T-birds 2 @ Giants 5 Nov. 15th

[Beaner]

A good win tonight for the Giants after their first home loss of the season tonight as they got back to basics and for the most part out-worked their opponents and went hard to the net to generate chances. I thought for the most part tonight the play was pretty sloppy, by both teams as the puck seemed to have a mind of its own as it bounced all over the place.

NOTES:
Slade and De Serres got the starts
Machacek (Shoulder), Wright and Regner were the Giants scratches.
Shots 26-18 Giants
PP's Seattle 0/4, Giants 2/4

GOALS
1. VAN Lamb, (7) (Reese, Franson), 1:05 Lamb cuts from the corner and throws a shot on net, De Serres misses covering up the rebound and Lamb flips it up and over the tender.
1. SEA Scott, (3) , 8:36 Mikkelson fans on a pass in his own zone, and Scott grabs the loose puck and rings one off the post and in.
1. VAN Bouma, (1) (Watt, Kraus), 13:05 Hard work from Bouma as 3 Giants are crashing the net, he finds it after the initial save, and falling down sweeps it in past De Serres.
1. SEA Nielsen, (2) (Olson, Boyer), 16:50 Point shot from Nielsen that hits someone in front and goes in on the open side past Slade. Might have hit Flatters but Im not sure.
2. VAN Lamb, (8) (Czibere, Reese), 0:18 (PP) 5-4, Czibre going down the wing dishes the puck to the front of the net as he goes behind the net and Lamb charging hard pots it home.
3. VAN Franson, (10) (Reese, Lamb), 5:40 (PP) 5-4, Weak goal here that Franson wrists from the point that just beats Deserres blocker side high.
3. VAN Repik, (8) (Lucic, Dulle), 19:34 (EN) Chip in from just over the red line.

FISTICUFFS

Hickey vs. Hunt
After Hunt gets run, Hickey goes after Hutn while he is down. Hunt comes up knocks HIckeys helmet then the 2 go at it. Hickey gets a few shots in early, but Hunt switches from lefts to rights and back to lefts catching Hickey more than few times. Hunt gets on last lick int hat lands fluch and puts Hickey down. WIN: HUNT

Stamler vs Hunt
After Hunt levels Eberle (?) with a clean hit, Stamler comes in to stand up for his teammate. The much bigger Stamler gives Hunt a few good shots and Hunt gets a few licks in as well, but the 2 tied up pretty quick and the linesmen stepped in to break it up. DRAW

Olson vs. Flatters
This starts right off the faceoff after the 5th Giants goal. 2 Square up and go at it. A few good punches thrown by both sides and Olson gets the take down and gets a few shots in with Flatters down on the ice. EDGE OLSON.

OFFICIATING
Andy Thiessen and Nicolas Dutil (LHMJQ) tonight and I dont know why Nicolas even showed up as he didnt call a thing or seem to do anything besides watch. Theissen did allright, but he had a couple calls that left me scratching my head, especially the roughing call on Watt for a clean body check.

Overall I guess it was a good job tonight.

OVERALL

The game was pretty good, but not as good as past games for me. Giants had a great first period, but really seemed to let up in the second period, nad had a terrible time generating any kind of chances in the second. Getting out-shot 12-5 in the second is never a good thing.

I liked most of the new lines tonight that Don used, Reese/Lamb/Czibre looked very good, Bliznak/Lucic/Repik played well, Hunt/Cunningham/Dulle did their thing, but the Watt/Kraus/Bouma line had their problems. Bouma had his best game of the year, but I felt that neither JD or Tim had very good games. For some reason the last few games it has looked to me like neither JD or Tim is that interested in working along the boards and fighting thru the checks to get things done.

3 STARS
1. VAN - 13 Kyle Lamb
2. VAN - 9 Jason Reese
3. VAN - 21 Brett Festerling

Hunt should have been in the 3 stars tonight, he had a fantastic game, and was the hardest working guy out there once again. Pretty funny having the crowd call for Hunt during the 3 stars.

[dondo]

I guess I might have seen a different game as I thought the Giants had great moments in the first but over-all were sloppy in their own end, and did not skate like they can. Maybe I was out of sorts tonight -- and as beaner said the puck was like a jumping bean out there.

For me the only player who played real Giants hockey tonight was Kyle Lamb (and not just for getting the points) and honorable mention to Garet as well.

read my recap to get my take on things -- I'd be interested to see if others got the same feeling watching tonights game.


