Giants 5 @ Tigers 4 Nov 3 (OT)

[Beaner]

For those who weren't aware the game between the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Vancouver Giants will be on Shaw TV tonight. :) :groovy:

Should be quite the battle tonight as we have the the 2 top teams in the weekly CHL Top ten battle it out for bragging rights and more than likely the top spot in next week rankings.

Both teams should be in a foul mood, with Medicine Hat riding a current 2 game losing streak, and Vancouver taking its first loss of the regular season last game.

Game time is 7:30pm local time. Thats 6:30pm for people on the West Coast.

GO GIANTS GO

[C.F]

I'm guessing it won't be shown on Bell Expressvu?

[GBG BLEED BLUE]

I'm guessing it won't be shown on Bell Expressvu?
no I have Bell Express Vu also and Rogers Sportsnet does broadcast some CHL games but not too many WHL ones,I am sure that they will show a Giants game this season,but as for the Blades they will probably show nothing at all,I would like to see Rogers Sportsnet pay more attention to the WHL and CHL in general,they did have a story on Garrett Robinson and had the scoreboard of the WHL games that night,but that is all that I have seen. I am not going to go into detail how much that makes me mad. So I will just end it right now.

[monke]

Finally a Giants game on Shaw :clap:


Amazing start. Hunt fought 2 seconds in, followed by Lucic fighting within 3 seconds. Wow. :D

Whoever Lucic fought left, along with Lucic, with blood pouring down the left hand side of his face.

[dj-kris]

The replay on the hunt fight didn't look too good for Garrett lots of missed punches.

[Kassian]

I haven't seen Lucic play a shift since that fight. I hope he isn't injured.

[old_time_hockey]

Lucic with the HUGE win.

I look for the refs to even this out PP wise in the 2nd. That call against Franson just for a check on the side boards and then the Tigers player just drops was BS. That, and I counted about 2 maybe 3 times the Tigers could have been called for interferance for picks.

The PK is steaming along still which is a good sign. Hayzer will probably have 1 or 2 adjustments for the 2nd period too.

[old_time_hockey]

I haven't seen Lucic play a shift since that fight. I hope he isn't injured.

think they both got 10 and a game for dropping them before the puck drop even happened

[Beaner]

I haven't seen Lucic play a shift since that fight. I hope he isn't injured.

I think they were both sent to the room for the blood, on the uniforms.

They may be cleaning Lucics' uniform.....

[old_time_hockey]

Check out that play!!!!! Good shot by Franson. 1-1!!!!

[Hunt24]

Who knows less about the Vancouver Giants, Dan Russell or the marketing guy for the menopause cure?

Russell
shocked to see a fight at the start of the game. Then was shocked at the Giants set play that they've already used once this year.

or....

Marketing Guy
blew his entire advertising budget putting his commercial on a show watched by predominantly males between the ages of 20 & 34.

[Colin]

Marketing Guy
blew his entire advertising budget putting his commercial on a show watched by predominantly males between the ages of 20 & 34.

hahahaha, i was thinking the same thing... absolutely amazing.

3-1! i go outside for a few minutes and suddenly we're up by 2...

[Beaner]

Who knows less about the Vancouver Giants, Dan Russell or the marketing guy for the menopause cure?


I vote Dan Russell.

He is probably wondering why Triston Grant and Adam Courchaine aren't playing. :laugh:

[old_time_hockey]

Timmy Kraus with a clear breakaway stopped, rush by the tigers then another 3 on 1 rush by the Giants to make it 3-1.

and then this save by Holfeld on the PK. Flashes the leather.

What a game!

[Beaner]

Sounds like the refs are having a competition to see who can find the most penalties.

[Soundy]

Wow... got home and flipped on the radio just in time to hear the MH goal... then heard the three Giants goals while taking a soak in the hot tub (hey, it's been a long day!)... just got it on the tube now, halfway thru the second. Anyone recording this, by any chance? I'd love to see the fights and goals, sounds like all of them were spectacular!

[monke]

Check out that play!!!!! Good shot by Franson. 1-1!!!!

Insane play! I absolutely need to see it again. 3-1 Giants now, great goals by Machacek and Lamb.

Machacek's goal came from a face off win by Wright, back to Franson who winds up, shoots and Machacek tips it in.

Lamb's goal (First in 8 games) came off a 3-1 break out of the Giants zone. Lamb passed to Kraus for the onside, Kraus back to Lamb on his right and Lamb puts it top right. Great goal.

[old_time_hockey]

Sounds like the refs are having a competition to see who can find the most penalties.

I think the calls this period have been justified. buth the first was goofy

[monke]

Lucic and Bendfeld both needed stitches, I believe Lucic's were in the forehead/eyebrow area.

[Soundy]

Screw Dan Russell, I'm turning off the TV sound and cranking up the radio. For my money, Joey Kenward is one of the most exciting play-by-play guys in the business, NHL included. "Shoots and scooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeesssssssssss! !"

[old_time_hockey]

Dan Russel's lack of knowledge on anything really comes out when he is doing play by play.

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Great game and frustrating game. So many penalties. Yes, some are earned. But that's reason enough not to call all the borderline ones. If they stuck to calling the legit ones, we'd have a helluva game going here.
I may have explained this rationale before. ;)

[old_time_hockey]

Does anyone know anyone at the game in the Hat? Call their cell and get them to dump some popcorn or something on Dan when they are on camera.

That has to be distracting to have people walking behind you while doing a broadcast

[dj-kris]

Screw Dan Russell, I'm turning off the TV sound and cranking up the radio. For my money, Joey Kenward is one of the most exciting play-by-play guys in the business, NHL included. "Shoots and scooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeesssssssssss! !"
Russell sounds like he is going through puberty when he makes a goal call. And i can't stand how wilms feels that we are all first time hockey watchers and needs to explain every little thing.

[Soundy]

So do what I'm doing, turn down the TV sound and turn up the radio!

Wilms might be acceptable if he was doing radio color, but Wilmer, yer doing TV! We can SEE what's happening!

Frak... tying goal with 2.6s left! Off to OT... :clap:

[dj-kris]

good point radio yes tv no

[Soundy]

We used to do that ALL the time for Canucks games when Hughson was doing the radio PBP. Still do sometimes, especially when it's a Bob Cole game ("Mats Naslund" indeed... time to hang up the ol' headphones, Bob). I still think Hughie is the best in the biz, currently - nobody else "rrrrrings! it around the boards" like him, and when he says a guy "trips over the blue line" it really feels like the line reached up and grabbed the guy's skate :)

[Soundy]

Shoots And Scoooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeesss!

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Shoots And Scoooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeesss!
The Fransonian Rocket one more time. :bounce:

[Beaner]

Well that was a thrilling game. Once again I just listened to Joey on the radio, and let me say he did a fabulous job by himself doing both colour and pbp.

This was a special teams game aas every goal came either on a PP or a 4-4 situation. Not that the penalties sounded as cheap shots, lots of hooking calls (10+), and other interference calls.

It was hard to get a feel for how either team was really playing since there was so much special team play. Both Pk's played well, especially considering the sheer number of PP's.

NOTES
Sexsmith and Holfeld got the starts
Bouma (head) Cunningham and Toigo were the Giants Scratches.
Shots 36-31 Tigers
PP's Tigers 3/14, Giants 4/12.

GOALS
1. M.H Bosch, (6) (Glass, Bendfeld), 17:22 4-4, Bosch goes in down the wing and beats Sexsmith high glove side.
2. VAN Franson, (7) (Kraus), 0:06 (PP) 5-4, The set play works again as Franson and Mikkelson go in right off the draw and Franson snaps home the goal.
2. VAN Machacek, (4) (Franson, Wright), 3:17 (PP) 5-4, Machacek with the deflection fo the Franson point shot
2. VAN Lamb, (5) (Kraus), 5:05 4-4, Lamb and Kraus on the odd-man rush, they work the give and go and Lamb beats Holfeld.
2. VAN Franson, (8) (Bliznak, Reese), 15:16 (PP) 5-4, Yet another point shot that Franson unloads and he scores yet again.
2. M.H Russell, (8) (Ennis, Schlemko), 19:29 (PP) 5-4, Russell gets a shot thru with a tonne of traffic in front of Sexsmith.
3. M.H Swystun, (7) (Dorsett, Schlemko), 4:06 (PP) 5-4, Swystun gets the pass ont he open side and he tucks it in.
3. M.H Dorsett, (7) (Undershute, Helm), 19:58 (PP) 6-4, off a goal mouth scramble Dorsett pots int he game tying goal int he final seconds.
OT. VAN Franson, (9) (Mikkelson), 2:20 (PP) 4-3, And Franson once again unloads that big shot fromt eh point and beats Holfeld for the game winner.

