Spokane Chiefs 0 Vancouver Giants 3 [Archive]

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Hunt24

10-21-2006, 12:17 AM

Vancouver Giants remain unbeaten at home by shutting out Spokane
Spokane Chiefs 0 Vancouver Giants 3

Tyson Sexsmith spent a good portion of last year watching Dustin Slade put up goose-egg after goose-egg. This year, while splitting Vancouver Giants goaltending duties with Slade, Sexsmith is proving the most since form of flattery is imitation.

Sexsmith stopped 19 shots for his second consecutive shutout as the Vancouver Giants defeated the Spokane Chiefs 3-0 to improve to 11-0-1 this season.

Tim Kraus scored his sixth goal of the season at 13:30 of the first period on one of seven Vancouver powerplays. Jonathon Blum would put the Giants up 2-0 with his fourth goal of the season at 5:05 of the second period. The Giants would play text-book shut down hockey the rest of the way and looked focused for 60 minutes in their first game back after seeing their winning streak snapped in Seattle.

The Giants would finish the night 2/7 with the man advantage and killed off all five Spokane powerplays. Michal Repik scored an empty-net goal with two seconds remaining to finish off the scoring, and the Chiefs.

Tyson Sexsmith (6-0-0, 1.46) made 19 saves for the win. Kevin Armstrong (2-3-2) made 27 saves in the loss for the Chiefs. The Chiefs are now 5-4-2 this season and sit third in the U.S. division.

Missing from the lineup was newly appointed Alternate Captain J.D. Watt who was scratched by head coach Don Hay after breaking team rules regarding tardiness. According to Hay this was not Watt’s first offense and his spot in the lineup is not guaranteed for Saturday night.

The Giants will take on a rebuilding Saskatoon Blades (4-5-0-1) squad Saturday night at the Pacific Coliseum. The Blades lost 8-5 to Kamloops Friday night.

Fight Card

Giants Fighter Chiefs Winner
None None

**********.com Three Stars
1. Tim Kraus. After spending most of the week listening to rumours that his good friend and fellow pivot Gilbert Brule may be returning to the Giants, Kraus showed that he is worthy of being a number one center. The California Kid scored the game winning goal, set up another and was great at both ends of the rink throughout the night.
2. Tyson Sexsmith. The Giants brass showed a lot of faith in Sexsmith by trading away Tommy Tartaglione a few weeks ago and the highly touted prospect has made them look good posting back-to-back shutouts since. Sexsmith was probably the Giants’ best penalty killer and shut down Spokane’s top player Michael Grabner on his one good scoring chance.
3. Garet Hunt. The 5’8” winger was the reason Grabner had only one good scoring chance. Normally the energy-guy, Hunt was given the task tonight of shutting down the Canucks draft pick and by the second shift he had Grabner frustrated and off his game. He also delivered a mid-ice hip check to former teammate David Rutherford that left him regretting ever inviting Hunt to party at his house last season.

Beaner

10-21-2006, 12:18 AM

An entertaining game tonight that saw a lot of good plays and big hits by both sides in what was a very good hockey game. Both goalies played very well, stopping a couple break-aways and making some timely saves, but the Giants special teams tonight out-dueled the Chiefs special teams and the Giants came away with another win. Probably the most entertaining game of the year thus far at the PC.

NOTES
Sexsmith and Armstrong got the starts
Watt, Cunningham and Toigo were the Giants scratches.
Shots Chiefs 19, Giants 30
PP Chiefs 0/5, Giants 2/7

GOALS
1. VAN Kraus, (6) (Lucic, Repik), 13:30 (PP) 5-4, Shot from Repik, Lucic gets the rebound and Armstrong makes a save, puck behind the net and Lucic throws it back out front to Kraus who buries it.
2. VAN Blum, (4) (Machacek, Kraus), 5:05 (PP) 5-4, Jon Blum sneaks in from the point, again, and Machacek spots him with a pass that Blum just redirects into the open side.
3. VAN Repik, (6) (Lucic), 19:58 (EN) Lucic and Repik forechecking, Repik blocks the clearing attempt, Lucic throws a backhand towards the net and Repik gets it and finishes off the night with the empty netter.

FISTICUFFS
none.

OFFICIATING
Thiessen and Poole tonight, and they did a good job tonight. Hardly noticed them at all and the calls they did make were good calls. Game had lots of flow a good job from the officiating team.

Made the absolute right call on the Repik no goal, it was a n obvious kick into the net and after a meeting they got that one right too.

OVERALL
For the most part both teams were very good tonight. Give the Chiefs a bit of an advatage in the team speed department, and give the Giants the edge in the work along the boards.

Big hits delivered tonight by both squads, as Hunt laid out Rutherford with a hipcheck coming out of the box that put Rutherford ass over tea kettle, and Haw absolutely crushed Lamb at the Spokane blue line.

Chiefs PP seemed to generate very few chances, as the Giants PK really forced them into turn-overs, and a lot fo blocked shots once again. This was really the difference in the game tonight.

