Sput
10-08-2005, 12:31 AM
Tough game. Sloppy at times, mostly due to the way these two teams play against each other. Lots of neutral zone traffic, hard hits, and just dumb luck in some cases. With about five minutes left in the first the Giants were up on the shot clock 6-1, but by the end of the frams it was 8-8, with the Cats putting on some good pressure.
Second period had the Cougs go ahead on a lucky bounce on a two-on-one. Patterson throws a hard pass across intended for Hunter, but goes off the defenceman's skate. In all probability it would have been 1-0 because Hunter had a WIDE open net to shoot at.
Third period: Drazzy puts the Cats up 2-0 with a beauty shot that simply beat Slade. Vancouver gets on the board with 16 seconds left, with Slade on the bench, and Rodgers in the sin bin for roughing. Andy took a wicked slash across the hands infront of his own net, right in front of the ref too (with no call). 6 on 4 against Vancouver deep in your own end you can't expect much good to happen.
Bowles stood tall in net, backstopping a gritty gutsy effort by his team. He didn't have to make circus saves but was just solid all night with perfect positioning.
Now for the ugly stuff. Midway throught the third Rutherford checks Brotnov from behind in as ugly a check as I've ever seen. Levi goes hard into the boards, drops like a rock and doesn't move at all. As expected a large group gathers, one linesman trying to get rutherford off the ice, the other trying to do something in the fights, and the ref trying to get the injured player out of the way and safe so he doesn't get hurt any worse. The trainer was there right away, actually in the middle of the rough stuff, and got Levi to the bench and dressing room. I dearly hope the League will throw the book at Rutherford. Wearing a full facemask and throws a garbage hit like he did, and wouldn't/couldn't stand up and defende his actions...poor, poor choice. Fistric did his best chicken impression by trying to jump a couple Cougars from behind when the linesmen had them out of the scrum, and then had the nads to flap his arms and call the home guys chickens when the ref got him to the bench. Classy. I'll chalk it up as a heat of the moment reaction and leave it at that.
After all that, it was an entertaining game. Sloppy as I said, lots of broken up passes, missed plays because guys not where they should have been, and wierd bounces all night. Good gutted out win for the home team. Way to go Cougars!! :clap:
Second period had the Cougs go ahead on a lucky bounce on a two-on-one. Patterson throws a hard pass across intended for Hunter, but goes off the defenceman's skate. In all probability it would have been 1-0 because Hunter had a WIDE open net to shoot at.
Third period: Drazzy puts the Cats up 2-0 with a beauty shot that simply beat Slade. Vancouver gets on the board with 16 seconds left, with Slade on the bench, and Rodgers in the sin bin for roughing. Andy took a wicked slash across the hands infront of his own net, right in front of the ref too (with no call). 6 on 4 against Vancouver deep in your own end you can't expect much good to happen.
Bowles stood tall in net, backstopping a gritty gutsy effort by his team. He didn't have to make circus saves but was just solid all night with perfect positioning.
Now for the ugly stuff. Midway throught the third Rutherford checks Brotnov from behind in as ugly a check as I've ever seen. Levi goes hard into the boards, drops like a rock and doesn't move at all. As expected a large group gathers, one linesman trying to get rutherford off the ice, the other trying to do something in the fights, and the ref trying to get the injured player out of the way and safe so he doesn't get hurt any worse. The trainer was there right away, actually in the middle of the rough stuff, and got Levi to the bench and dressing room. I dearly hope the League will throw the book at Rutherford. Wearing a full facemask and throws a garbage hit like he did, and wouldn't/couldn't stand up and defende his actions...poor, poor choice. Fistric did his best chicken impression by trying to jump a couple Cougars from behind when the linesmen had them out of the scrum, and then had the nads to flap his arms and call the home guys chickens when the ref got him to the bench. Classy. I'll chalk it up as a heat of the moment reaction and leave it at that.
After all that, it was an entertaining game. Sloppy as I said, lots of broken up passes, missed plays because guys not where they should have been, and wierd bounces all night. Good gutted out win for the home team. Way to go Cougars!! :clap: