Kelowna 0 @ Giants 4 Dec 9th

[Swando]

2. VAN Repik, (15) (Machacek, Sexsmith), 4:46 (PP)
2. VAN Lucic, (13) (Watt, Franson), 19:55
3. VAN Franson, (11) (Kraus), 6:06 (PP)
3. VAN Wright, (2) (Lucic, Lamb), 10:20


I don't think Beaner was not at the game tonight so I will start a thread and give you the basics. Others more competant can fill you in.

No scoring in the first period - a solid performance by both teams.
Repik opened the scoring in the 2nd period on a heads up play by Sexsmith as he headmaned a pass on a sloppy Rocket change and hit Machacek who angled it to a speedy Repik who found the top corner over Westblum. It was pretty much all Giants in the 2nd as they dominated in shots (18-2 ?) and not letting up Lucic scored with 5 sec left on a nice play by Watt who rather than coasting and ending the period forchecked the D and stole the puck and passed in to an open Lucic who burried it.
3rd much the same as the 2nd as the Giants did not let the Rockets get back into the game. Constant forechecking by all Giants was rewarded when Franson scored on a beutiful feed from Kraus and the the 4th was scored on a combination of all Giants who kept the puck in the Rocket zone. It started with Kraus diving and keeping the puck in and then a scramble here and there which the Giants won and finally Lucic hit the post and off the back board and Wright was Johnny on the spot to make a nifty back hand to forehand to put it in the open side.

I'm not sure of the 3 Stars but I would guess it would be something like this.

# 1 Repik
#2 Franson
#3 Lucic/Festerling/Blum etc

Can't say enough of how the boys played tonight. Flatters stood up for Franson being x checked and fought McEwen and was badly cut by the look of things. Flatters was the instigator as well and took 2/5/10.
Hunt fought off the opeing draw and I think took a few to the face but Garret likes that - I'd call it maybe in favor of the Kelowna player but he was much bigger too -- but then who isn't against Hunt!!!

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Swando, good job filling in for the over-worked Beaner. :thumb:
Now THAT'S the Giant team I like. Right off the get-go they were skating, working and looking sharp. Didn't bother me that they were scoreless after the 1st period, because we took it to them and were going to be able to wear the Rockets down, which is how it worked out in the end. Everybody played well, with the Bliz/Repik/Lucic line looking great again. Nice game by the D-corps, too. Moved the puck well, jumped in to keep the pressure on in Kelowna's end and played physical in their own end. The forecheck was back to where it should be; punishing, grinding and relentless. Solid effort by Sexy, too.
No complaints at all, just a real solid game.
I'm happy to have my Giants back. :groovy:

[old_time_hockey]

I wouldn't give that fight to McEwan. He has a height and reach advantage on Hunt. Yeah he got a couple in at the start, but Garet got in a couple.

And check my sig to see what happened to McEwan the last time that he fought the Giants :laugh: Can you Pwned? :clap:

Good game by the Giants. Shots on goal tell the story of who was the dominant team with puck control tonight. The Giants PK was a rock of strength.

After I watched the Rockets shut down the Tips on Shaw last night I was a tad concerned. They were so good at keeping the Tips to the outside and gave them nothing. But the Tips were taking stupid penalties as well.

Anyone know why Chris Ray was a scratch tonight?

[rinkrat]

Anyone know why Chris Ray was a scratch tonight?

He did take the warm up,then as you say,he was scratched.


BTW nice sig punk rock

[old_time_hockey]

I would love to know what was going through McEwans head just before Lucic lands that one.

