Giants 4 Royals 0 - Dec 13th, 2014
Nice streak we got going, but this too will pass and things will even out. We have played Kelowna twice so far and have 6 more games versus the recently beefed up behemoth. We play the surging Silvertips this Tuesday and I don't expect a victory and have three more after that. We need to recognize some reality and not be so quick to see ourselves as true contenders. It will take more than a win streak to make the playoffs in a great position, but as I said before stranger things have happened. That's why we play the games, instead of shuffle numbers. I'm not being negative, just acknowledging some facts. A lot of which can go right out the window if the team gets a surge of confidence that has them playing way above their collective skill level.
Giants Mace Royals
Vancouver 4 Victoria 0
Quote:
I really didn’t see this one coming. I expected the Royals to bounce back and really drive the puck to our net and force us to respond, but instead they floated through the first period and allowed us to get our PP going. The Giants had great effort at both ends of the ice, but really they did not face much of a challenge. Are the Royals missing Lowry behind the bench and Hicketts behind the blue-line that much? Noel is saying that the boys are wanting to win and putting in the effort to make that happen. The poor puck luck of November is a thing of the past and the Giants are making their chances count, out-scoring their opponents 25-10 during the recent win streak, which is now up to 8 games. You have to go back to fall of 2011 to find our last 6 game win streak. It’s a nice streak, but there have been a few games in which we really haven’t played our best hockey, but the past two games have been full effort at both ends of the rink for the majority of each of the 60 minute games. I really don’t know if it is more that the Royals are not showing up except for flashes or the boys are living up to their potential, but it is a fun run while it lasts. Everett, who are sitting in the top ten of the CHL, come to visit the Coliseum on Tuesday and if the Giants can continue their win streak versus some of the best then I will begin to believe this might be capable of being far more than the sum of their parts.
Mason Geertsen continued his tear scoring four minutes in on the PP. A really nice set-up pass by Brennan Menell laid the puck out on a platter for the one-timer. Joel Hamilton had the other helper. Josh Thrower scored his 6th from the point on a PP later in the period. Matt Bellerive and Geertsen had the assists. Early in the second Alec Baer went to the net and found some twine. Dakota Odgers and Hamilton got the extra points. A bit later in the second Geertsen scored his second game from the point on the PP. Interestingly enough the shot before from the point on the other side was a bit high and as I was commenting on that, Geertsen wired a much better shot that found twine. Again it was Menell with a perfect set-up. Thomas Foster got the other helper this time around. The goal chased Victoria back-up Jayden Sittler (any relation to Daryl?) from the net to be replaced by Coleman Vollrath. It felt to me like the Giants backed-off in the third and to be honest when a team sits back, equalizing goals tend not to be far behind, but the Gs kept up enough pressure in this one and Cody Porter made a few great stops down the stretch to preserve the shut-out and the win.
Team Notes: You can’t tell the players without a program. Some number changes. Dakota Odgers is now #18, from I believe #36 and Vladdy Bobylev has made yet another number switch. Formerly #47 before the arrival of Thrower who got his brother’s old number, Bobylev changed to #32 (not really a memorable number in my mind and I was wondering why a mainly offensive player would choose such a digit). I suppose Bobylev thought the same thing as he was sporting one of my all-time favourite Giant player Garet Hunt’s #24. And no kids those are not hashtags, but number signs. Ronning, Houck and Kirichenko remain injured and McKinstry and Ramsey were both scratched.
Fight Night: Not the emotional game I was expecting. In fact I felt the Giants resembled the Tri-City Americans with their efficiency without emotion.
Zebra Cage: Dexter Rasmussen and Reagan Vetter. Not two of my favourites for good reason. Tonight I really didn’t see any penalties worthy of being called. Marginal checks were mostly clean. Interferences were often players running into players who had position on them and the player with position getting the sin bin. The Boarding was two players going for a puck and sadly is often called in today’s game, but is not in my mind ever worthy of a whistle. Silly roughings and nudges being called “cross-checks” talk about precious - ----- my preciousssssss….. my precioussss whistle…. – musssst blow, muuuussssttt blow… I never even heard a board rattle. What sad days are these when zebras like this are allowed to call such a soft game.
The Giants out-shot the Royals for the second game in a row. The final being 51-27 G-men. Once again the special teams were on fire. Giants were 3 for 3 at one point and ended up 3 for 5 when all was said and done. The Royals went 0 for 5 with the best chances on net from the Giants short-handed, in my estimation. Another complete effort across the roster, but Geertsen was really special tonight and not in the Olympic kind of way. I also thought the best line 5 on 5 was Hamilton, Odgers and Baer. I liked Foster and Sward doing the little things and really couldn’t fault any of the defensemen in this one. Porter was not required to be amazing, but he had to make a couple of robbery stops to preserve his shut-out. Not a big crowd, but some good solid hockey. Not a whole lot of highs and lows other than goals, but they got the job done. Another thing reminiscent of the Ams.
The newly energized Giants will face a really tough challenge on Tuesday when the Constantine lead Everett Silvertips come to town. It will be the Giants last home game before the Christmas, or whatever holiday you observe, break. The Tips are on the CHL top ten list and have been dominant in the Dub. If the boys can continue their winning streak versus this team I will be impressed. I only hope the Tips aren’t playing the Constantine trap-hockey of old, cause with the new kinder gentler Dub AND the neutral zone trap I will be beyond bored whether we are winning or losing. Puck drops at the Rink on Renfrew on Tuesday at 7pm.
Three Stars
1. Mason Geertsen
2. Cody Porter
3. Joel Hamilton
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Geertsen, Geertsen, Geertsen