Both Grabner and Repik were both stopped on break-aways tonight, Repik twice in fact. All 3 saves were very very good saves by the 2 netminders.

Special credit to Garet Hunt tonight who drew the shadow Grabner job tonight and he did a fantastic job, keeping Grabner effectively out of the game for the entire night. Well done Garet.

3 Stars
1. Tim Kraus
2. Tyson Sexsmith
3. Kevin Armstrong

rinkrat

10-21-2006, 12:26 AM

He also delivered a mid-ice hip check to former teammate David Rutherford that left him regretting ever inviting Hunt to party at his house last season.

haha,nice one.
What a hit! Rutherford is actually lucky Hunt hip checked him and didn't stand him up,it could have been ugly.Hunt should have been a star in the building,great job of shutting down Grabner.
Great game for Sexsmith too,he makes it look easy.
Also Don Hay deserves alot of credit,he has these boys very well focused,prepared and hungry every game.
Great job guys,pedal to the metal! :clap:

dondo

10-21-2006, 12:58 AM

Ha ha!! I didn't see who Garet upended -- its hilarious that it was Rutherford though. Yeah great game, two good teams and other than no fights very enjoyable to watch. Had a woman sitting next to us who knew Timmy Kraus' family so she was cheering hard for Tim and he had great night himself and deserved the first star.

my recap -- a bit more detailed, as is my style.

Giants Tomahawk Chiefs
Vancouver 3 Spokane 0

The Vancouver Giants were eager to recover from a bizarre ending to a game in Seattle where an errant puck caromed off a crease in the boards and drifted awkwardly into an open net as Dustin Slade undid all of his stellar goaltending on the evening struggling to get back to catch the biscuit before it crossed the red-line, but to no avail. The Giants were on a 10 game winning streak and hoping to make it 11 as they came from behind against the Thunderbirds to force the extra 5 minutes in the Emerald City. A heart-breaking loss to be sure as the G-Men wanted to set a new WHL record for a winning streak to start the season, which was held at 10 games by a Brandon team in the 70’s.

Tonight the Giants took on another US Division team, The Spokane Chiefs, for the second time this season, edging them out 4-2 in a tilt at the Coliseum on Sept. 26th. The difference this time around was that high Canucks draft pick Michael Grabner was in the line-up for the Vancouver fan’s first look at him in the regular season.

The game began with the usual suspects taking the opening face-off, Garet Hunt, Spencer Machacek and Mario Bliznak, playing with Cody Franson and Brendan Mikkelson, and the line proved to be one of the most energized lines all evening. The game itself had some nice flow to it as the players were keeping their noses clean and the refs weren’t out to make any statements. The Chiefs played a close checking game and used their speed to their advantage and had a body on the Giants every time they touched the puck. The Giants however were working very hard along the boards and their defensive play was virtually flawless as the team earned Sexsmith his shut-out by clearing some juicy rebounds before a Spokane stick could get on them.

The Giants opened the scoring on the PP, off of a great forecheck, a sweet pass and nifty back-pass to set-up Tim Kraus for the goal. Michal Repik gamely took the hit to make the play in the corner feeding the puck out to Milan Lucic who took a close-in shot on Kevin Armstrong. Lucic corralled the short rebound and fed the biscuit back to Kraus who pounded it past Armstrong for the tally at 13:30 of the first. The G-Men almost went up by two a few minutes later as Michal Repik re-directed a nice tic-tac-toe play in with his skate. The officials conversed and decided to wave off the goal, even though there was no direct kicking motion and the puck was deflected off the skate blade. Repik did turn his blade to direct the puck past Armstrong, but in the rule book that should be a legal goal. The first ended with the Giants up by one.

The Giants padded their lead in the second, again on the PP, off of some great playmaking in the offensive zone. Kraus wheeled and feathered the puck onto Machacek’s stick. Machacek drifted out in to the slot and wound up letting go of a slapper which found defenseman Jonny Blum’s stick on the far side of the crease. It was Blum’s fourth goal of the season and came 5:05 into the second. The Giants continued to press but the Chiefs were not ones to lay down. The Spokane squad make some great defensive plays of their own clearing the front of the net and chasing down errant pucks. Michael Grabner was only given a couple of opportunities to fly and fly he did. The young RW was adept at finding seams and racing down the ice, and was stoned by Sexsmith on a near breakaway opportunity that he tried to finish off with a nice backhand, only to be denied. Other than that thought the smothering defensive power of the Giants did not give this talented team room to move or make plays, blocking shots and working them hard along the boards.

The G-Men would add an empty-netter late in the third to salt away the victory. The Chiefs bench boss pulled the goalie with close to two minutes left in the game and they managed to keep it out of their net for the majority of the remaining seconds, but not for all of them. With time ticking down Lucic pressed hard in the Spokane zone and forced them to cough up the puck. He was stripped of the puck but managed to get the biscuit back in the high slot and fed a streaking Repik, who potted the EN with 2 seconds remaining in the game. Normally it wouldn’t be worth recapping an empty net goal, but after seeing the relief on Repik’s face, after having one pulled back and numerous denials throughout the night, I felt it was worth giving him his due.

