dondo
10-05-2014, 10:47 PM
Lots of goals, good reffing - a good game seen by not as many as should have been there.
Giants Crush Cats
Vancouver 6 Prince George 1
The boys were hoping to rebound from a less than stellar outing on Friday. They came out pretty strong to start and were controlling the play, but gave up the first goal on the PP. The G’s rebounded by scoring a PP goal of their own before the end of the period. After that it was all Giants. The line of Carter Popoff, Jackson Houck and Joel Hamilton feasted, combining for eight points. The G-Men scored three in the second and two more in the third to complete the rout, take the win and set up the re-match in PG come Friday (and Saturday).
The Cougars opened the scoring just over 6 minutes in on the PP. The Giants managed to tie the game late in the first with a PP of their own. Popoff found twine, assisted by Hamilton and Mason Geertsen. They continued to find the back of the net in the middle frame. Popoff notched a sweet top shelf snap shot when he was left all alone in the slot. Houck and Hamilton worked hard getting the helpers. Houck scored one his own tipping Dmitry Osipov’s point shot off of a pass by Clayton Kirichenko. The Giants created a few SH’d scoring chances before Tyler Benson and Thomas Foster hooked up to find the back of the net. Benson made a nice pass across and Foster had the presence of mind to stick with the puck as his first shot rebounded off of Ty Edmonds pad. Second effort had Foster slip the puck through Edmonds. Hamilton found twine early in the third, capitalising on a Ryley McKinstry point shot. Houck got the other assist. The Gs rounded out their scoring jag, with a notable PP marker. McKinstry scored his first WHL goal off of a patient point shot which found its way through traffic. Osipov and Dalton Sward had the assists.
Team Notes: Benson, back after serving a bogus one-game suspension by frightened and pathetic league unwilling to make the real call, added dimension to the team. Cody Porter cracked the line-up as a back-up tonight.
Rookie Watch: 16 yr old Ryley McKinstry got his first goal and first assist of the season as well as being involved in a lively fight. So he also garnered his first Gordie Howe hat-trick. Brennan Menell played in first regular season game and looked very solid. The 17 yr old camp tryout, impressed first in rookie camp and then did good things in the main camp. Coach Ward was saying that he doesn’t believe Menell made a poor play with the puck all game long, high praise. His positioning was very good as well.
Fight Night: Ryley McKinstry v. Tyler Mrkonjic – a very feisty bit of fisticuffs. Young McKinstry hung in there and had the upper hand for most of the battle. Arvin Atwal v. Aaron Macklin – starting along the boards the fight was more of a close dance than brouhaha, but Atwal finally got his arms free and landed a few blows, before the linesmen broke them up.
Zebra Cage: Steve Papp and Nick Swaine – I’m happy to say that I like how this game was called. It was mostly consistent and there were a few things let go which have often been called by other sets of officials, but the game had flow and no-one got out of hand. Only one or two glaring omissions, but then that was also consistent on both sides. Why can’t every game be called like this? Lots of players going down with sticks in their skates on both sides during the course of play, but coming out of battles along the boards so it’s not really a penalty and wasn’t called. I guess the zebras tonight were actually watching the game and not inventing one in their heads.
I expected aggressive penalties from the Cougars, who are the most heavily penalized team so far this season, but they took more lazy penalties than punishing ones. I suspect the heaviness of their penalties will increase in Prince George.
The Giants out-shot the Cats 39-21 and once again the Giants held a team to low single digit shots against in the third period. The Gs special teams went 3 for 5, with a short-handed marker tucked there for good measure. The Cougars were 1 for 4 with the man advantage.
I still think that Ward’s lines are not utilising some of the player’s strengths. Playing Bobylev who has shown grit and the ability to score nice goals, with two 17 yr old plumbers on the fourth line for most of the night is a colossal waste of talent. He should be playing with skill guys to better take advantage of his skill set and spread some grit around. I’m sure there are inside reasons I am not privy to, which directs some of these decisions, but to be brutally honest you can move veteran Bellerive down the depth chart easily and let some of the young guns play. I still believe carrying 3 OA forwards, hurts a teams ability to play young talent in the top six. We also could use another veteran D-man like Thrower (not a common acquisition I admit) on the back-end. As far as Bellerive, some decent shifts, but no points even though he has line-mates finding twine. Benson and Foster were excellent together, but Matt didn’t add to that mix too much in my mind. I know I have had Bellerive in my cross-hairs since the stat of the season, but one goal in six games for an OA is below par. It is still early and I am sure Ward is feeling out some of these line combos, so I should probably be patient and see how it pans out. Come quarter pole time however…
Some really nice puck-possession tonight and players going to the net. I still want to see more traffic in front of the opposing goalie on the PP, but right now it seems to be working. In the post-game show Ward was saying that he feels the learning curves for the team are more in learning to play without the puck and keep the same intensity they have playing with the puck, especially the skilled players. He also talked about something I have never heard, which is odd because I have been on forums and writing blogs for a while now. That being, ‘playing with your eyes’. I guess that means what is normally referred to as ice vision and “seeing the ice” – he pointed up perennial two-way forwards Foster and Sward – getting better at the offensive side of the game by playing with their eyes more. Again some interesting observations and food for thought.
I liked Kirichenko’s calm and solid game on the back-end. McKinstry made me look more than a few times and Menell was noticeable. I would like to see Sward with more ice-time as I think he has earned it and earns it most shifts as he plays with hunger. The line of Houck, Hamilton and Popoff had some really nice chemistry and could be a very dangerous line going forward. Foster and Benson were great as a shut-down pairing on the PK. Tyler Morrison was scratched tonight and I am not sure if it was a healthy one or not. The boys seem to generate offense coming from behind. Getting early leads appear to make them a bit complacent and by the time they recover they have a tougher time regaining that momentum. Their two losses this season have started 2-0 and 3-0 before the other team came back. If the Vancouver squad ever really learn how to maintain the intensity while shutting down the other guys lanes they could actually have a notable season. The team is still in the moulding phase and it will interesting to see what we have come December. I expect there will be some line-up changes before then as the line-up settles in.
The Giants make the trek to Prince George to take on the Cougars in their home arena for back-to-backs on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars finally got rid of their stifling and fan very-unfriendly ownership group of self-absorbed dickwads and acquired a brain trust made up mainly of former Cougars who know hockey and are willing to spend to make the Cougars product attractive again. I hope so as their fans deserve some good hockey and respect from the owners. Puck drops in PG at the CN Centre at 7:00pmPDT on Friday.
Three Stars:
1. Carter Popoff
2. Joel Hamilton
3. Ryley McKinstry
Dondo’s Hardhat: Goes to Popoff – He was buzzing at all ends of the ice all night and could have had more points, as the Giants had some more chances in front of the Cougars net where the loose puck bounced awry. Honourable mention to Hamilton and Houck – that line was deadly.
Giants Crush Cats
Vancouver 6 Prince George 1
The boys were hoping to rebound from a less than stellar outing on Friday. They came out pretty strong to start and were controlling the play, but gave up the first goal on the PP. The G’s rebounded by scoring a PP goal of their own before the end of the period. After that it was all Giants. The line of Carter Popoff, Jackson Houck and Joel Hamilton feasted, combining for eight points. The G-Men scored three in the second and two more in the third to complete the rout, take the win and set up the re-match in PG come Friday (and Saturday).
The Cougars opened the scoring just over 6 minutes in on the PP. The Giants managed to tie the game late in the first with a PP of their own. Popoff found twine, assisted by Hamilton and Mason Geertsen. They continued to find the back of the net in the middle frame. Popoff notched a sweet top shelf snap shot when he was left all alone in the slot. Houck and Hamilton worked hard getting the helpers. Houck scored one his own tipping Dmitry Osipov’s point shot off of a pass by Clayton Kirichenko. The Giants created a few SH’d scoring chances before Tyler Benson and Thomas Foster hooked up to find the back of the net. Benson made a nice pass across and Foster had the presence of mind to stick with the puck as his first shot rebounded off of Ty Edmonds pad. Second effort had Foster slip the puck through Edmonds. Hamilton found twine early in the third, capitalising on a Ryley McKinstry point shot. Houck got the other assist. The Gs rounded out their scoring jag, with a notable PP marker. McKinstry scored his first WHL goal off of a patient point shot which found its way through traffic. Osipov and Dalton Sward had the assists.
Team Notes: Benson, back after serving a bogus one-game suspension by frightened and pathetic league unwilling to make the real call, added dimension to the team. Cody Porter cracked the line-up as a back-up tonight.
Rookie Watch: 16 yr old Ryley McKinstry got his first goal and first assist of the season as well as being involved in a lively fight. So he also garnered his first Gordie Howe hat-trick. Brennan Menell played in first regular season game and looked very solid. The 17 yr old camp tryout, impressed first in rookie camp and then did good things in the main camp. Coach Ward was saying that he doesn’t believe Menell made a poor play with the puck all game long, high praise. His positioning was very good as well.