My guess is something along the lines of "Oh man....this is going to hurt" haha

[dondo]

I was working with beaner today and he wanted to be there, but some things made it difficult, so I promised him a good recap. :thumb: so f*** you Swando (thunder stealer) :D :p

Anyway as you guys have said already-- that's the team I like to see. Love to see that forecheck back now I want to see these guys go to the net and plant someone in front of the net and if they get bumped at the top of the crease to dive on top of the other goalie like the other teams have been doing to Tyson. I'd like to see a few more ugly goals out of these guys. Spencer go back to the front of the net good things happen (remember?)

anyway here's a detailed recap -- enjoy


Giants Douse Rockets
Vancouver 4 Kelowna 0

After their recent mini-slide the Giants were ready to re-establish their winning ways, and climb the WHL ladder once again. This resurrection began last night as the G-Men trounced the Winterhawks 6-1, in Portland and the Giants were hoping to reinforce their home dominance tonight. A crowd of 7,500, but looking much smaller, saw what ended up being a lively tilt after a tight first period where neither team took control of the play.

The first opened up eerily similar to their last home game where a heavyweight battle broke out between Boogaard and Lucic off the drop of the puck. This time a mere 2 seconds in it was Garet Hunt who dropped the gloves with James McEwan for a toe to toe battle. McEwan had a few inches on Hunt, but as usual the game Garet stood in there and gave as well as he got. Both combatants got in their blows and in the end it was more of a draw, with McEwan getting in some late hits to possibly get the edge. The Giants brought a much improved forecheck to the ice and were consistently sending in two forwards to press in the offensive zone. Despite all that work they couldn’t get the puck to the net and spent a lot of the time along the boards and playing perimeter hockey. As a result, Kristofer Westblom saw every shot and was able to make the save and cover any rebounds without goal mouth pressure. The two teams were five minutes into the game before either squad tallied a shot and it sat at 1-1 for shots for some time until they were both knotted at 3-3. Some late PP opportunities though allowed the Giants to get a bit more momentum and elevate their shot count to double digits (10) by the end of the first.

After wasting their first period PPs by not getting traffic in front of the net and even though they maintained some solid pressure in the offensive zone, the Vancouver squad did not look in danger of scoring in the first. The Giants finally scored on the man-advantage early in the second, not by moving the puck around the Kelowna zone, but off of a brilliant up ice pass by Tyson Sexsmith, who was solid but did not have to be spectacular this night. Sexsmith found Spencer Machacek standing on the Kelowna blue line completing a sweet tape to tape two line pass to the forward. Machacek dished the puck off to a streaking Michal Repik who continued his scoring ways by cutting in and snapping the puck past Westblom. The Giants would pad their lead with a mere five seconds left in the second. The G-Men had squandered some PP opportunities and weathered a few phantom calls thrown their way during the middle stanza, but were rewarded for a lot of their hard work at the end of the period. With seconds ticking down the Giants could have dumped the puck in and been satisfied being up by one, but JD Watt had other ideas. Cody Franson, who got a monkey off his back tonight by getting points for the first time in five games, found Watt in the neutral zone and its was all JD after that. Watt stormed the Rocket zone and cut behind the net holding off the Kelowna defense long enough to make a nice pass out front to Milan Lucic who pounded the puck past Westblom from close in. Watt had a particularly energetic game after being on a bit of a slide after leading the team early in the season.

The Giants continued their aggressive play throughout the third pressing the Kelowna squad and not giving them room to move the puck or make plays and in the process causing the visitors to take clutchy kinds of penalties. The home team capitalised on one of the PPs early in the third off of a heads-up play by Tim Kraus. Kraus gathered the puck in the neutral zone and coming into the Kelowna zone drifted a flip pass back to Franson at the point who wired a huge one-timer past Westblom who had traffic in font of the net and saw the shot too late as it creased the top corner. The Giants exhibited good team play and support when Flatters was tagged for an instigator coming to the assistance of Craig Cunningham who was levelled cheaply in the Kelowna zone. It was McEwan again and he had his visored helmet firmly on his head for the majority of the tilt, but that did not stop Flatters from pasting him with blow after blow. McEwan did not give in by any stretch but found himself more in the act of wrestling than punching as Flatters’ hand had to be getting sore from battering McEwan. The game was delayed a few minutes while they scraped blood from the ice.

