Giants 6 Cougars 5 - Jan 11th, 2014
Giants Scratch Cats
Vancouver 6 Prince George 5
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Oddly the WHL stats sheet is wrong, conveniently ignoring a goal scored by the Cougars when they had the goalie pulled just after Cain Franson failed to score into the empty net. The game itself was also very odd. Goals were not hard to come by in this one. Players tended to score at will. The first period ended with the Giants up 5-2 as 7 goals were scored in the period. The G-Men slumped in the second allowing the Cats back into a game they should have been well out of, but not on this night. There were some good goals, some soft goals and some smart goals in this one, often on back to back shifts. The Giants scored an early goal in the third, getting some breathing room they would actually need. The third was back and forth, with disaster reffing and too many easy chances. The Giants should have had the two points locked up in the second, but they allowed it to get close and did not take full advantage of a rookie WHL goalie put into the net after the Giants 4th goal.
Tim Traber opened the scoring 49 seconds into the game. Dalton Thrower made a very smart veteran play coming in off the wing. He fired for the far-side pad and Traber streaking down the slot pounded home the rebound. The Cougars responded about five minutes later with two goals in 18 seconds. Not to be out-done, under a minute after that the Giants scored two goals in 15 seconds. Joel Hamilton took a great pass from Thomas Foster behind the net. Dalton Sward with the other helper. Then newest Giant Dominik Volek fired home one of his own. Carter Popoff and Tyler Morrison had the assists. All four Giants lines scored when Ty Ronning lifted a puck up and over Ty Edmonds with a nice lunging chip-shot. The assists went to Rob Trzonkowski and Brett Kulak. The Cougars pulled Edmonds in favour of Andrew Beukeboom, a one-time Giants asset playing in the AJHL. It took a couple of minutes for Mason Geertsen to solve Beukeboom with shot through traffic from the point. It was the Giants fifth goal of the period. Arvin Atwal and Volek got assists on the Geertsen goal.
The second was a completely different kind of period. The Giants after getting 18 shots on net in the first managed only 7 in the second and backed off considerably. Credit the Cougars who have been a tenacious team who do not give up this season. The Cats scored two in the second closing the gap to one goal. Jackson Houck found twine 42 seconds into the final frame, giving the Giants a buffer. The Cougars pulled their goalie with two minutes left in the game. Franson had a chance to score, but missed the empty net and as is with this kind of game the play went back up the ice where the Cougars scored to close the gap to one. The Giants were able to hold on for the win, despite battling ridiculously stupid officials.
Team Notes: The Giants dealt Anthony Ast for a 3rd round pick in 2016. There’s rumour I heard that Ast’s agent requested his client be moved. Ast was a Giants’ 1st round pick. He had the skill and the drive, but continually battled the injury bug while he was here. The G-Men acquired 19 yr old Czech forward Dominik Volek from Red Deer for a 3rd in 2015 and 4th in 2016. The G’s also dealt the rights to 19 yr old goaltender Adam Beukeboom for a 7th round pick.
Rookie Watch: Ty Ronning had a good feisty night playing with Trzonkowksi and McEvoy. He got a gutsy goal and laid the body on some bigger players well. He was also mugged behind the net by a very large defenseman and bounced back Gallagher-like. Alec Baer had a bit of jump, but one of the few players on the Giants to have no points. Osipov also had no points, but he made some good plays defensively.
Fight Night: No fights, but there should have been. The Cougars were allowed to take liberties throughout the game with no calls of consequence going against them.
Zebra Cage: Dexter Rasmussen and Fraser Lawrence … It really rarely gets worse than the offal of ineptitude these officials strew upon the ice. Inconsistent. Blind. Stupid, and completely unaware. Players hauled down on breakaways - no calls, Players having legs chopped out from underneath them - no calls. Unprovoked muggings and punches to the head - no calls. Pick plays and interferences all over the ice - no calls. Couldn’t drop a puck, couldn’t figure out an icing and couldn’t call a balanced game if their very lives depended upon it. This is not sour grapes this was simply abysmal. Top it off with not calling a icing play with seconds left, the game ending and then after the fact (something they are not allowed to do or review) hold the teams on the ice, put two seconds back on the clock (when it was never blown down and time was allowed to elapse) and have a face-off. Freaking Ridiculous. All that was missing were their red noses because they were a couple of clowns.
The Giants outshot the Cougars 40-26. They went 0 for 1 on the PP, while the Cougars went 1 for 4, scoring on a two-man advantage early in the second. It was one of those games, where goals were not hard to come by, the ice shifted greatly and pathetic officials gummed up the whole works to make it even more of mess. Not one of those games you pin to the bulletin board as an example of how it’s done. In the end though, they got two points. In regulation. Rathjen’s SV% took a beating though and has probably slipped below .900 again. All four Giants lines scored and only three Giants players failed to notch a point. Despite it being an awful game in so many ways, it was also an exciting and head-scratching game. Just one of those very odd games. Good to come out with the win.
The Giants have a day off to watch the Seahawks play, before taking on the Portland Winterhawks for the first time at home this season. The Giants cannot be so sloppy in Sunday’s game or the Winterhawks will make them pay the price. The Gs are still trying to catch the Silvertips and climb the standings. The G-Men will have to bring the level of game they put forth against the Rockets if they hope to be competitive. The boys play well at home though and they have shown they can contend with the best of them this season, so you never know. The puck drops at 5pm PST at the Coliseum.
Three Stars
1. Brett Kulak
2. Cain Franson
3. Zach Pochiro
