving it to Foster who showed some nice speed and seemed to be buzzing around the Broncos net the whole night. 1G and 1A doesn’t hurt either.