Giants Pluck Thunderbirds
Vancouver 5 Seattle 2

The Giants were eager to bounce back after their first home loss to the hot-handed Kamloops Blazers, but you wouldn’t have known it by how they came out to play. Other than a few very motivated players the talk and bag skate following their loss did not seem to rev up the team tonight to face the Thunderbirds of Seattle. In fact I felt it was a battle for which least apathetic team would get the W. Kyle Lamb however, had a monster game and was one of the aforementioned players with guts and grit tonight. Garet Hunt drew two instigators from the Seattle squad with big checks and faired well in both fights and Jason Reese complemented Kyle Lamb on the new look line, garnering three assists on the night. Goals did not seem hard to come by, but there were a couple of very nice tallies, one by rookie Lance Bouma who notched his first of the season.

The Giants opened the scoring just 1:05 into the opening frame. Lamb made a nice hit on the end boards which popped the puck loose to Cody Franson on the near boards, flipping the puck to Jason Reese at the top of the face-off circle. Reese gamely took a big hit to make the play feeding the puck to Kyle who had cut in front of the net. Lamb took a shot and put in his own rebound off of Jacob DeSerres pad. The Giants then proceeded to bounce the puck all over the ice, miss checks, and skate like they were in quicksand. The Thunderbirds tied the game off of a very poor play by Brendan Mikkelson who coughed up the puck on an unforced error in his own end and gave Greg Scott a gift in the slot. Scott cut across the net and backhanded a puck at Slade which squeaked through the netminder for the tying goal. It was the Seattle squad’s first shot on goal.

Garet Hunt got his team reenergized off of a big hit on the end boards in the offensive zone. Thomas Hickey tackled Garet and got a few free shots in before the diminutive winger stepped back up and ripped off Hickey’s helmet. The two combatants traded blows and drifted away from the boards while exchanging blow for blow. Garet got a couple of late over-hand hits in (a novelty for the 5’8” fireplug of player) and finished with an uppercut and the marginal takedown for the slight edge. He drew an instigator from Hickey and gave his team and the small crowd a lift. Lance Bouma put the G-Men back up by one playing with Tim Kraus and JD Watt. Bouma worked the puck behind the net, bouncing it to Kraus who chipped it up the boards to Watt. Watt took a shot into the traffic created by Bouma who had gone directly to the front of the net. Bouma was crosschecked and hauled down to the ice and on his belly managed to sweep the puck past DeSerres. However, the Seattle squad would notch another one to tie it back up just after failing to capitalise on their PP. It was their grind line who would get a drifter to the net and bounce the puck off a T-Bird shin pad and in behind Slade for another ugly one. It was the Thunderbirds second shot on goal. The Giants held the Thunderbirds to two shots in the first and were tied at 2’s at the end of the period.. what the... ?

The Giants began the second on the PP (which carried over from the previous period) and were back up by one just 18 seconds into the middle stanza. Lamb would get his second of the game going to net on the PP, assists went to Reese and Mitch Czibere who had a bit of a rough night handling the puck but did some good things none-the-less. The rest of the second was a back and forth affair, as neither team really seemed interested in pressing the attack and neither squad really found a decent handle on the puck. The Giants who are normally a very fast skating team were appearing very ordinary on the blades this evening. Maybe Hayzer’s bag-skate had taken too much of a toll on their endurance. It was the best period for the Seattle squad as they managed to add another 12 shots to their tally with the G-Men uncharacteristically notching a mere five. Slade did not have to be good in the second, just there, in position, which in itself seemed to be a bit of struggle for him at times. The shots on net were mostly simple ones even though the puck continued to dip and bounce throughout the game.

Garet Hunt levelled a Seattle player with his head down with a clean open ice hit in the T-Birds end of the ice, early in the third period. D-man Bretton Stamler took umbrage and cross checked Hunt to the ice. The boys dropped their gloves and went at it and even though Stamler got some early hits on Garet, the tough pitbull stood in there until he got his chance once again eventually getting the marginal take-down as both players fell to the ice. Hunt would once again draw an instigator from the US division squad and put his team on the PP. Lamb would get his third point of the game on the ensuing man-advantage chipping the puck to Reese cruising through the high slot. Reese drifted the puck over to Franson who saw daylight on the short side from the point and picked his spot. The T-Birds pulled their goalie with about 1:45 to go to no avail. The Giants would finish off the squad’s chances with less than thirty seconds left in the game as Repik notched the EN, off of Milan Lucic and Kenton Dulle. The two teams weren’t done as the Seattle team decided to try to make a statement as towering Benn Olson took on John Flatters for a lively final tilt of the evening which also ended in mostly a draw.