JD Watt after recently receiving an “A”, was a healthy scratch tonight according to Don Hay, who sat the hulking winger for breaking a team cardinal rule, showing up late. Hay felt it was unfair to the other guys to allow that to happen without some consequences and in his inimitable style rewarded the good ones and punished the bad ones. Hay also played the hell out the Bliznak, Hunt, Machacek line putting them out in every situation, and giving them huge minutes in the third including a virtually back-to-back shift late in the third period after they finished working the puck tenaciously in the Chiefs end of the ice. Hunt was all over the ice and had some great checks, the best of which came out of nowhere as he literally upended a Chief player in the neutral zone while coming out of the sin bin, after his team killed his penalty. Sexsmith was his usual calm, solidly positioned self, squaring himself to the shooter and making tough saves look easy.

The Giants were 2 for 7 on the PP, while they held the Chiefs 0 for 5 on the man-advantage. The shots were 30 – 19 in the favour of the home team. The Giants play again tomorrow night taking on the Saskatoon Blades who are a very young team with a couple of phenoms to watch for. The puck drops at the Coliseum at 7pm.

Three Stars

1 – Tim Kraus
2 – Tyson Sexsmith
3 – Kevin Armstrong

old_time_hockey

10-21-2006, 02:10 AM

I have to agree that was probably the most entertaining game of the season. Spokane was lucky it wasn't 3-0 after the first. Armstrong was VERY solid.

Garet Hunt...gotta love him. What a hip check. Anyone else notice him tap Grabner on the back of the helmet with the blade of his stick just before a faceoff? Seemed to rattle him good cause the ref had to come over to talk to both of them. Full marks to Garet for shutting down on of the dubs more offensivly gifted players.

I am also shocked that someone that seems to have as much on ice leadership such as JD Watt would be late for game and/or practice time more than once to earn a press box seat. I just hope that there isn't something in JD's personal life that is upsetting his hockey career. But if there was something legit, I'm sure he would have had a talk with Don about his issues. I just hope as Don said in his post game comments that Watt goes out and buys a better watch and that solves the issues.

GF71

10-21-2006, 02:11 AM

Boy did Hunt ever catch Rutherford with a beauty hip check. Shades of Meszaros in Everett a couple of years ago. (NOTHING will top that baby though ;)) Did anybody else notice how often somebody on the ice took at shot at Rutherford? Flatters and Kraus led the pack from what I saw. And speaking of Tim. His passing has got to be the best on the team. Yes Franson has NHL mustard on it. But Tim has the creativity and vision that Cody does not. That is not a knock against Cody, but jsut watch the passes Tim makes...or attempts to make. It boggles the mind sometimes. In a good way.

And how about the play of Brent Regner? The kid is still a bit green, but you can see what he will be, if he keeps working. Given who the team will lose next season, it looks like he may very well be the No. 2 man, with Blum being No. 1. Wright and Bouma are both working pretty hard. Both are a bit snakebitten but it will just be a matter of time before they start putting up the points.

rinkrat

10-21-2006, 02:25 AM

Knuckles Muldoon

10-21-2006, 11:35 AM

Entertaining game. Lots of speed from both teams as they took turns racing up and down the ice. The Giants looked sharp and focused for all 60 minutes. Much like the Seattle game a week ago, Sexsmith looked very sharp. I thought Hunt should have been a star, as he was everywhere out there. He was, IMO, the most noticeable player on the ice. Suffice to say that is the most ice-time Garet has ever had in a game with the Giants. I thought all the boys played well. Lucic continues to cause trouble for the opponent by moving his feet and using his big stride to challenge the opposing D. Kraus scores the first goal because Milan goes hard to the net and nobody can handle him. Sweet back pass to Kraus in the slot. The Blum/Fester combo was excellent again. Also noticed that Machacek seem to be back playing his type of game more than he has all season. I hope he keeps it up; the team will need him to get back to his level of last season. As for Spokane, they're a pretty good team that can skate with the Giants. The main difference is that the Giants D is a little better with the puck, and the Giants have a little more ability to grind out a game, whereas the Chiefs seem to lack the ability to win the battles along the boards. But overall they are a good team who have taken some big strides from last year. Grabner is a guy you tend not to notice too much until he has the puck and is bearing in on goal. Good player, but he has to dominate at this level first before he can entertain any thoughts about playing with the Canucks next year. He has to solidify other parts of his game.
As for Watt, lets just hope this is a one-time form of discipline and it won't become an ongoing problem that could affect the team. If Hayzer figured it was appropriate to sit him last night, its fine by me. But Watt's a key guy, a leader and has been playing extremely well. He needs to be in that lineup.
Overall, a good game. Let's give it a B.

Carebear

10-21-2006, 12:07 PM

He also delivered a mid-ice hip check to former teammate David Rutherford that left him regretting ever inviting Hunt to party at his house last season.

I lol'd!!!!
wish i could've been there!!