Tri Cities 3 @ Vancouver 1 Dec. 5th

[Beaner]

Well that was one of the worst efforts I have seen from the Giants in a long time. The Giants played pretty good, contolling most of the play up until the point that they scored their first goal, and then they just packed it in. Very little int he way of puck support or smart decision making int heir own zone, and a total inability for the Giants to even hit the net ont heir few good chances after that first goal. A pretty bad effort tonight.

NOTES
Neufeld (knee), Cunningham, Wright and Toigo were the Giants scratches
Sexsmith and Price got the starts
Knudsen left the game int he mid point of the third after taking a puck to the face/ visor.
Shots 35-34 Americans
PP's Giants 1/8 Americans 0/6

KNUDSEN
Went down to block a shot from the point and got caught clean by the slapshot from Flatters right in the head. At first I thought it caught him under the visor, but he did manage to get up and skate off, after the trainer came out. I didnt see any blood, so I think the puck caught mostly visor/ helmet. Pretty scary moment I hope he will be ok. He was holding a towel to his eye as he skated off.

GOALS
2. VAN Repik, (13) (Lucic, Mikkelson), 4:23 (PP) 5-4, with Lucic parked out front and Repik collects the puck and deposits it open side.
2. TRI Procyshen, (12) (Mestery, Felde), 5:37 After Mestery gets tripped, he ends up sliding right into Sexsmith int he net taking him right out of the crease, and Procyshen collects the puck int he blue paint and scores.
2. TRI Boogaard, (2) (Kaye, Yellow Horn), 6:15 Trying to remember but I believe this cameoff a rebound in close.
3. TRI Yellow Horn, (18) (Hoff), 6:21 (SH) 4-5, and a 2-1 for the Americans. Mikkelson slides to block the puck which he does but it somehow comes out from under him right to Yellowhorn who catches Sexsmith out of position and he pots it home.

FISTICUFFS
Lucic vs. Boogard.
Right off the opening faceoff the 2 heavies have a go. The size each other up for about 2 mins. until they finally move and grapple for position. MOre grappling then a fight but each combatant managed to land a few good shoits in each. Both players looked a little dazed but this one is a draw.

OFFICIATING
Zalaski tonight.
Well I didnt notice the big sign on Sexsmith that said run me at will, but there must have been one. 3 Times tonight Sexsmith was completely run by the Americans and no calls. Now the first time maybe thats a bit iffy, the player was tripped cutting hard to the net, but Procyshen made no effort to try and stop or avoid Sexsmith. The other 2 times were blatant intereference calls, with Sexsmith in the net and players just deciding to go thru him. The roughing call on Kraus was weak, but besides that call and the non interference calls, it was allright.

OVERALL
Good effort from the Ams tonight as they really came at Vancouver when they saw Vancouver was not playing well. Giants puck support and individualism really hurt them tonight, as it looked like the team was not on the same page at all.

Bouma/Hunt/DUlle I thought was our best line tonight, they were actually working hard every shift and giving it all they could. Repik was the Giants best player of the night, he seemed to be everywhere and was really trying hard to make something happen. To bad the rest of his teammates didn't show up.

Sexsmith looks rattled. Every shot had a huge rebound and he seems to be floundering a little bit.

3 STARS
1. TRI - 1 Carey Price
2. TRI - 44 Taylor Procyshen
3. VAN - 26 Michal Repik

[Swando]

Beaner good recap--I thot that this game reminded me of the Giants last year that couldn't score until they learned to go to the areas of the ice that rebounds come to and "pay the price" for doing so. Lucic came into his own last year doing this and he was one of few plays that I thot stood out. Lucic and Repic were the offensive guys while I thot Regner looked sharp for the D men.
In saying this I can not help but thinking that the high tempo way the boys are asked to play has caught up to them with so many games is a short time. I could see Franson gasping and their legs seemed to have disappeared. Hay mentioned that they looked tired as well and will not be on the ice tommorrow. He aslo mentioned that Bliznak will most like going to the World camp as well for Slovakia.
I'm looking forward to seeing our farm team play for the next month!