FISTICUFFS
Dorsett vs. Hunt
This is right off the opening faceoff, and the way Joey described it both were unloading bombs.

Lucic vs. Bendfeld
Right after the Hunt/Dorsett fight, the 2 big boys have a turn, and this one sounded like another doozy, with both combatants going to the dressing rooms to get repairs.

OFFICIATING
Zalaski and Mclean tonight, and I just cant believe that there were just that many hooking and interference calls. I guess it was even for both teams, but hard to say.

OVERALL
A good win for the Giants in a specialty team game. From the sounds of the game, both teams deserved a point.


I'll wait to see what those who watched it have to say.

3 STARS
1. VAN - 6 Cody Franson
2. M.H - 10 Kris Russell
3. M.H - 4 David Schlemko

[Kassian]

Good game although it had the potential to be great (if only there weren't so many damn penalties called). That really did kill the flow of the game until the last half of the 3rd period.

[CatFan]

it would have been an awesome game if the refs didn't feel they had to be the centers of attention for the TV audience. I never saw so many stupid calls (on both teams) in my life. Still a hard fought battle between two good teams. Maybe Keetley in net would have made a difference, but Ryan Holfeld made some spectacular saves as well. What impressed me about the Giants was their aggressiveness on the PK, their pinpoint passing, team speed, and excellent point men. Where is their weakness? I couldn't see any. An all-around great team very deserving of their #1 ranking. The Tigers aren't there quite yet, but hopefully will have learned some lessons tonight, and get better as the year goes on. Hope to see you guys again in the playoffs!!

[old_time_hockey]

I guess in the end the penalties called were fairly even and justified. However I saw the Tigers get away with at least 3 clear interferance calls...especially in the 1st period.

It just seemed like the Giants would get called by the book and the Tigers would really have to commit an offence before going to the box.

1 weak goal let in by Sexsmith. He should have been hugging the post on the 4-3 goal. But other than that he was solid as usual.

Nice to see the Giants bounce back against the #2 team in the CHL after a less than A game performance in Red Deer.

That Lucic fight was great. They both got cut, but Bendfeld was leaking pretty bad. And one Lucic bomb rocked him pretty bad.

[monke]

Great game from both teams, glad to see the Giants getting the win though.

They worked hard, got that 4-1 lead and I was certain the game was ours. With 2.6 seconds left in the game, to see MH score felt strange. To have a 3 goal lead snapped back was somewhat unlike the Giants. Great game though, especially for Cody. 16 for 18, way to go boys. :groovy:

[Swando]

Then there were idiots like me that forgot that the game was on Shaw...and watched the "retchid" internet for the first 1.5 periods. I decided I wanted to check out the "chat" to see what you guys/gals thot and saw Beaners post Shaw telecast and said OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I forgot. The internet is my pet peeve and here I watch it ................ Oh well we won.

What's with the chat on WHL fans is there not a chat room working?

Congrats Cody -- hat trick and to JB for a draft pick honoree!!

[Soundy]

So did anyone tape/tivo/capture/record the game? I wanna see the fights!

[Tiger Trauma]

I thought it was a good game, although my buddy who's never been to a game thought it was boring.

I didn't really like the reffing, although most calls were justified.

Even though there were two fights right out the bat, alot of the first was a feeling out stage. I was impressed with vancouvers powerplay, and a few of thier "set" plays they have.

I like how they absolutly rip it around the boards, (instead of softly dumping it in), during a penalty kill to try and get the puck back right away.

I also like(on the powerplay) how they feed it over to the guy at the far side for a one timer, and have players rushing to the net for rebounds. As well as always trying to tip the puck in.

Unfortunately i wasn't back in my seat yet to see the vancouver goal to start the second

The Fights:

Dorsett Vs Hunt

I thought Dorsett won this one. Man were they throwing, after trading a few.......a lot of punches, hunt started putting his head down, and dorsett kept feeding them...although hunt kept throwing as well, but started missing I give the decision to Dorsett.

