Rebels 0 @ Giants 3 - Nov. 8th

[Beaner]

*Yawn*. That pretty much sums up this game in one word. Not a great effort from either team, but the Giants did just enough to get the win. Slade wasn't brilliant but was big when he had to be to get his second consecutive shutout. A few nice hits, a pretty good scrap, but overall, sloopy play from both teams.

NOTES
Slade and Leslie got the starts tonight.
Rutherford was back in the lineup after his dental work, but still wearing the full cage. Voytechuk made it into the lineup, after being a scratch the last few games.
Hunt, Dulle, Sexsmith, and Blum were the Giants scratches tonight.
Shots were 31-21 Giants
Giants 1/8, Rebels 0/3 on the PP.
Mikkelson left in the middle of the third with a knee injury, had to be helped off the ice - I missed the play, but it did not look good.
Festerling left the game with the infamous "upper body injury", both Festerling and Mikkelson will be evaluated tomorrow, Don Hay said in the post game show. I have a bad feeling Mikkelson will be out for a while.

GOALS
2. VAN Repik, (8) (Bartley, Kraus), 6:44 (PP) Kraus, behind the Rebels net throws a nice backhand pass out to Bartley at the top of the slot, Bartley fans on the shot, the puck rolls to repik off to the side and he buries it.
2. VAN Kraus, (9) (Voytechek), 16:03 Great work by Voytechuk to out hussle the Red Deer defender he steals the puck turns and fires a big shot, rebound comes out to Kraus and its in the open side.
3. VAN Lamb, (6) (Watt), 2:02 Watt throws a beautiful pass across the front of the net to Lamb who just tips it 5-hole on leslie.

FISTICUFFS
Voytechuk vs Egner
Egner and Voytechuk are mixing it up a bit in front of the net after the play, and after a bit of pushing and glove punches, the gloves come off. Voytechuk takes it to Egner, knocks his helmet off, spins him down, Drags Egner back up and gets him a few more times. WIN Voytechuk.
Nice job Keith.

OFFICIATING
Pat Smith was the ref tonight, did allright, a couple pretty weak calls on the Giants, the one on Watt for holding was particularly bad. How someone can be holding someone when they are prone on the ice is beyond me. Average job. GRADE C+

DUMB PENALTY OF THE NIGHT
To be honest there really wasn't any really dumb one tonight. Red Deer did take a lot, but I think its more inexperience that got them in trouble.

OVERALL
A win is a win I guess, but it was a pretty boring game from both teams tonight. Could end up being a costly win for the Giants if Mikkelson and Festerling are out for any length of time, hopefully they are not. Red Deer is looking pretty raw right now, but you could see that with a good year working with Sutter they have a solid base to build upon. Red Deer should be quite a bit better next year. Giants did the bare minimum to get the win tonight, a much better effort will be needed this weekend for the Home at Home with Kamloops.

3 Stars
1. VAN - 37 Dustin Slade
2. VAN - 3 Paul Albers
3. VAN - 12 Tim Kraus

* For my money I thought Voytechuk really deserved a Star tonight, he played a great game, worked his tail off and had a few good scoring chances.

[Greg7]

A nice recap. One thing though, Watt definitely deserved the holding penalty. My seats are toward that end of the ice and I had a decent view of it, and he grabbed the Rebels defenseman's (Berube?) leg as the guy went to the corner and hauled him down. I thought Smith did a nice job tonight, and generally like the job he does.

Agree fully on Voytechek, I thought he played a really spirited game and battled hard. Interesting to see he and Egener fight so apparently angrily, as I remember seeing them together at least a couple of times before games last season when they were both scratched. Not friends on this night.

Mikkelson I think took a knee from I think Mihalik, but I'm not certain. Just saw it out of the corner of my eye, but it didn't look at all intentional or dirty, just happened to catch his knee a bit on the hit. He sure didn't look good going off the ice and down the tunnel though...

Even though I'm not disappointed with Flatters (thought he had a nice game tonight), I am still disappointed that Egener was moved. Looks like he got his wish though, as he played far more minutes tonight than he ever played while he was here - with that kind of ice time he should turn himself into a real quality WHLer pretty quickly.

[Beaner]

A nice recap. One thing though, Watt definitely deserved the holding penalty. My seats are toward that end of the ice and I had a decent view of it, and he grabbed the Rebels defenseman's (Berube?) leg as the guy went to the corner and hauled him down. I thought Smith did a nice job tonight, and generally like the job he does.

Thanks missed that, that helps explain that call a lot more.



Mikkelson I think took a knee from I think Mihalik, but I'm not certain. Just saw it out of the corner of my eye, but it didn't look at all intentional or dirty, just happened to catch his knee a bit on the hit. He sure didn't look good going off the ice and down the tunnel though...

I just watched the archive video of the game hoping to see what happened. It wasn't 100% clear as the play was moving up ice, so only caught a bit of it but it looks like Kanckstedt got his stick/and legs tangled up with Mikkelson and that twisted Mikkelson up. Nothing diry at all, did not look like a knee at all, just Mikkelson falling ackwardly to the ice.

Radio is now saying Mikkelson is getting an MRI today and he should be out at least 2 weeks.

[rinkrat]

Thanks missed that, that helps explain that call a lot more.




I just watched the archive video of the game hoping to see what happened. It wasn't 100% clear as the play was moving up ice, so only caught a bit of it but it looks like Kanckstedt got his stick/and legs tangled up with Mikkelson and that twisted Mikkelson up. Nothing diry at all, did not look like a knee at all, just Mikkelson falling ackwardly to the ice.

I don't think Mikkelson was anywhere near the puck when Kanckstedt hit him.It looked like a "can opener" move to me.

[Beaner]

Can-opener is a good word for it but Mikkelson had just sent the puck up the ice. There was maybe a 1 sec. delay from the pass to the hit.

[GF71]

I was a bit un-happy to see that Blum was a healthy scratch again. I know he is just a younin' and all, but this kid has incredible skill for a kid so young and tons of offensive upside. He is also extremely poised with the puck, more so that some of the vets IMO. I hope they don't end up doing an Egener with Jon. :( And speaking of Luke, he and Keith are actually pretty good friends. Or were. Haha. Keith was the clear victor after throwing Luke around a bit. Seeing Keith off the ice, he is a pretty wirey guy...not all the big, but he is suprisingly strong.

[rinkrat]

Can-opener is a good word for it but Mikkelson had just sent the puck up the ice. There was maybe a 1 sec. delay from the pass to the hit.
Thanks for clearing that up.I don't have the benefit of the replay.

[Beaner]

I was a bit un-happy to see that Blum was a healthy scratch again. I know he is just a younin' and all, but this kid has incredible skill for a kid so young and tons of offensive upside. He is also extremely poised with the puck, more so that some of the vets IMO. I hope they don't end up doing an Egener with Jon. :(

I like Blum as well, but he has played 10 of 17 games thus far. I hope they are just letting him take his time and learn as he goes. By the sounds of the injury to Mikkelson, I think Blum will see a regular turn while Mikk is out, for the next month. If Blum gets 40 games this year thats pretty good for a rookie, considering who is on our defence.

[Greg7]

Yes, heartily agree on Blum. He needs to keep playing consistently. A 16 yo defenseman with that kind of intelligence and poise on the ice is a rarity, and I for one think it is far more important to give him the ice time to develop than have your best possible 6 guys dressed, especially because the defense is so strong anyway. Should be paired up on Fistric's right again now that Mikkelson is out, and hopefully we'll see him get plenty of es and some pp time and play his way into some tough decisions on who to scratch when everyone is healthy.