Fight Night: Ryley McKinstry v. Tyler Mrkonjic – a very feisty bit of fisticuffs. Young McKinstry hung in there and had the upper hand for most of the battle. Arvin Atwal v. Aaron Macklin – starting along the boards the fight was more of a close dance than brouhaha, but Atwal finally got his arms free and landed a few blows, before the linesmen broke them up.
Zebra Cage: Steve Papp and Nick Swaine – I’m happy to say that I like how this game was called. It was mostly consistent and there were a few things let go which have often been called by other sets of officials, but the game had flow and no-one got out of hand. Only one or two glaring omissions, but then that was also consistent on both sides. Why can’t every game be called like this? Lots of players going down with sticks in their skates on both sides during the course of play, but coming out of battles along the boards so it’s not really a penalty and wasn’t called. I guess the zebras tonight were actually watching the game and not inventing one in their heads.
I expected aggressive penalties from the Cougars, who are the most heavily penalized team so far this season, but they took more lazy penalties than punishing ones. I suspect the heaviness of their penalties will increase in Prince George.
The Giants out-shot the Cats 39-21 and once again the Giants held a team to low single digit shots against in the third period. The Gs special teams went 3 for 5, with a short-handed marker tucked there for good measure. The Cougars were 1 for 4 with the man advantage.
I still think that Ward’s lines are not utilising some of the player’s strengths. Playing Bobylev who has shown grit and the ability to score nice goals, with two 17 yr old plumbers on the fourth line for most of the night is a colossal waste of talent. He should be playing with skill guys to better take advantage of his skill set and spread some grit around. I’m sure there are inside reasons I am not privy to, which directs some of these decisions, but to be brutally honest you can move veteran Bellerive down the depth chart easily and let some of the young guns play. I still believe carrying 3 OA forwards, hurts a teams ability to play young talent in the top six. We also could use another veteran D-man like Thrower (not a common acquisition I admit) on the back-end. As far as Bellerive, some decent shifts, but no points even though he has line-mates finding twine. Benson and Foster were excellent together, but Matt didn’t add to that mix too much in my mind. I know I have had Bellerive in my cross-hairs since the stat of the season, but one goal in six games for an OA is below par. It is still early and I am sure Ward is feeling out some of these line combos, so I should probably be patient and see how it pans out. Come quarter pole time however…
Some really nice puck-possession tonight and players going to the net. I still want to see more traffic in front of the opposing goalie on the PP, but right now it seems to be working. In the post-game show Ward was saying that he feels the learning curves for the team are more in learning to play without the puck and keep the same intensity they have playing with the puck, especially the skilled players. He also talked about something I have never heard, which is odd because I have been on forums and writing blogs for a while now. That being, ‘playing with your eyes’. I guess that means what is normally referred to as ice vision and “seeing the ice” – he pointed up perennial two-way forwards Foster and Sward – getting better at the offensive side of the game by playing with their eyes more. Again some interesting observations and food for thought.
I liked Kirichenko’s calm and solid game on the back-end. McKinstry made me look more than a few times and Menell was noticeable. I would like to see Sward with more ice-time as I think he has earned it and earns it most shifts as he plays with hunger. The line of Houck, Hamilton and Popoff had some really nice chemistry and could be a very dangerous line going forward. Foster and Benson were great as a shut-down pairing on the PK. Tyler Morrison was scratched tonight and I am not sure if it was a healthy one or not. The boys seem to generate offense coming from behind. Getting early leads appear to make them a bit complacent and by the time they recover they have a tougher time regaining that momentum. Their two losses this season have started 2-0 and 3-0 before the other team came back. If the Vancouver squad ever really learn how to maintain the intensity while shutting down the other guys lanes they could actually have a notable season. The team is still in the moulding phase and it will interesting to see what we have come December. I expect there will be some line-up changes before then as the line-up settles in.
The Giants make the trek to Prince George to take on the Cougars in their home arena for back-to-backs on Friday and Saturday. The Cougars finally got rid of their stifling and fan very-unfriendly ownership group of self-absorbed dickwads and acquired a brain trust made up mainly of former Cougars who know hockey and are willing to spend to make the Cougars product attractive again. I hope so as their fans deserve some good hockey and respect from the owners. Puck drops in PG at the CN Centre at 7:00pmPDT on Friday.
Three Stars:
1. Carter Popoff
2. Joel Hamilton
3. Ryley McKinstry
Dondo’s Hardhat: Goes to Popoff – He was buzzing at all ends of the ice all night and could have had more points, as the Giants had some more chances in front of the Cougars net where the loose puck bounced awry. Honourable mention to Hamilton and Houck – that line was deadly.