dondo
12-31-2014, 01:37 AM
Good to get the win, but not exactly the kind of game to hang your hat on. Top line didn't get any points, but did have some great momentum shifting shifts.
Giants Stomp Blazers
Vancouver 6 Kamloops 3
A pretty ugly win. The number of unforced errors by the Giants in the game were far more plentiful than I like. They made mistakes while not being pressured to make them and if they played this way against a skilled team with more than just one really productive line, they would have been fishing the puck out of their net all night long. As it was they managed to score some nice goals and despite some really sloppy play, got the win almost in spite of themselves. Great depth contributions by Jesse Roach and Thomas Foster as well as Arvin Atwal with a three point night and a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Blazers open the scoring early off of a quick shot in the slot, which Cody Porter never saw. The Giants bounced back and tied the game and then added one in the final minute of the period. The Gs worked their lead up to 5-1, before coughing up a few poor goals. They righted their ship and added another goal to take the 6-3 victory.
The Blazers opened the scoring just over 1 minute into the game. The Giants responded when Atwal came hard into the offensive zone, picking the puck up and driving it to the net. It looked as if he was about to make a move, but the puck slid off of his stick and between the wickets on Connor Ingram. Alec Baer and Mason Geertsen got the assists. Roach added some insurance at 19:44 of the opening frame. Vladimir Bobylev and Atwal had the helpers. The Giants game in the second was kinda ugly and very sloppy, but they found twine. The Giants were over-passing and sloppy with the puck and when Geertsen finally got the puck at the point I recall saying “shoot” and at the same moment Geertsen wristed a seeing eye shot past Ingram. Your welcome. Brennan Menell and Roach had the extra points. Dalton Sward finished off a give-and-go play pounding home a rebound off of Thomas Foster’s shot a bit later. Dakota Odgers got the other point on the play. Roach and Bobylev hooked up again for another goal past the mid-way mark of the period, bringing the home team’s total to 5. The Blazers got one back on the PP late in the period. The Giants weathered a late 5 on 3 due to some seriously bogus penalty calling. The Blazers added another mid-way through the third period. Thomas Foster got that one back ripping a loose puck in the slot past the Blazer netminder. He was assisted by Atwal and Josh Thrower on the play.
Team Notes: Kirichenko and Ronning still out with injuries. Brennan Menell back in the line-up, McKinstry scratched. Brumm also out.
Fight Night: Arvin Atwal vs Luke Harrison … Atwal had control of this bout. A wicked upper-cut popped off a lid, sending it flying. A late left-handed flurry of punches and the pull-down for the win.
Zebra Cage: *sigh* Sean Raphael and Chris Schlenker. I don’t know where they found Schlenker, but they can return him as far as I am concerned. He out and out sucked. He made some really knee-jerk calls coming off of very limited information, basically assumption and invention, while at the same time ignoring nasty crosschecks from behind into the red iron among others. Raphael wasn’t much better. Some really precious calls being made on one side of the puck and ignored on the other. Inconsistent, unpredictable and assinine. #WHLRefFail.
The Giants were out shot by the Blazers 35-33. It was a very close game shot-wise, but not so close goal-wise. Porter had to be really good at times, especially when the game was close. The Blazers went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Giants were 0 for 5. Some very sloppy hockey, especially on the PP. Too much bad passing along the blue-line and not enough puck support or hunger with the man advantage. It’s good to get the win, but if they played this kind of game versus a skilled opponent they would not have had the victory. We can do better. Despite getting three points and a good chance at a hat trick, Roach seemed to be mostly invisible except when he was finding twine. I just see such good things from this kid, that I expect more even as a 17 yr old. We might just have a budding power-forward, but he needs to play a bit harder every shift, not just occasionally. I suspect more ice-time would help that. I liked his game tonight, but didn’t love it. By contrast I loved Foster’s game. Always had his nose in there, great at both ends of the ice and was a noticeable +3 tonight. Atwal also had a great game with an even better +/-.
A good way to end 2014. The Giants take on the Cougars at the Coliseum on Jan 2nd, 2015 . The Cougars are not quite the push-overs of the past few seasons and beat the Rockets tonight in Kelowna, a rare event this year. The Giants will need a better game than they showed tonight, while keeping a lot of the positives of tonight’s game. A bit more focus and better puck support would go a long way and the unforced errors have got to go. Puck on the 2nd drops at 7:30pm.
Happy New Year Everyone and all the best to you and yours in 2015.
Three Stars
1. Jesse Roach
2. Arvin Atwal
3. Thomas Foster
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Arvin Atwal… Three point night with a goal and two assists and a fight for the Gordie Howe hatty. Also a great crushing, clean, hit - which was called a charge by idiot zebras. He was in the game. He was also a +4. Honourable mention to Foster for me. I loved his 200’ game.