[dondo]

Don't know why the boys looked exhausted tonight, but they did.

I was not impressed in the least with the Giants tonight, and Zalaski is challenging Rehman for the dubious honour of worst ref in the WHL.

and agreed Swando the boys just aren't willing to pay the price right now and they look more like the Canucks out there than the Giants I know and love -- where's the hard skate to the bench to change up?, where's the aggressive fore check? They did a decent job of keeping it in the opposing zone (except on the PP those just stunk), but failed to use the possessions to their advantage -- some seriously soft play for a team which was looking down the barrel of their third loss.

my recap says it all -- so here it is.


Americans Tax Giants
Vancouver 1 Tri-City 3

The Giants came into tonight’s game on a bit of a slide, dropping two in row for the first time this season. They put their WHL best 14-1-0-0 record on the line tonight and were eager to avoid losing three straight, or so they should have been. The team which actually showed up put in a half-hearted effort and were out-worked most of the night. The home squad looked as disinterested in winning the game as they did putting in the kind of commitment it would take to stop their losing ways. Battling awful officiating and their own ennui the Giants would fall to 14-2-0-0, which while still impressive sets a bad precedent especially in the way they lost.

The game started with some fisticuffs from Milan Lucic and Aaron Boogaard, which seemed to suck the energy out of Lucic rather than elevate the team. The fight took a long time to get started as the players drifted just out of one another’s reach until they hit the boards close to the Americans bench.. Haymakers were the punch of the day with both combatants landing big blows, but in the end it was a fairly uneventful draw. The teams played a very uninspired first period as they traded chances and skated up and down the ice with neither team taking control. Hitting was minimal and even though the Giants out-shot the Americans they really did not have an real solid scoring chances, giving Carey Price some easy saves to make with no traffic to speak of in front of the net.

The Giants played better early in the second and pressed the attack in the Tri-City zone, drawing a hooking penalty by keeping their feet moving and working while protecting the puck. They scored the first goal of the game on the PP, off of some nice work by Brendan Mikkelson. Brendan carried the puck off the side-boards and skated to the top of the slot where he found an open shot on Price. Milan Lucic was standing at the top of the crease screening Price (one of the few times the Giants ran a screen) and deflected the puck on net. Price made the save but the rebound lay to the open side where Michal Repik picked up the loose biscuit and snapped it home, putting the home team up 1-0. The Americans scored just over a minute later when the Giants got caught running around in their end and left Taylor Procyshen on the doorstep for the rebound. The Tri-City team added another one not even one minute later when a blatant goalie interference went uncalled and the Americans put the puck past a sprawled Tyson Sexsmith lying underneath Michael Kaye who stormed the net and ran down the goalie and then made no effort to get off the goalie. Referee Derek Zalaski allowed more than few pick plays, failed to call many interference penalties and then would call soft equalisers when one of the teams were on the PP. But as bad as Zalaski was though, the Giants have only themselves to blame for the loss as they put in a lack-lustre effort and did not take care of the puck.

The G-Men came out in third and killed off a penalty remaining from the end of the second. However this did not give them momentum and the Giants would be out shot 18-9 in the final frame. The Giants put in probably one their softest third period efforts all season and capped off their poor play by allowing a SH goal against just 6 minutes into the period. The Giants failed to get the puck in deep on the PP and instead played a poor passing game along the blue-line upon entering the Tri-City zone. The Americans easily stripped the puck and took it down the ice. Drew Hoff fed Colton Yellow Horn who took the puck right at the Giants net and snapped a hard one on Sexsmith. Tyson made a quick pad save, but could not get the puck as Yellow Horn gathered his own rebound and put the proverbial nail in the Giants coffin. The Giants pulled the goalie late, but could not put the puck past Price and suffered only their second loss at home this season, disappointing fans with their emotionless play more than the L in the stats column. Only Michal Repik and Brett Festerling showed any hunger tonight, but it was too little against Price.

