dondo
12-14-2006, 01:20 AM
well I suppose I will start this thread as I was there and just completed my recap. No fisticuffs this evening and it took some individual efforts by Lamb, Lucic and Kraus to get the home team the W.
enjoy
and -- discuss.. :thumb:
Giants Nip T-Birds
Vancouver 3 Seattle 2
The Giants suited up a less skilled line-up tonight and at times it showed. Cody Franson, Brendan Mikkelson and Kendall McArdle are all away vying for a spot on the Canadian squad for the World Junior tournament. Euros Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak are trying out for the Czech Republic and the Slovakian rosters, respectively. The very sparse crowd had their first look at this years 1st round bantam pick, Evander Kane sporting Jason Reese’s old number 9 on his jersey. Kane is no stranger to big games as he has major tournament experience at all the levels he’s played. Tonight was also an opportunity for some of the young depth players to step up in minutes and responsibility and for the most part they all fared well in the game. Brent Regner filling a fourth D spot did especially well with the extra minutes and was a force all over the ice, garnering two assists on the evening and proving to be very solid on the back-end defensively as well.
The Giants opened the scoring at 3:26 of the first. Brent Regner fed JD Watt in the neutral zone and the rugged right winger cut into the Thunderbird zone and drove the net. Derek Yeomans made the initial stop but Kyle Lamb standing at the side of the net snapped home the rebound as Watt tumbled over Yeomans. The Giants continued to press hard throughout the first, but to no avail as Yeomans boarded up the net giving his team a chance to come back in the game. The home squad had a few lapses and the shoddy and inconsistent officiating didn’t help either team, as the players had no clue was and was not going to called. Both Andrew Guest and Pat Smith were guilty of letting something go only to call virtually the same thing at the opposite end of the ice. The first would end up with the Giants up by one, and leading the shot clock 13-4.
The T-Birds came out harder in the second, challenged the Giants in their own end and worked more aggressively along the boards. Curiously it wasn’t the young guys but the veterans who seemed to have the most trouble with the onslaught. Tyson Sexsmith was not stellar, but he played his usually solid game turning away 11 T-Bird shots and weathered a few PP opportunities from the visitors. Where the T-Birds challenged the puck carriers the Giants took away the shooting lanes and spent a lot of the game blocking shots and playing a patient game which would catch up with them in the third. The G-Men threw a mere 5 shots on Yeomans in the second and it would almost prove to be their undoing.
Seemingly content to sit on the lead the Giants were worked hard in their own end and gave the Seattle squad life. On a delayed penalty, barely over a minute into the third, the Giants failed to get possession of the puck and the Thunderbirds put the pressure on down low as they iced the extra attacker. Thomas Hickey protected the puck and got it to Bud Holloway who, as he usually does, found Aaron Gagnon cutting across the slot. Gagnon made no mistake getting it past Sexsmith to tie the game. Just 2:10 later the Giants got caught standing around in their own end, but it was mostly because they assumed that an icing was going to be called. Sexsmith raised his arm indicating an icing as the puck cruised past him behind the net. The linesman did not blow the whistle failing in the process to either signal an icing or waive it off and as a result Gagnon was first to the puck and was able to return the favour to his line-mate Holloway. Bud cut to the right face-off dot and flipped the puck past Sexsmith giving the T-Birds their first lead of the game. Kudos go to the Giants for not giving in but turning the tide and striving to re-tie the game. The refs meanwhile had put the whistles away in the third ignoring some very blatant penalties they would not have hesitated to call earlier in the game.
