Both teams looked very slow & tired, and the players looked like they were breathing hard after each shift. Probably fatigue, and I'm sure that some players are fighting sickness a little.

McArdle was a non-factor.

Zetariuk looked very good for the Silvertips. So did Ellington.

Strong was not impressive, and looked lost at times.

What was Irving thinking, leaving the net like that in the First Period???

Sexsmith did not seem very fundamentally sound. A lot more goals probably could've/would've been scored on him if we actually kept a player near the net when the puck would ricochet back in front of the net while Sexsmith was out (which happened numerous times). The one time that we had a player in front of the net for that type of opportunity, Fiala bobbled the puck and wasted the easy goal chance.

The Silvertips apparently *did* score a goal which was not counted. Several fans, both Silvertips fans and Giants fans who were sitting near the goal, told me after the game that the puck completely crossed the goal-line and then roll around and back out of the goal.

Give credit where it is due; the Giants played more like a TEAM last night. It was as if Don Hay told Rabbit & McArdle to lay off the intensity a little bit, so that they wouldn't control the game by themselves.

I have a feeling that until somebody shuts Beach up, his taunts are not going to stop. At the pre-game practice, however, he was pretty funny. The Giants staff had spent a few minutes building a small pyramid of pucks for the Giants' players to knock down as they practiced (and doing this still doesn't make sense to me). When Beach came out, before any Giants, he smacked a puck at the pyramid and knocked about half of it down.

It was good to see Sonne, too, for raising the team's morale.

The Sonne shootout goal was awesome! If you see that up-close, you will really appreciate how difficult it must be for an opposing goaltender to anticipate it out correctly. I couldn't figure out which way he was going to shoot it, and I have seen him do it multiple times!

Speaking of shootout goals, Mueller was due sometime.

And speaking of shootouts, I can understand why Vancouver chose Rabbit to go first. But for the second, must-get-in, shot they chose Repik! As soon as I saw that, I had a strong hunch that the Silvertips would win (and we did). Repik is a decent player, but in a must-win shootout situation I would have chosen a different player.

And speaking of different players, it was good to Hamill out there. His game-tying goal with a few minutes left in regulation looked awesome!

When Harty smiled it looked like he was missing a tooth. Was that from Friday night's fight?

That hit to Gutierrez' face tonight looked nasty!

The Giants fans were very quiet most of the game, but as soon as they would take a lead (3-2, 5-4) I would see & hear them boasting about how their team is the greatest, the best, the blah blah blah... Kind of funny how it wouldn't start until then, and how it would quickly end once the lead was relinquished.

On Vancouver's radio show after the game, the Giants PBP guy spoke a little about Mueller getting the #1 Star of the Game. He was praising Mueller's abilities and potential, and said that he is experiencing the best of two worlds: Learning defense from the best (Constantine) in junior hockey, then learning offense from the best (Gretzky) in the NHL. Pretty impressive to hear such a comment from outside of our organization.

Good win for the Silvertips. It should have been won by them in regulation, in my opinion, but it was a win all the same. And with a depleted, sick, and fatigued lineup, the Silvertips will take any win we can get!

The Silvertips still took 5 out of 6 total possible points this weekend, against very tough competition. And that says something.

The fans that I met in Vancouver were very friendly this time. A bunch of them said that we have a great team, and that the Silvertips seem to have the Giants' number this season. Let's hope that attitude and game-play continues in the playoffs, if these teams are to meet.

Speaking of a possible Everett-Vancouver matchup in the playoffs, let's keep the games on Rogers Sportsnet (i.e. national television). We do better & score more often than when it's on SHAW TV. And the viewers got to see an exciting game between the league's top two teams, too.

Lastly, when I got home from the game, I was sickened to read some disgusting comments posted by a Giants fan on another forum website (and then re-posted by other people on other forum websites). Voicing an opinion is one thing, but writing such a scathing post was quite another. Fortunately, much of those comments were deleted and the original poster was banned from the original website. Kudos to the editing/moderating staff at that website for stepping in and handling the situation, deeming that behavior as unacceptable.