The Giants did not play the game we are used to seeing them play and it’s a bit worrisome as this has been the script more often than not lately. Their fore-check was anaemic and their hitting was sporadic. The only bright spot was their PK when they brought their tight checking game back to the fore. Unfortunately, the Giants did not bring their signature hard aggressive play to rest of the game and were not willing to go to the hard spots on the ice to make the play, or get the goal. Price had to be good but not great and the Vancouver squad moved like they had lead in their skates. The Tri-City squad was hungrier for the puck, went to the net (running down Sexsmith on three separate occasions), and had very a aggressive fore-check frequently pinning the Giants in their own zone and got the win by out-working the usually out-workable Giants.

The Giants went 1 for 8 on the PP, while holding the visitors to 0 for 6. The shots were 35-34 in favour of the Americans. The next game for the Giants is down in Portland, on Dec 8th. They dropped a 1-0 OT teddy-bear toss night tilt there the last time they played the Winterhawks. The Vancouver squad will be eager to get off the current losing streak and return to their winning ways. Hopefully they manage to get in some good solid practices before heading down south. Puck drops at 7:30pm local time.

Three Stars
1 – Carey Price
2 – Taylor Procyshen
3 – Michal Repik

[Section_Z]

I'd be rattled, too, if I was run 3 times in a single game, playing under the "New NHL" rules...
It's a pretty nifty way to score, though...Push goalie completely out of crease...then lay as flat as possible so you don't block the shot....

[dondo]

I'd be rattled, too, if I was run 3 times in a single game, playing under the "New NHL" rules...
It's a pretty nifty way to score, though...Push goalie completely out of crease...then lay as flat as possible so you don't block the shot....

lol -- good one Z

--
having watched that happen with Zalaski to my right and the whole event unfolding before my eyes I could not believe that the ref did not waive that one off.

From my perspective nobody even touched Kaye as he flew into the goalie and lay on top while they scored the goal -- WHL reffing at its very finest :spineyes:

[Kassian]

I won't even comment on Sexsmith getting run and no penalty being called but am I alone when I say I'm quite disappointed in the team for not standing up for Sexsmith? It isn't just this game either it's been going on for the past couple of games now.

Sexsmith got run once against Prince George. The very next game Neufeld gets a teammate cross checked into him by a Seattle player. And then last night, Sexsmith got bumped a good three or four times. Not one player did anything about it at all. I can understand why nobody did anything in the Prince George game (Walker got a penalty for goaltender interference) but in the other situations no penalty was called. That really bothers me a lot. Earlier this season that wouldn't happen. Several players would be right in there.

I'd also like to say that "roughing" penalty on Kraus for bumping into a Tri-City player incidentally after a whistle was absolute B.S. Even that wouldn't be called in the NHL and needless to say that's pathetic.

[dondo]

I don't think you are alone there Kassian its time for the boys to stand up for their goaltender.

Sure you get the instigator but it sends a message that, esp when someone like Lucic sends it, you won't allow anyone on your team to be worked over and especially not the goaltender. I'm starting to see a lack of cohesiveness and a break down of team play and I don't like it.

[Kassian]

It especially bothers me right now because you'd think the team would be extra protective of their goaltenders under the current circumstances. What if Sexsmith were to get injured at this point? I don't like this at all. I really hope it's just a matter of the team being fatigued (even though that isn't a valid excuse in my books).

[Swando]

Last year was my "real " first year of following the Giants in great depth and not missing a game. I recall listening to Joey on the broadcasts in away games where the unthinkable type players would jump to the defense of one of their players who was cheep shotted etc. I recall Bliznakl fighting, Repik ( he's stood up for a player this year) Kraus, Albers the list goes on. I have thot about giving Bill Wilems a call and asking him to pose this same question to Hay on a post game interview. I have had these same thoughts for some time now and I think that this "sticking up" for one another went a long way to the Giants becoming a "team". Good comment Kassian!