The snowball rolled back in the Giants direction and some nice hard hits in the Seattle zone gave the team and the minimal fans (some more interested in having some mindless horn honking contest than to pay attention to the game) a lift. One such hit was beautiful two for one affair with two G-Men squashing a T-Bird lab specimen against the glass in the Seattle zone. Tim Kraus would get the Giants back in the game by tallying a goal scorer’s goal, picking the top corner. Sexsmith launched the puck up ice and Regner tipped the puck to Kraus entering the zone at speed. Kraus drifted right and snapped a beauty top shelf on Yeomans to get the home team back in the game. It would take some time before the Giants would get the go-ahead goal but the fans and team would appreciate how it came about. Milan Lucic gathering the puck in the neutral zone and gaining a head of steam cut hard to the net keeping his arm out and protecting the puck from Scott Jackson who was beat soundly and trying to limit the damage. Lucic drove the net and flicked the puck across to Spencer Machacek waiting on the doorstep on the other side of the crease. Machacek tapped the biscuit into the tin as Lucic barrelled over Yeomans dislodging the net in the process, but not before the puck crossed the line.
The Giants played an up and down game tonight, and could have found themselves on the other side of the score sheet were they to have not had some strong individual efforts from players, like Kraus, Lucic and Lamb. Their PP was anaemic as they did not get any traffic in front of the net on the man-advantage, and were out worked as the T-Birds confidently challenged the puck carrier the instant they had the puck. Tyson Sexsmith was good, and Yeomans was better, but in the end it was thanks to some individuals stepping up and choosing to drive to the net instead of relying on the pretty pass. The Giants are saying that they have to get those kinds of goals, yet I find myself watching them play far too much along the boards and not crowding the crease like I think they should. Greasy goals or not they all count and I think the Giants need to re-discover what it is to be a team that other teams fear. Last year teams feared the Giants coming into their building, this there is a lot less of that than I was hoping to see. If the G-Men play the kind of game they played tonight versus the Silvertips on Friday they will not fare as well as they did this evening.
The shots were 30-28 in favour of the home squad and neither team were able to pop one in on the PP, with the Giants going 0 for 6 and the T-Birds 0 for 8. Next game the Giants take on the Everett Silvertips, on their annual teddy bear toss night. The ‘Tips will probably be without top goaltender Leland Irving as he will be at the tryout camp but sniper Peter Mueller, who has already been named to the US squad, will suit up for the Everett side. The puck drops at 7:30pm local time on Friday December 15th. Bring your bears to toss for charity.
Three Stars
1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Aaron Gagnon
3 – Kyle Lamb
enjoy
and -- discuss.. :thumb:
Giants Nip T-Birds
Vancouver 3 Seattle 2
The Giants suited up a less skilled line-up tonight and at times it showed. Cody Franson, Brendan Mikkelson and Kendall McArdle are all away vying for a spot on the Canadian squad for the World Junior tournament. Euros Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak are trying out for the Czech Republic and the Slovakian rosters, respectively. The very sparse crowd had their first look at this years 1st round bantam pick, Evander Kane sporting Jason Reese’s old number 9 on his jersey. Kane is no stranger to big games as he has major tournament experience at all the levels he’s played. Tonight was also an opportunity for some of the young depth players to step up in minutes and responsibility and for the most part they all fared well in the game. Brent Regner filling a fourth D spot did especially well with the extra minutes and was a force all over the ice, garnering two assists on the evening and proving to be very solid on the back-end defensively as well.
The Giants opened the scoring at 3:26 of the first. Brent Regner fed JD Watt in the neutral zone and the rugged right winger cut into the Thunderbird zone and drove the net. Derek Yeomans made the initial stop but Kyle Lamb standing at the side of the net snapped home the rebound as Watt tumbled over Yeomans. The Giants continued to press hard throughout the first, but to no avail as Yeomans boarded up the net giving his team a chance to come back in the game. The home squad had a few lapses and the shoddy and inconsistent officiating didn’t help either team, as the players had no clue was and was not going to called. Both Andrew Guest and Pat Smith were guilty of letting something go only to call virtually the same thing at the opposite end of the ice. The first would end up with the Giants up by one, and leading the shot clock 13-4.
The T-Birds came out harder in the second, challenged the Giants in their own end and worked more aggressively along the boards. Curiously it wasn’t the young guys but the veterans who seemed to have the most trouble with the onslaught. Tyson Sexsmith was not stellar, but he played his usually solid game turning away 11 T-Bird shots and weathered a few PP opportunities from the visitors. Where the T-Birds challenged the puck carriers the Giants took away the shooting lanes and spent a lot of the game blocking shots and playing a patient game which would catch up with them in the third. The G-Men threw a mere 5 shots on Yeomans in the second and it would almost prove to be their undoing.
