dondo
10-30-2014, 12:56 AM
I forgot to mention that Sward was sitting in this one, I guess he still hasn't recovered from that gutless kneeing. Brandon are that good, but the boys could have used a lot better effort and taken care of the puck much better. Too many soft chip passes into traffic.
Wheaties Thresh G-Men
Vancouver 2 Brandon 5
The Wheat Kings are currently the best team in the Dub, with the Rockets one point behind with games in hand and coming to Vancouver on Sunday. Brandon is ranked 5th best in the CHL and leads the WHL in goals for by a large margin. Those numbers were exemplified tonight when they showed some amazing finish around the net. The Giants had a solid first period, a simply horrific second and a third that could have used more intensity. The Giants were not without some great chances themselves, but unlike the Wheaties they could not make them count. They also couldn’t win a face-off to save their lives. It’s tough to be a self-styled puck possession team and not be able to consistently win face-offs. Tonight they faced a real puck possession team who made them pay repeatedly for their mistakes.
The Wheaties opened the scoring in the first couple of minutes, as the Giants were poor at getting the puck out of their zone. The Giants responded with a PP marker a few minutes later. Joel Hamilton finished off a nice cross-crease pass by Jackson Houck. Arvin Atwal got the second assist. The boys held onto to that score ‘til the end of the period. In the second the wheels came off. The home squad lacked focus and were very sloppy with the puck around a team that has dominated with scoring chances. I really can’t blame Payton Lee on most of the goals, but his rebound control was suspect. It seemed to me that the Wheaties were also actively shooting for the pads and making broken plays count. The Wheat Kings found twine three times in the middle frame, taking a 4-1 lead into the second intermission. Cody Porter got the nod between the pipes to start the third and he had to make some nice stops, but the team also played better in their own end of the ice. Brandon increased their lead just before mid-way through the period. The Giants used another PP to get that one back just past the mid-way mark, but they could not climb back into this one. The third really lacked intensity and when it got chippy I really wanted to see some guys drop the mitts.
Team Notes: Ryley McKinstry, Tyler Benson and Giants prospect Ryan Kubic have made the trip to Sarnia Ontario for the World U-17 tourney and will miss a few games. Benson and McKinstry will suit up for Team Canada Black and Kubic will be between the pipes for the Team Canada White squad. Tonight the team felt like it really missed Benson. For a 16 yr old, he brings stability and puck control to the team and they seem to play better with him in the line-up. Arvin Atwal was wearing a full cage (injured in his fight in Victoria I suspect) and was not himself tonight. He fought the puck all night and couldn’t hold the biscuit in at the point at all.
The Gs have lost four straight, still have not won on the road and are currently sitting two games on the bad side of .500. Their next game is versus The T-Birds in Seattle on Saturday and then they take on the Kelowna Rockets who have only one loss so far this season, on Sunday. Not having Benson and to a lesser degree McKinstry means that the Gs top players need to better than their best or they might find themselves on a 6 game losing streak by the end of the weekend.
Rookie Watch: 15 yr old Brendan Semchuk took the ice for his first regular season Giants tilt, playing fourth line minutes. Semchuk was drafted this year by the Giants 10th overall and although his stats say he’s 5’ 10” 161lb – I would have guessed at least 6’ and closer to 180. I think he might have had a growth spurt. He did not look beanpole-ish to me, but rather pretty solid. He made a few rookie errors, but put in some good effort tonight while wearing a full cage himself.
Fight Night: nada and damn this game needed it. A few late cheap elbows probably should have had the Gs step up a bit more, but Baer got his own back when he crashed the net and drew a penalty.
Zebra Cage: Adam Griffiths and Mike Langin – they let a ton go early on and I’m okay with that, but then they called some cheapies later in the game. The refs weren’t horrible, but I would have liked to see a few more Gs PP chances off of some of the Wheaties late cheapshots.
The Giants were out shot 38-32, putting most of their chances either high or in the Wheat Kings goalie’s crest. They were not getting to loose pucks and whiffing on a whack-load of the loose pucks they actually did get. The Wheaties did well boxing out, but I felt the Gs really lacked a drive the net mentality. Brandon by contrast was always on the doorstep of the blue paint.
The Giants only real bright spots were on special teams. The dangerous Brandon squad were held goal-less on the PP, while the Gs went 2 for 3 with the man advantage.
Some middling effort by a bunch of Giants in this game. Clayton Kirichenko finished one check. I saw three fly-bys in my end alone and he really needs to finish those checks consistently. The only way to break a puck possession team is physical pressure and taking away shooting and passing lanes and the Giants did that decently in the first, not at all in the second and marginally in the third. There was lots of standing around by Giants D and some very ill-advised passing. The minuses were spread around the line-up so other than a few glaring examples, most of the players got caught watching instead of participating.
Take nothing away from Brandon though, if this game is any indication, they are the real deal.
Up next: Seattle, in Seattle, on Saturday. The boys need a road win something fierce.
Three Stars
1. John Quenneville
2. Tyler Coulter
3. Joel Hamilton
Dondo’s Doghouse: I have reactivated the doghouse for Arvin Atwal. Probably one the worst games I have seen him play this season. I suspect the full cage and the pain of the injury had something to do with it, but he fought the puck all night, could not hold the blue-line and was unable to bring a physical game due to his injury. I think he should have sat this one out.
Dondo’s Hardhat: I suppose Joel Hamilton gets the nod as he got two nice goals for his team, but he also carried the worst plus/minus in 5 on 5 play at –3. Now +/- is a fickle stat especially considering the goals in this case, but it is a decent indication of how the player played at even strength. I give him props for the goals, but still have to take marks off for his play in his own end. He and Houck seemed to have the most jump on the offensive side of the puck though.
