dondo
02-12-2015, 01:11 AM
Another ugly win, but we'll take the two points. I really did love how hard most of the boys worked tonight hanging onto a slim lead with a lot of determination and some luck.
Giants Jack Oil Kings
Vancouver 3 Edmonton 1 (EN)
A more scrambly game I don’t think you will ever see. Man that was a whole lot of missed passes and inability to clear their own zone. For both teams, but the Giants were the ones scaring the beejeezuz outta their home-town fans. Some positives, a bit of luck and some deficiencies, which if they show up on their weekend roadsie will spell disaster for the team. Noel had some odd line mixes to begin the game and shuffled them up in third as he sat the passengers and played the workers. I personally like that kind of a shake-up. Fourth liners Vladimir Bobylev and Jesse Roach moved up the line-up by the third period and players doing flybys like Alec Baer and Ty Ronning saw themselves slide down the depth chart. The Oil Kings looked tired to start the game and the Gs had some great chances early on, including two breakaways by Jakob Stukel, but could not finish around the Edmonton net. The Oil Kings found twine (wearing some ugly Arena Football looking third jerseys - with none of their actual colours) mid first with an unassisted tally off of some Giants careless play in their own zone. The Giants rebounded with two goals early in the second and then held on by their very fingernails until they scored an empty netter in the final minute of the third.
Edmonton opened the scoring at 9:42 of the first. The boys weathered a 5 on 3 late in the opening frame, keeping the game close for a comeback bid. Early in the second period Tyler Benson stripped the puck in the neutral zone and wheeled with speed, slipping the puck down to Thomas Foster who made a nice tape-to-tape pass to Carter Popoff on the far side with a wide open net. Popoff made no mistake tying the game at ones. A short time later the Giants worked the puck out of their zone as Dakota Odgers got the puck up to Dmitry Osipov moving with stumbling speed up the ice. Just as I was muttering under my breath whether he knew what to do with the puck, he backhanded a pass wide to Vladimir Bobylev who wired the puck past Tristan Jarry. The Gs were pinned in their zone for most of the rest of the period as the Oil Kings ramped up their game. I was happy to see the boys, though scrambling, gamely sacrificing their bodies to make certain the puck stayed out of their net. The third played much the same as they frightened me repeatedly being unable to cleanly clear their zone and making blind back-passes into the slot. Cody Porter’s rebound control was erratic, but his battle-mode was fully engaged and he recovered from poor bounces quickly. He made more than a few clutch stops down the stretch and held the fort when the team got careless in their own end. It was a tense period as the boys hung on to their slim lead until Dalton Sward found open ice across the red line and dished the puck to Carter Popoff who notched his second of the game into the empty cage. Benson got the second helper.
Team Notes: Arvin Atwal still out of the line-up and although he is probably still suspended by the league I have heard rumour that there is more to the Atwal vs Giants scenario. Ryley McKinstry was in the line-up. The win pushes the Gs back into a playoff spot and third in the BC Division, one more than Kamloops. The G-Men have two games in hand on PG and Kamloops, but they still have a few games versus the high-flying Rockets and tough Victoria Royals. It will be the two head-to-head games versus the Blazers which will be the most telling though.
Fisticuffs: nada, not much emotional energy at all really
Zebra Cage: Sean Raphael and Mark Pearce … inconsistent. I wasn’t too fond of some of their early calls, but they eventually let the teams play. At least they didn’t really impact the game, but if the game goes a different way on that 5 on 3 the Giants probably don’t get the W.
The Giants were out-shot 32-24. They went 0 for 3 on their PP and looked pretty ugly in their man-advantage chances. Their PK looked better and less porous though and they needed that gutsy 5 on 3 kill to turn the momentum. I really need to see Benson take that shot and not pass every time when QBing the PP fro the side-boards. A few good chances around the net for a lot of different players, but wow – no finish. It was the fourth liners who seemed to help turn the game around with a nice hard shift when the boys were struggling. Bobylev and Roach were noticed in a good way and I guess the coach thought so too, as Sward was playing with Jones and Roach in third for a few shifts. Roach also played on the opening line-up, which doesn’t necessarily mean much, as it was the fourth line of Odgers, Roach and Bobylev to open the tilt, but possibly indicative of some belief by Noel for these players to step it up. Make no mistake the game was still very scrambly and was really ugly hockey at times, but not too many players had the luxury to take shifts off. Those that did found themselves riding pine for the majority of the final frame.
If a lot of the Giants depth players can get the puck on their stick to tickle some twine the Gs might have a chance versus the Tips and Ams on the weekend. It will need to be an all men on deck and ready to play kind of road trip. Porter will have to be sparkling and return to the December form, which won him the honour of WHL Star of the Month and our skill players have got find the back of the net. A nice short-handed tally by Sward would be most welcome, just sayin’. The puck drops in Everett at 7:35pm PST, hopefully Friday the 13th will be unlucky for them and not us.
Three Stars
1. Cody Porter
2. Carter Popoff
3. Lane Bauer
Dondo’s Hardhat: I’m going off the boards for this one and was happy to see the stats reflecting my thoughts. I’m giving it to Dmitry Osipov. Nice assist, very solid in his own end and one of the few Giants defenders who didn’t flip the puck out into the slot in his own end. He was strong on the body and hustling hard. Add in a +3 and he was effective at both ends.