Bendfield Vs Lucic

Lucic won this one. Landed some really good shots.....bendfield was leaking as he left the ice. Both players got some good punches in, with Lucic landing a few more. I believe lucic also needed a few stiches as well.

There was a part in the second where the tigers fell asleep. Forwards got caught up ice, started taking some penalties, and vancouver made them pay for it.

[Beaner]

There are highlights up on the Tiger site of all the fights and goals for the game, right on the main page to the right.

http://www.tigershockey.com/home/index.php

Have to agree, Dorsett wins the Hunt/Dorsett scrap as he landed the most punches as Hunt didnt manage to land many. But it was pretty funny to see them backing up before the puck was even dropped.

Also agree with the Lucic/Bendfeld scrap, Lucic got the better bombs in.

But wow to doozy fights to start the game.

[Crosby rules]

Besides the fights, it was 2 points. but man, the Lucic fight was a good one. Reminded me of Jim Kyte vs Gord Kluzak when they were rookies.

[dondo]

well bear with me because I was working so I taped the game and just finished watching it -- os I just went through what all of you did last night.

Justified?? the reffing was abysmal -- the teams played the same game in the third that they played in the first and the second and the only real difference was that the refs put the whistles in their pockets. Anyway its Zalaski what do you expect.

here's my somewhat involved recap -- great hockey though despite listening to Russell, and having to weather a whole bunch of mindless calls from the officials.

This is not what the crack-down is all about -- the refs were calling what are called the "triggers" in their handbook. A trigger for hooking is raising the stick to waist level -- however the refs are supposed to wait for something to actually happen to call a penalty. Most of these calls were from the players raising their sticks and tapping their opponent on the hip and then getting called for it -- absolutely ridiculous and could have killed what proved to be an excellent game. Beaner its too bad you weren't able to watch this one -- it was a keeper.

the game was on Shaw so I taped it and only watched it this afternoon. Here's my take on the game -- other than the ridiculous refereeing it was great game.

my fairly detailed recap.


Giants Catch the Tigers
Vancouver 5 Medicine Hat 4 O/T

It was a battle of the two top ranked teams in the CHL and it would prove to live up to all the hype and more, incredibly horrific officiating not-withstanding. The Medicine Hat squad had dropped their last two games after ending their 7 game winning streak earlier in the week. The Vancouver team had just lost their first game of the season in regulation the night before in Red Deer, where a much better Rebels team taught them the lesson of not coming out to play from the drop of the puck. Both squads wanted bragging rights. Both teams were hungry to stop their losing from becoming a habit and both teams were very aware of what this game could mean far down the road. It would be the first of two contests between the two squads in the regular season with both games to be decided on Tiger ice.

The game opened with fireworks of the fisticuff variety. 2 seconds into the first period Garet Hunt and Derek Dorsett dropped the mitts for a middle fly-weight tilt which had both combatants trading punch for punch starting out with their rights and then switching to their lefts later in the long bout, which neither fighter clearly won. Then, off of the ensuing face-off the heavyweights stepped in for their proverbial kicks at the can. Milan Lucic and Jordan Bendfeld squared off and much like the previous fight traded blows, although of the heavier variety. Both battlers got their licks in and at the end with blood streaming from over Bendfeld’s eye they agreed to stop. Both players had to leave the ice to get stitched up as Lucic was cut around his lip and Bendfeld needed to get the gash on his brow looked after.

After the two teams got back to playing hockey Derek Zalaski proved why he is widely thought of as one of the more incompetent refs in the league, calling very marginal almost invisible penalties to send the game into a contest of special teams. The Tigers were hungry to get out on top and used the energy from their sold out crowd to push the Giants back on their heels for most of the period forcing the Vancouver squad to weather several back-to-back-to-back penalties. The Giants garnered a very uncharacteristic 3 shots on goal in the first period and the aggressive play and tight checking of the Tigers was a good deal of the reason. The Tigers managed to get one late in the period four on four. A nice chip pass by Trevor Glass to Brennan Bosch who cruised in on the left wing and snapped the puck past Sexsmith. The home squad were up by one going into the first intermission, out-shooting their opponents 14-3.