The G-Men put the boots in a few minutes later as James Wright scored his second goal of the season earning it with a very solid night hitting and making some smart plays, for a rookie. Kyle Lamb got the puck to Milan Lucic who blasted it at the net and missed. The puck caromed off the end boards and a wily Wright, going to the net (always a good idea), was there to tuck the puck behind Westblom who was playing the shot. James Wright had a very good night and was visible every time he stepped on the ice ending up a very deserved +2 and a goal for his trouble and frankly I felt he earned one of the stars for his effort. The Giants cruised to the victory as they continued to strip the Kelowna players of the puck in all zones and not allow the Rocket team to get a shot through to Sexsmith, guaranteeing the shutout for the young ‘tender.

The Giants brought the kind of work ethic I love to see back to their game and although they didn’t screen the opposing net nearly enough in my opinion, they pressed very hard in the offensive zone and forced the other guys to cough up the puck on a regular basis.
Both of their PP goals came off the rush and not by working it in the zone. It felt like they were being too pretty on their PPs for the most part and going for that perfect pass/shot, instead of getting the puck to the net and looking for the rebounds. They did not crash or even plant a body in front of the net and even though they maintained puck possession they did not look to be a real threat on their PP pass-arounds. This is one of the reasons that this very successful team does not have a top power play in the league in my mind and something which needs to remedied before they form some bad habits. Hay is fond of saying that this isn’t skilled team it’s a working team which has to go to the hard places to score their goals and on the man-advantage they just aren’t doing that.

Anyway, the Giants out shot the Rockets 34-13, and went 2 for 8 on the PP, while holding their opponent to 0 for 8. The officiating was at times poor, but not criminal, however it did not seem entirely consistent due to Devin Klein calling phantom calls he caught out of the corner of eye and allowing some things go then calling something very similar at the other end of the ice.

The Giants lose five players to World Junior tryout camps beginning tomorrow and will have to refit their line-up for the rest of December. This can be an exciting time as Giants fans will get a look at some young APs (affiliate players), like 2006 first round bantam pick Evander Kane, second rounder Neil Manning and among other prospects and some of the current rookie players will get the chance to play some solid special teams minutes and find themselves with a bigger role on the team. Cody Franson, Brendan Mikkelson, and Kendall McArdle all have invites to the Canadian camp, while Mario Bliznak has a try-out with the Slovak team and Michal Repik will vie for a spot with the Czech squad. Good luck to all these players in their bids to play for their home countries. The Giants hit the ice next at home on Wed Dec 13th, puck drops at 7pm local time.

Three Stars
1 – Michal Repik
2 – Cody Franson
3 – Brett Festerling

[Swando]

Hey Dondo if I'd known you were going to do such a bang up job I'd only said WE WON and let you finish!!lol. Great re-cap thot Wright played great as well. I think you sit in the lower section in the corner? if I am not mistaken by your posts and in regards to the Flatters /McEwen fight I think is was a draw in the sense of aggressiveness but McEwn must have landed a blow or Flatters may have hit his face on the boards John left with blood running down his face and the officials made the arena gods come out and srape up the blood off the ice. Must be a league rule. I'm in Sec V 14 and I didn't really see what caused the cut. I'm glad Flatters went after him and I think it was for the cheap shot he gave Franson at the end of the 2nd and they were held apart at that time.

[rinkrat]

http://www.vancouvergiants.com/images/game33win.JPG
nice check Fester :D

[Kassian]

McEwan definitely won that fight against Hunt. But it was a spirited scrap nonetheless. McEwan is better off going up against Hunt and Flatters. He doesn't want to take another beating from Lucic. :D

Overall it was a pretty good game. It's about time Franson was able to hit the back of the net!

[Swando]

http://www.vancouvergiants.com/images/game33win.JPG
nice check Fester :D


Hey Rink how did you get that great photo? I'd love one of that.