Giants Stomp Blazers
Vancouver 6 Kamloops 3
A pretty ugly win. The number of unforced errors by the Giants in the game were far more plentiful than I like. They made mistakes while not being pressured to make them and if they played this way against a skilled team with more than just one really productive line, they would have been fishing the puck out of their net all night long. As it was they managed to score some nice goals and despite some really sloppy play, got the win almost in spite of themselves. Great depth contributions by Jesse Roach and Thomas Foster as well as Arvin Atwal with a three point night and a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Blazers open the scoring early off of a quick shot in the slot, which Cody Porter never saw. The Giants bounced back and tied the game and then added one in the final minute of the period. The Gs worked their lead up to 5-1, before coughing up a few poor goals. They righted their ship and added another goal to take the 6-3 victory.
The Blazers opened the scoring just over 1 minute into the game. The Giants responded when Atwal came hard into the offensive zone, picking the puck up and driving it to the net. It looked as if he was about to make a move, but the puck slid off of his stick and between the wickets on Connor Ingram. Alec Baer and Mason Geertsen got the assists. Roach added some insurance at 19:44 of the opening frame. Vladimir Bobylev and Atwal had the helpers. The Giants game in the second was kinda ugly and very sloppy, but they found twine. The Giants were over-passing and sloppy with the puck and when Geertsen finally got the puck at the point I recall saying “shoot” and at the same moment Geertsen wristed a seeing eye shot past Ingram. Your welcome. Brennan Menell and Roach had the extra points. Dalton Sward finished off a give-and-go play pounding home a rebound off of Thomas Foster’s shot a bit later. Dakota Odgers got the other point on the play. Roach and Bobylev hooked up again for another goal past the mid-way mark of the period, bringing the home team’s total to 5. The Blazers got one back on the PP late in the period. The Giants weathered a late 5 on 3 due to some seriously bogus penalty calling. The Blazers added another mid-way through the third period. Thomas Foster got that one back ripping a loose puck in the slot past the Blazer netminder. He was assisted by Atwal and Josh Thrower on the play.
Team Notes: Kirichenko and Ronning still out with injuries. Brennan Menell back in the line-up, McKinstry scratched. Brumm also out.
Fight Night: Arvin Atwal vs Luke Harrison … Atwal had control of this bout. A wicked upper-cut popped off a lid, sending it flying. A late left-handed flurry of punches and the pull-down for the win.
Zebra Cage: *sigh* Sean Raphael and Chris Schlenker. I don’t know where they found Schlenker, but they can return him as far as I am concerned. He out and out sucked. He made some really knee-jerk calls coming off of very limited information, basically assumption and invention, while at the same time ignoring nasty crosschecks from behind into the red iron among others. Raphael wasn’t much better. Some really precious calls being made on one side of the puck and ignored on the other. Inconsistent, unpredictable and assinine. #WHLRefFail.
The Giants were out shot by the Blazers 35-33. It was a very close game shot-wise, but not so close goal-wise. Porter had to be really good at times, especially when the game was close. The Blazers went 1 for 6 on the PP, while the Giants were 0 for 5. Some very sloppy hockey, especially on the PP. Too much bad passing along the blue-line and not enough puck support or hunger with the man advantage. It’s good to get the win, but if they played this kind of game versus a skilled opponent they would not have had the victory. We can do better. Despite getting three points and a good chance at a hat trick, Roach seemed to be mostly invisible except when he was finding twine. I just see such good things from this kid, that I expect more even as a 17 yr old. We might just have a budding power-forward, but he needs to play a bit harder every shift, not just occasionally. I suspect more ice-time would help that. I liked his game tonight, but didn’t love it. By contrast I loved Foster’s game. Always had his nose in there, great at both ends of the ice and was a noticeable +3 tonight. Atwal also had a great game with an even better +/-.
A good way to end 2014. The Giants take on the Cougars at the Coliseum on Jan 2nd, 2015 . The Cougars are not quite the push-overs of the past few seasons and beat the Rockets tonight in Kelowna, a rare event this year. The Giants will need a better game than they showed tonight, while keeping a lot of the positives of tonight’s game. A bit more focus and better puck support would go a long way and the unforced errors have got to go. Puck on the 2nd drops at 7:30pm.
Happy New Year Everyone and all the best to you and yours in 2015.
Three Stars
1. Jesse Roach
2. Arvin Atwal
3. Thomas Foster
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Arvin Atwal… Three point night with a goal and two assists and a fight for the Gordie Howe hatty. Also a great crushing, clean, hit - which was called a charge by idiot zebras. He was in the game. He was also a +4. Honourable mention to Foster for me. I loved his 200’ game.