The Giants started the second on the PP and made no mistake as they put together what has become a set play where the face-off at centre ice is won back to the D and both defenseman skate on the outside in force on the offense. Cody Franson took the clean face-off and he and defensive partner Brendan Mikkelson stormed into the Tiger zone as a unit. Franson used Mikkelson as a decoy and snapped the puck five-hole on Ryan Holfeld to tie the game 6 seconds into the second period on the man-advantage. A few minutes later, again on the PP, Spencer Machacek redirected Franson’s shot to put the G-Men up by one. Then two minutes after that Tim Kraus and Kyle lamb combined to put the Vancouver team up by two. Off the rush Lamb fed Kraus in the slot who waited for the goalie to commit and then feathered the puck back onto Lamb’s stick. Kyle still had to lift the puck over the out-stretched glove of Holfeld as the ‘tender had recovered and regained a solid position to make the stop. Franson made it a three goal lead (once again on the PP) late in the second wristing a seeing eye puck through traffic for his second of the game and his third point of the night. The Tigers far from being down and out would get one back with under a minute to go for their first goal off of the man-advantage when highly touted defenseman Kris Russell threaded a wrist shot past a screened Tyson Sexsmith, getting the crowd back into the game in the process.

The Tigers were eager to come back in the third and the refs for the most part put the whistle in the pocket, but pulled it out again just long enough to give the Medicine Hat squad a man-advantage about 4 minutes into the third period. Tyler Swystun, standing at the side of the net, squeezed the puck behind Sexsmith who was not tight against his post on the play. The hockey would prove to be fast and furious as both teams got the chance to play five on five hockey the way it was meant to be played and neither team gave an inch until very late in the period. They traded PP’s late in the third but it would be the Tigers who would capitalize with a mere 2 seconds left in the game. The Giants failed to clear the puck deep in their zone and the puck got turned over behind the net. The Tigers batted the puck out front and it went off a Tiger skate to the open side where Dorsett tipped it into the open side to tie the game and earn at least a point for both teams.

The ensuing overtime started out fairly tenuous, but would change when Spencer Machacek drew a holding penalty by keeping his feet moving and protecting the puck as he wheeled around a fatigued Kris Russell who had no option but to grab Machacek from behind. The Giants would win the game on the PP as Franson garnered his hat-trick off of a wicked one-timer fed cross-ice to him from Mikkelson. After the game, I actually wondered what kind of game we would have seen had the two teams been allowed the latitude to compete hard and fairly and the officials not being so prevalent throughout the contest. The hockey in the third five on five was excellent. Solid chances for both teams playing pretty much as they had for the majority of the game, but without all the whistles.

The shots were 35-32 in favour of the Tigers which is a change for the Giants who usually out-shoot their opponents two to one. The special teams were very busy as the Giants went 4 for 12 on the PP, and the Tigers managed to get 3 on their 14 opportunities.
The Giant’s next tilt is versus the Calgary Hitmen who are on a roll of their own pounding Medicine Hat 7-2 by taking control in the third after a tightly played game throughout the first two periods.

Three Stars
1 – Cody Franson
2 – Kris Russell
3 – David Schlemko

[Soundy]

There are highlights up on the Tiger site of all the fights and goals for the game, right on the main page to the right.

http://www.tigershockey.com/home/index.php

Blah. Unfortunately the Videos link won't open up in Firefox at all (and before we get the inevitable deeply-clever suggestion that I just use IE: IE crashes regularly on my machine, usually within about 5 seconds of loading anything with Javascript).

[Tiger Trauma]

Blah. Unfortunately the Videos link won't open up in Firefox at all (and before we get the inevitable deeply-clever suggestion that I just use IE: IE crashes regularly on my machine, usually within about 5 seconds of loading anything with Javascript).

Just go grab the firefox extension, temporarily disable you pop up blocker, which allows you to download it. Worked for me:)

[dondo]

Blah. Unfortunately the Videos link won't open up in Firefox at all (and before we get the inevitable deeply-clever suggestion that I just use IE: IE crashes regularly on my machine, usually within about 5 seconds of loading anything with Javascript).

have you upgraded to 2.0 yet soundy? it could solve some of your problems.