The evening started off pretty crappy due to the Shaw broadcast crew being tremendously arrogant. For years now the broadcast cameramen set-up at the bottom of the stairs in the corner of the arena, but tonight they decided to put the cameramen in the middle of the row in the corner. In my section all of these front row seats are seasons tickets seats. When I informed him of this the intern (most likely as he was more cameraboy than cameraman) camera op lied to me telling me the seats had been “killed”. Not one of those seats had been killed and never before has any video camera operator set-up in the middle of the row. Even if the seats are not occupied, the camera op blocks the view of people in seats around him. To be blunt, someone arbitrarily decided to place cameras in that position without authorization. The camera op blew off the PNE host when he was brought into it and we were forced to involve the arena Giants rep (Service and Ticket Manager) to get the guy to move. The camera op stalled by saying that he was “talking” to someone.
Meanwhile the lights have gone down and the camera op is still in the middle of the row. He finally begrudgingly moved down to the end seat reserved for still photographers. This could not have been handled much worse, as the camera op never apologized for lying, for setting up in the wrong area or for being rude and obstinate. From the second period on he was perched in the corner at the bottom of the stairs. No Shaw rep came to apologize either. Very badly handled with very little offer of compensation or any real apology for basically usurping seats, which had already been paid for - the owner of which who had never been contacted. The owner of those four seats beside a very long-time season ticket holder and me showed up close to the beginning of the game and got involved as well. He frequently gives his tickets to clients and he would have been choked had they showed up with a camera op planted in the middle of their seats
Okay on to the game. As you can probably surmise I was not exactly focused completely on the game in the first period, but although the boys got a bunch of shots I felt they were just going through the motions for most of the opening frame. I liked their second and third periods more and saw better teamwork, puck support and hunger. We whiffed on a few chances on the doorstep, but we were there and trying for the puck. Lee did not have to be excellent for the shut-out, but he made a few timely saves and was solid with his positioning. The Gs cleared the front of the net well and seemed to be quick getting their sticks on loose pucks. The Giants broke the goose-egg mid second and then added some insurance in the third on the PP and an empty net goal when the PA coach pulled the goalie with about 2 mins left.
The Giants out shot the Raiders in the first, but it didn’t really feel like they had jump and cohesion. They weren’t awful in the first, just not together. Their attention to their play improved as the game went on imo. Jackson Houck finally broke the zeroes, tallying his fifth goal in four games – rifling a puck through from the slot. Carter Popoff and Dmitry Osipov got the assists. Joel Hamilton put home a rebound in the third on the PP to give the Gs a bit of buffer. The Giants were being rewarded for some hard work and missed chances leading up to the goal. Tyler Benson made sure he skated to the red line before firing the puck at the empty net to salt away the victory. Matt Bellerive and Mason Geertsen had the helpers.
Team Notes: Houck went down awkwardly into the boards late in the game. Noel seems to think he should be okay, but Houck did not come out for the “star skate” or for the final several shifts. Vladimir Bobylev found his way back into the line-up and Noel seemed to think his line was the best in the first period.
Zebra Cage: Mike Campbell and Sean Raphael … Seemed kind of uneven to me, but I never found it to be horrible.
The Giants out shot the Raiders 38-29. The hometown boys went 1 for 3 on the PP, while holding the PA boys to 0 for 5. Not really an emotional game for anyone. It had a few scrums, but nothing of import. I liked Sward’s jump tonight and he was unlucky not to get a goal. The Raiders were a bit sloppy with the puck and were fortunate not to be down by more. Houck, Benson and Popoff always looked dangerous. I liked Ospiov’s game more as well; he seemed to be making the simpler smarter play. I noticed Stukel and Foster.
I think the Raiders might have been a tad fatigued down the stretch as they played in Victoria last night. I felt the Giants controlled the play for the most part and deserved the win. The PA goalie was pretty solid and a bit lucky, but he was tough to beat down low. I did not mentally note him as one of my stars and I did watch two periods of him right in front of me. Had the Gs got to some of those loose pucks I suspect the game would have been out of hand earlier. A team just below .500 are the kinds of opponents that the Giants need to make sure they don’t let off the hook and tonight they didn’t.
That’s 4 straight victories and three for Claude Noel as coach. I expect the home-at-home series this weekend versus the Victoria Royals to be more of a challenge. The Giants head over the Victoria for a Friday night tilt and then return to the Coliseum for Ugly Sweater jersey night on Saturday. I’d love to see the Giants take both games, but I will be happy with great effort and the split.
Three Stars
1. Payton Lee
2. Jackson Houck
3. Nick McBride
Dondo’s Hardhat: goes to Lee… I like how he battled for the puck and pounced on rebounds. Good solid shut-out. Turning aside 29 of 29 will help bump up his stats a bit.
Giants 3 Raiders 0 (EN) - Dec 10th, 2014
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