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scamperdog
03-29-2006, 07:25 AM
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006


Giants find their firepower www.princegeorgecitizen.com


by JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor

The Vancouver Giants didn't finish first in the Western Conference, and fashion the WHL's best road record in the process, by accident.
With a dominating performance from start to finish on Tuesday, the Giants regained control of the best-of-seven first-round series with a 6-0 win over the Prince George Cougars at CN Centre.

Vancouver has a 2-1 lead in the series, home-ice advantage reacquired, with Game 4 to be played tonight. Game 5 goes Saturday at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

Tuesday's game was a complete role reversal - the Cougars were the ones short of optimal composure, and the Giants played like they believed they could win the race or battle for every loose puck.

Which, in fact, they did.

And, let's just get this out of the way early - referee Kyle Rehman struggled and handed unwarranted penalties to both teams, though more to the home team than the visitors. But, as Cougars forward Eric Hunter put it plainly, Rehman did not inflict the damage

"There were questionable calls either way, that's all I'll say about that, but he didn't score six goals for the other team," said Hunter, one of many Cougars who threw discipline out the window, only to have Rehman more than willing to oblige with minor after minor.

"Obviously we weren't mentally prepared. Guys fell into a trap of stupidity, myself included, and got away from our gameplan. We knew Vancouver's power play was going to break out if we kept giving them chance after chance, and we gave them way too much room to play with the puck. We didn't have much leadership from older guys like me, and we have to go home and take a look in the mirror and figure out why we're here."

The Giants hadn't scored on the power play in the first two games, stumped 11 times. They changed that in a hurry Tuesday, scoring on their first two chances. Sure, there was still 55 minutes to play, but the game was over at that point.

And a crowd of 4,888, the largest to see a Cougars game at the Multiplex/CN Centre in more than two seasons, clammed up like hostile witnesses.

"The first two goals were very important for us to get the lead in front of a big crowd, and take the crowd out of it," said Giants coach Don Hay, whose team has lost seven of 11 meetings with the Cougars, including six of eight in the regular season.

"I thought we did a really good job of battling to get loose pucks and protecting the puck, and it paid off for us."

Vancouver was 23-9-0-4 on the road in the regular season, so facing an unusually large and noisy crowd didn't faze them one bit. By the second period, with the Giants up 4-0, Cougars fans were acting as though they were at a golf tournament - the 'quiet please' signs weren't needed.

Michal Repik scored 1:16 into the game, giving the fans the 'shh' gesture. If they didn't listen then, they did when Gilbert Brule tallied 3:20 later, like Repik's goal, coming on the power play. Sandwiched in between was another would-be goal that was called off by Rehman when Brule earned a goaltender interference call.

The rout was really on in the second. Mario Bliznak scored shorthanded, then Tim Kraus tallied even strength, and Jason Reese had a wide-open net for yet another power play goal that had the Giants up 5-0 after two periods. Jonathan Blum's goal early in the third was on the same Zimmer major that led to Reese's goal.

The Cougars spent so much time shorthanded Tuesday, you'd think it was a new fad. By the end, Rehman had turfed Prince George head coach Mike Vandekamp, and the 4,888 in attendance wanted to go with him. It must be noted, however, that the power play chances were even at nine apiece by game's end.

Dustin Slade picked up his second shutout of the series. He had 11 in the regular season. At the other end, Scott Bowles got little support from guys who are supposed to be on his side, facing 40 shots - about the norm for the Cougars in games against the Giants.

"I thought we got off to a real good start, and I was proud of the way our guys played and the focus they brought to the rink," said Hay.

"The power play obviously paid off, and we were able to create some chances off the power play. It was a good team effort, and having Timmy Kraus back in the lineup jumpstarted some of the other guys in the lineup."

At least one team's dry power play was due to leave the dock with Rehman wearing the orange armbands. His last outing was in the Lethbridge-Calgary series, where he handed out a combined 27 power plays, resulting in five power play goals.

Blame the ref all they want, the Cougars were beaten to every loose puck in the first period, and the shot clock (17-8 after 20 minutes) flattered them. That level of competitiveness will have to change if the Cougars are to avoid going down three games to one.

KITTY LITTER: Kraus, out since early February with a broken jaw, played wearing a full cage. Kraus was second in the Giants scoring parade when he was injured, and led Vancouver forwards in power play goals with 11... The game start was delayed for Shaw Cable's broadcast, with TV timeouts giving both coaches a chance to rest key players... The Giants have now outshot the Cats in all 11 meetings this year. The final count Tuesday was 41-20.

Knuckles Muldoon
03-29-2006, 07:32 PM
Hate to pick apart an article, but...
"...And, let's just get this out of the way early - referee Kyle Rehman struggled and handed unwarranted penalties to both teams, though more to the home team than the visitors..."
Is this guy for real? The PP's were 9 for each team. Is this guy suggesting that the superior skating team on the night (by far), should have ended up with more penalties than the team that couldn't keep up? Time for Mr. Swanson to enroll in a Hockey 101 refresher course.

bones
03-30-2006, 03:08 AM
Hate to pick apart an article, but...
"...And, let's just get this out of the way early - referee Kyle Rehman struggled and handed unwarranted penalties to both teams, though more to the home team than the visitors..."
Is this guy for real? The PP's were 9 for each team. Is this guy suggesting that the superior skating team on the night (by far), should have ended up with more penalties than the team that couldn't keep up? Time for Mr. Swanson to enroll in a Hockey 101 refresher course.

Hate to pick you apart but do you not realize that the only reason the pp's were like that is because Rehman evened it up in the last couple of minutes when the game was already out of reach just to fool people like you and the league.