Giants Jack Oil Kings
Vancouver 3 Edmonton 1 (EN)
A more scrambly game I don’t think you will ever see. Man that was a whole lot of missed passes and inability to clear their own zone. For both teams, but the Giants were the ones scaring the beejeezuz outta their home-town fans. Some positives, a bit of luck and some deficiencies, which if they show up on their weekend roadsie will spell disaster for the team. Noel had some odd line mixes to begin the game and shuffled them up in third as he sat the passengers and played the workers. I personally like that kind of a shake-up. Fourth liners Vladimir Bobylev and Jesse Roach moved up the line-up by the third period and players doing flybys like Alec Baer and Ty Ronning saw themselves slide down the depth chart. The Oil Kings looked tired to start the game and the Gs had some great chances early on, including two breakaways by Jakob Stukel, but could not finish around the Edmonton net. The Oil Kings found twine (wearing some ugly Arena Football looking third jerseys - with none of their actual colours) mid first with an unassisted tally off of some Giants careless play in their own zone. The Giants rebounded with two goals early in the second and then held on by their very fingernails until they scored an empty netter in the final minute of the third.
Edmonton opened the scoring at 9:42 of the first. The boys weathered a 5 on 3 late in the opening frame, keeping the game close for a comeback bid. Early in the second period Tyler Benson stripped the puck in the neutral zone and wheeled with speed, slipping the puck down to Thomas Foster who made a nice tape-to-tape pass to Carter Popoff on the far side with a wide open net. Popoff made no mistake tying the game at ones. A short time later the Giants worked the puck out of their zone as Dakota Odgers got the puck up to Dmitry Osipov moving with stumbling speed up the ice. Just as I was muttering under my breath whether he knew what to do with the puck, he backhanded a pass wide to Vladimir Bobylev who wired the puck past Tristan Jarry. The Gs were pinned in their zone for most of the rest of the period as the Oil Kings ramped up their game. I was happy to see the boys, though scrambling, gamely sacrificing their bodies to make certain the puck stayed out of their net. The third played much the same as they frightened me repeatedly being unable to cleanly clear their zone and making blind back-passes into the slot. Cody Porter’s rebound control was erratic, but his battle-mode was fully engaged and he recovered from poor bounces quickly. He made more than a few clutch stops down the stretch and held the fort when the team got careless in their own end. It was a tense period as the boys hung on to their slim lead until Dalton Sward found open ice across the red line and dished the puck to Carter Popoff who notched his second of the game into the empty cage. Benson got the second helper.
Team Notes: Arvin Atwal still out of the line-up and although he is probably still suspended by the league I have heard rumour that there is more to the Atwal vs Giants scenario. Ryley McKinstry was in the line-up. The win pushes the Gs back into a playoff spot and third in the BC Division, one more than Kamloops. The G-Men have two games in hand on PG and Kamloops, but they still have a few games versus the high-flying Rockets and tough Victoria Royals. It will be the two head-to-head games versus the Blazers which will be the most telling though.
Fisticuffs: nada, not much emotional energy at all really
Zebra Cage: Sean Raphael and Mark Pearce … inconsistent. I wasn’t too fond of some of their early calls, but they eventually let the teams play. At least they didn’t really impact the game, but if the game goes a different way on that 5 on 3 the Giants probably don’t get the W.
The Giants were out-shot 32-24. They went 0 for 3 on their PP and looked pretty ugly in their man-advantage chances. Their PK looked better and less porous though and they needed that gutsy 5 on 3 kill to turn the momentum. I really need to see Benson take that shot and not pass every time when QBing the PP fro the side-boards. A few good chances around the net for a lot of different players, but wow – no finish. It was the fourth liners who seemed to help turn the game around with a nice hard shift when the boys were struggling. Bobylev and Roach were noticed in a good way and I guess the coach thought so too, as Sward was playing with Jones and Roach in third for a few shifts. Roach also played on the opening line-up, which doesn’t necessarily mean much, as it was the fourth line of Odgers, Roach and Bobylev to open the tilt, but possibly indicative of some belief by Noel for these players to step it up. Make no mistake the game was still very scrambly and was really ugly hockey at times, but not too many players had the luxury to take shifts off. Those that did found themselves riding pine for the majority of the final frame.
If a lot of the Giants depth players can get the puck on their stick to tickle some twine the Gs might have a chance versus the Tips and Ams on the weekend. It will need to be an all men on deck and ready to play kind of road trip. Porter will have to be sparkling and return to the December form, which won him the honour of WHL Star of the Month and our skill players have got find the back of the net. A nice short-handed tally by Sward would be most welcome, just sayin’. The puck drops in Everett at 7:35pm PST, hopefully Friday the 13th will be unlucky for them and not us.
Three Stars
1. Cody Porter
2. Carter Popoff
3. Lane Bauer
Dondo’s Hardhat: I’m going off the boards for this one and was happy to see the stats reflecting my thoughts. I’m giving it to Dmitry Osipov. Nice assist, very solid in his own end and one of the few Giants defenders who didn’t flip the puck out into the slot in his own end. He was strong on the body and hustling hard. Add in a +3 and he was effective at both ends.