Wheaties Thresh G-Men
Vancouver 2 Brandon 5
The Wheat Kings are currently the best team in the Dub, with the Rockets one point behind with games in hand and coming to Vancouver on Sunday. Brandon is ranked 5th best in the CHL and leads the WHL in goals for by a large margin. Those numbers were exemplified tonight when they showed some amazing finish around the net. The Giants had a solid first period, a simply horrific second and a third that could have used more intensity. The Giants were not without some great chances themselves, but unlike the Wheaties they could not make them count. They also couldn’t win a face-off to save their lives. It’s tough to be a self-styled puck possession team and not be able to consistently win face-offs. Tonight they faced a real puck possession team who made them pay repeatedly for their mistakes.
The Wheaties opened the scoring in the first couple of minutes, as the Giants were poor at getting the puck out of their zone. The Giants responded with a PP marker a few minutes later. Joel Hamilton finished off a nice cross-crease pass by Jackson Houck. Arvin Atwal got the second assist. The boys held onto to that score ‘til the end of the period. In the second the wheels came off. The home squad lacked focus and were very sloppy with the puck around a team that has dominated with scoring chances. I really can’t blame Payton Lee on most of the goals, but his rebound control was suspect. It seemed to me that the Wheaties were also actively shooting for the pads and making broken plays count. The Wheat Kings found twine three times in the middle frame, taking a 4-1 lead into the second intermission. Cody Porter got the nod between the pipes to start the third and he had to make some nice stops, but the team also played better in their own end of the ice. Brandon increased their lead just before mid-way through the period. The Giants used another PP to get that one back just past the mid-way mark, but they could not climb back into this one. The third really lacked intensity and when it got chippy I really wanted to see some guys drop the mitts.
Team Notes: Ryley McKinstry, Tyler Benson and Giants prospect Ryan Kubic have made the trip to Sarnia Ontario for the World U-17 tourney and will miss a few games. Benson and McKinstry will suit up for Team Canada Black and Kubic will be between the pipes for the Team Canada White squad. Tonight the team felt like it really missed Benson. For a 16 yr old, he brings stability and puck control to the team and they seem to play better with him in the line-up. Arvin Atwal was wearing a full cage (injured in his fight in Victoria I suspect) and was not himself tonight. He fought the puck all night and couldn’t hold the biscuit in at the point at all.
The Gs have lost four straight, still have not won on the road and are currently sitting two games on the bad side of .500. Their next game is versus The T-Birds in Seattle on Saturday and then they take on the Kelowna Rockets who have only one loss so far this season, on Sunday. Not having Benson and to a lesser degree McKinstry means that the Gs top players need to better than their best or they might find themselves on a 6 game losing streak by the end of the weekend.
Rookie Watch: 15 yr old Brendan Semchuk took the ice for his first regular season Giants tilt, playing fourth line minutes. Semchuk was drafted this year by the Giants 10th overall and although his stats say he’s 5’ 10” 161lb – I would have guessed at least 6’ and closer to 180. I think he might have had a growth spurt. He did not look beanpole-ish to me, but rather pretty solid. He made a few rookie errors, but put in some good effort tonight while wearing a full cage himself.
Fight Night: nada and damn this game needed it. A few late cheap elbows probably should have had the Gs step up a bit more, but Baer got his own back when he crashed the net and drew a penalty.
Zebra Cage: Adam Griffiths and Mike Langin – they let a ton go early on and I’m okay with that, but then they called some cheapies later in the game. The refs weren’t horrible, but I would have liked to see a few more Gs PP chances off of some of the Wheaties late cheapshots.
The Giants were out shot 38-32, putting most of their chances either high or in the Wheat Kings goalie’s crest. They were not getting to loose pucks and whiffing on a whack-load of the loose pucks they actually did get. The Wheaties did well boxing out, but I felt the Gs really lacked a drive the net mentality. Brandon by contrast was always on the doorstep of the blue paint.
The Giants only real bright spots were on special teams. The dangerous Brandon squad were held goal-less on the PP, while the Gs went 2 for 3 with the man advantage.
Some middling effort by a bunch of Giants in this game. Clayton Kirichenko finished one check. I saw three fly-bys in my end alone and he really needs to finish those checks consistently. The only way to break a puck possession team is physical pressure and taking away shooting and passing lanes and the Giants did that decently in the first, not at all in the second and marginally in the third. There was lots of standing around by Giants D and some very ill-advised passing. The minuses were spread around the line-up so other than a few glaring examples, most of the players got caught watching instead of participating.
Take nothing away from Brandon though, if this game is any indication, they are the real deal.
Up next: Seattle, in Seattle, on Saturday. The boys need a road win something fierce.
Three Stars
1. John Quenneville
2. Tyler Coulter
3. Joel Hamilton
Dondo’s Doghouse: I have reactivated the doghouse for Arvin Atwal. Probably one the worst games I have seen him play this season. I suspect the full cage and the pain of the injury had something to do with it, but he fought the puck all night, could not hold the blue-line and was unable to bring a physical game due to his injury. I think he should have sat this one out.
Dondo’s Hardhat: I suppose Joel Hamilton gets the nod as he got two nice goals for his team, but he also carried the worst plus/minus in 5 on 5 play at –3. Now +/- is a fickle stat especially considering the goals in this case, but it is a decent indication of how the player played at even strength. I give him props for the goals, but still have to take marks off for his play in his own end. He and Houck seemed to have the most jump on the offensive side of the puck though.