It was an odd night – upon review it seemed like a lot happened, but maybe it was the small crowd or lack of energy in the building itself, but the Giants did not put their best game out on the ice and I feel if the other team had really been hungry for the win the Giants might have been surprised. The G-Men drew the T-Birds back-up ‘tender and they had some nice goals but it didn’t feel like they had to work that hard for them. Kyle Lamb had his best night of the season and was suitably rewarded for his efforts and other than the few mentioned above stood head and shoulders above his team-mates, in terms of making plays, finishing checks and having the hunger and intensity I expected from the whole team, especially after their first loss at home which broke their prodigious home-ice streak. It felt less like the sharp quick game that the Giants usually execute, and more like a Keystone cops fire-drill out there. Maybe I was spoiled watching them win all those games earlier in the season, but what I saw was a bit of a head-scratcher (even though on paper it looks like it was a great game) and by the looks on the faces of those around me I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

The Giants went 2 for 4 on the PP while holding the T-Birds to 0 for 4. Shots were 26-18 in favour of the G-Men. Their next tilt is on Saturday the 18th of November, for a “ Captains of the Coliseum night”, taking on the visiting Regina Pats. Puck drops at 7:30p.

Three Stars
1 – Kyle Lamb
2 - Jason Reese
3 - Brett Festerling

I would have given a star to Garet Hunt for his efforts out there, though. He more than any other players got the Seattle team off their game.

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Horrible game. The Giants D were BRUTAL with their giveaways, Franson being the worst. But Seattle's forwards were so bad, that they couldn't capitalize on the numerous gifts the Giants D were handing them. The only Dman who wasn't afflicted was Fester, who continues along with his stellar play. Scott Jackson should be absolutely embarrassed by Lamb's opening goal. Lamb gave him a nothing move while almost standing still, Jackson goes for it and Lamb steps around him. It was perhaps the most pathetic play I've ever seen at this level of hockey. Brutal. Then the goalie didn't look a whole lot better when he couldn't handle the weak backhander along the ice, kicks it back onto Lamb's stick and...voila, one of the weakest goals you'll ever see. Hunt was a killer again. two fights and three blow-'em-up hits. I thought he lost the second one to Stamler, who threw an awful lot of punches that looked like they connected to a degree. Bad game by Franson, but a brilliant slight-of-hand goal as he looked cross-ice to pass while snapping it up over the goalie's shoulder. Great shot.
Overall, a very forgettable game by a couple of pretty uninspired teams. Good to see a 16 yo finally score, though. :thumb:

[rinkrat]

Hunt was a killer again. two fights and three blow-'em-up hits.

How does Hunt not get a star in that game?
I don't put alot of stock in the three stars,but Hunt deserves some recognition.He was easily worth the price of admission last night. applause

[old_time_hockey]

I was one of the many calling Hunts name just before the 3rd star.

Having the fans want to see you as a star, even though it doesn't go down on the official score sheet, is pretty good recognition in my books. I think Hunt knows the fans love his game.

[ihlemic10]

Whats with the Q officials doing dub games lately? Did the league bit off more than they could chew with '40% of games with two referees' ruling? From what I have heard, the Q officials have just been bodies on the ice during the games, not doing much at all.

[Beaner]

Whats with the Q officials doing dub games lately? Did the league bit off more than they could chew with '40% of games with two referees' ruling? From what I have heard, the Q officials have just been bodies on the ice during the games, not doing much at all.

I am pretty sure they sent either OHL or Q refs 2 years ago as well.

Not last year as the WHL didn't change their rules to the NHL standard last year, like the other 2 leagues.

[Swando]

I was pumped prior to the game especially making it thru traffic with the power outages.. The way I saw it was this..

The team was pumped up as were the fans. We scored early and everything was going to schedule. Hunt's fight etc.. Then a give away goal and another lucky goal by Seattle put everyone in their seats wondering when the "implosion" would occur. Thankfully it never did. Giants played sound D --not many scoring chances at all over the 3 periods. It was one of those games that I am glad we won but wasn't very entertaining for the fans.