Swando

[rinkrat]

Its on the Giants website.If you contact Chris Relke he can get you a hard copy... ;)

[Beaner]

Thanks for the recaps guys, very nice job, time to go back to work. :D

[Soundy]

A few of my own from last night's MOST EXCELLENT game, featuring the view from halfway up section P:

http://www2.moltenimage.com/photos/giants/IMG_3408.jpg

http://www2.moltenimage.com/photos/giants/IMG_3410.jpg
(Sorry, Tyson, glass got in the way a little...)

http://www2.moltenimage.com/photos/giants/IMG_3442.jpg

http://www2.moltenimage.com/photos/giants/IMG_3443.jpg

http://www2.moltenimage.com/photos/giants/IMG_3459.jpg

http://www2.moltenimage.com/photos/giants/IMG_3464.jpg

[scrunt]

Nice pics! You were even able to capture me and dondo in one of the shots, with dondo wearing his whlfans.ca cap (not that you can tell from the photo).

Those shots almost inspire me to take my camera to a game, though I'd probably miss seeing all the good plays by trying to take pictures of them!

[Carebear]

I like your pics!!!
My 2 fave people are in there! :thumb:

[Soundy]

Nice pics! You were even able to capture me and dondo in one of the shots, with dondo wearing his whlfans.ca cap (not that you can tell from the photo).

Cool. :) Which pic is that?


Those shots almost inspire me to take my camera to a game, though I'd probably miss seeing all the good plays by trying to take pictures of them!

Yeah, that's the one drawback to having your eye glued to a viewfinder. I usually try to not take the camera out until first intermission, and just watch the play thru the first period.


I like your pics!!!

Thanks!


My 2 fave people are in there!

Huh? I didn't include any self-portraits. Who's the other one? ;)

[scrunt]

Cool. :) Which pic is that?

The faceoff shot.

[prospera]

I wouldn't give that fight to McEwan. He has a height and reach advantage on Hunt. Yeah he got a couple in at the start, but Garet got in a couple.

And check my sig to see what happened to McEwan the last time that he fought the Giants :laugh: Can you Pwned? :clap:

Good game by the Giants. Shots on goal tell the story of who was the dominant team with puck control tonight. The Giants PK was a rock of strength.

After I watched the Rockets shut down the Tips on Shaw last night I was a tad concerned. They were so good at keeping the Tips to the outside and gave them nothing. But the Tips were taking stupid penalties as well.

Anyone know why Chris Ray was a scratch tonight?
ray stopped a peter mueller shot right at the end of the game.

[Carebear]

Huh? I didn't include any self-portraits. Who's the other one? ;)

AHAH, I like your style!

[GF71]

AHAH, I like your style!

You guys should meet...sounds like you have a connection. Maybe even a vibe. AHAHAHAHA punk rock

[Soundy]

The faceoff shot.

Now I know where to look, I'll be sure to avoi... er... I mean, to pop over and say hi next time :) My next game, unless the wife brings home more tix from work, is Dec.30.

[dondo]

lol-- yeah I'm in half-shadow (where's my key light? - man) and scrunt is a bit more visible in the shot-- stay away from CB Soundy she can be distracting :D :p

nice pics

btw PM me Soundy we're getting close..

[Soundy]

lol-- yeah I'm in half-shadow (where's my key light? - man)

Tsk tsk, I must have a chat with Ronnie about the lights in that place...


and scrunt is a bit more visible in the shot--

That should cover his 15 minutes then...


stay away from CB Soundy she can be distracting :D :p

HAH! I am impervious to such female distrac... er... oh look, VIP is on!

Alright, fine... I'm WEAK WEAK WEAK.

[TheBrass]

HAH! I am impervious to such female distrac... er... oh look, VIP is on!

Alright, fine... I'm WEAK WEAK WEAK.

Tsk tsk, shouldn't ever let on that you may have a weakness, it may well be used against you.

Not that I would do that................. ;)

[Soundy]

Tsk tsk, shouldn't ever let on that you may have a weakness, it may well be used against you.

Ghods I hope so! ;)