Seemingly content to sit on the lead the Giants were worked hard in their own end and gave the Seattle squad life. On a delayed penalty, barely over a minute into the third, the Giants failed to get possession of the puck and the Thunderbirds put the pressure on down low as they iced the extra attacker. Thomas Hickey protected the puck and got it to Bud Holloway who, as he usually does, found Aaron Gagnon cutting across the slot. Gagnon made no mistake getting it past Sexsmith to tie the game. Just 2:10 later the Giants got caught standing around in their own end, but it was mostly because they assumed that an icing was going to be called. Sexsmith raised his arm indicating an icing as the puck cruised past him behind the net. The linesman did not blow the whistle failing in the process to either signal an icing or waive it off and as a result Gagnon was first to the puck and was able to return the favour to his line-mate Holloway. Bud cut to the right face-off dot and flipped the puck past Sexsmith giving the T-Birds their first lead of the game. Kudos go to the Giants for not giving in but turning the tide and striving to re-tie the game. The refs meanwhile had put the whistles away in the third ignoring some very blatant penalties they would not have hesitated to call earlier in the game.
The snowball rolled back in the Giants direction and some nice hard hits in the Seattle zone gave the team and the minimal fans (some more interested in having some mindless horn honking contest than to pay attention to the game) a lift. One such hit was beautiful two for one affair with two G-Men squashing a T-Bird lab specimen against the glass in the Seattle zone. Tim Kraus would get the Giants back in the game by tallying a goal scorer’s goal, picking the top corner. Sexsmith launched the puck up ice and Regner tipped the puck to Kraus entering the zone at speed. Kraus drifted right and snapped a beauty top shelf on Yeomans to get the home team back in the game. It would take some time before the Giants would get the go-ahead goal but the fans and team would appreciate how it came about. Milan Lucic gathering the puck in the neutral zone and gaining a head of steam cut hard to the net keeping his arm out and protecting the puck from Scott Jackson who was beat soundly and trying to limit the damage. Lucic drove the net and flicked the puck across to Spencer Machacek waiting on the doorstep on the other side of the crease. Machacek tapped the biscuit into the tin as Lucic barrelled over Yeomans dislodging the net in the process, but not before the puck crossed the line.
The Giants played an up and down game tonight, and could have found themselves on the other side of the score sheet were they to have not had some strong individual efforts from players, like Kraus, Lucic and Lamb. Their PP was anaemic as they did not get any traffic in front of the net on the man-advantage, and were out worked as the T-Birds confidently challenged the puck carrier the instant they had the puck. Tyson Sexsmith was good, and Yeomans was better, but in the end it was thanks to some individuals stepping up and choosing to drive to the net instead of relying on the pretty pass. The Giants are saying that they have to get those kinds of goals, yet I find myself watching them play far too much along the boards and not crowding the crease like I think they should. Greasy goals or not they all count and I think the Giants need to re-discover what it is to be a team that other teams fear. Last year teams feared the Giants coming into their building, this there is a lot less of that than I was hoping to see. If the G-Men play the kind of game they played tonight versus the Silvertips on Friday they will not fare as well as they did this evening.
The shots were 30-28 in favour of the home squad and neither team were able to pop one in on the PP, with the Giants going 0 for 6 and the T-Birds 0 for 8. Next game the Giants take on the Everett Silvertips, on their annual teddy bear toss night. The ‘Tips will probably be without top goaltender Leland Irving as he will be at the tryout camp but sniper Peter Mueller, who has already been named to the US squad, will suit up for the Everett side. The puck drops at 7:30pm local time on Friday December 15th. Bring your bears to toss for charity.
Three Stars
1 – Milan Lucic
2 – Aaron Gagnon
3 – Kyle Lamb