Americans 1 @ Giants 3 - Feb.21st

[Beaner]

A boring game to watch tonight, as neither team was able to mount much in the way of offense to generate scoring chances. Both Teams seemed to be extremely flat tonight, but there were quite a few good hits and some nice defensive work by both clubs, passing and shots was the exact opposite as neither team generated many shots or good passes. Giants managed to do just enough tonight to pull out the win, but I dont think either team played well enough to earn a win.

NOTES
Slade and Price got the starts tonight.
Mikkelson (Knee), Kraus (Jaw), Lucic (Hand), Reese (Shoulder), Rutherford (Shoulder), and Watt (Shoulder) were the Giants scratches.
15 yr. olds Lance Bouma (#14) and Tyler Wright (#28) were dressed for the giants tonight.
Shots 24/20 Giants
PP Giants 0/5, Americans 1/8

GOALS
2. VAN Brule, (15) (Albers, Machacek), 6:00 Albers point shot that Brule deflects high past Price.
3. VAN Brule, (16) (Bouma, Machacek), 5:02 Bouma tries to put the puck in the crease from the corner and it banks off of Brule and in.
3. TRI Beeman, (23) (McDonald, Gracik), 14:05 (PP) 5-4 PP, Beeman fires a point shot thru a crowd that goes past Slade stick side.
3. VAN Brule, (17) (Scharff), 19:29 (EN) Scharff chips the puck over the blueline and Brule collects and puts it into the open cage.

FISTICUFFS
None.

OFFICIATING
Zalasky was the "ref" tonight and he was terrible. Not much more to say about him than that, the Zalasky sucks chant was fun in the 1st period, in the third it was even more fun. Nice that that chant got on TV for everyone to see what we think of his job tonight. Brutal job, I don't know what he was watching but it wasn't the game I saw.

OVERALL
Well, I think the Giants put up a stinker but managed to get the win. A real lacklustre effort I thought from the boys tonight as they had virtually no forecheck, and for the most part generated no oppurtunities. PP was in total disary today, but credit Tri-cities for pressuring the Giants on the PP. Not much else to say, guess its nice to see the Giants get a win when they really didnt deserve it IMO, but it wasnt as though Tri-cities was doing anything to earn themselves the win either.

Wright I dint notice too much, but the few shifts he did have he looked allright, hard to judge in one game, but I think if he can get back to the team and get a few more games he could be good. He did have a couple chances, and didnt seem to hurt the team when he was out there.

3 Stars
1. VAN - 17 Gilbert Brule
2. VAN - 37 Dustin Slade
3. TRI - 1 Carey Price

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Beaner, I'm going to disagree somewhat with your view of the Giants tonight.
Playing without their two biggest wingers (Lucic and Watt) and replacing them with two 15 yo's, the team looked very small compared to the large TC club. I thought the Giants played a very resourceful game and stood in against TC very well in a physical sense. But there's no doubt that the team's depth up front is being severely challenged, yet they keep winning. I find that to be very impressive. I thought the undermanned Giants did exactly what they had to do to win; the sign of a smart team. Albers was brilliant I thought and Repik and Machacek were also standouts. But Brule was the difference. It was a godsend having him come back, especially with Kraus on the shelf. The Giants just continue to win all types of games. No it wasn't pretty tonight, but they once again demonstrated the ability to win a game in which they technically were sub-par. Another solid effort in my books. Even with the injuries, the Bigboys are a bloody tough team to beat right now.

[Jimmy]

OFFICIATING
Zalasky was the "ref" tonight and he was terrible. Not much more to say about him than that, the Zalasky sucks chant was fun in the 1st period, in the third it was even more fun. Nice that that chant got on TV for everyone to see what we think of his job tonight. Brutal job, I don't know what he was watching but it wasn't the game I saw.

Disagree.
He let a lot go and the calls he did make were rather obvious.

[Section_Z]

I think the Giants played the exact game that Hay wanted them to....
No it wasn't the 3 to 1 shots on goal that we have become accustomed to, but I stood at the top of my aisle towards the end of the second and watched us kill a penalty and then keep playing a very well played...yes..not offensive...but very well played 4 uninterrupted minutes of shut the opposition down hockey......
I think the score reflected the exact style of play tonight from our club....perhaps not the best we've ever seen, no, but a good solid game, with very few mistakes...
I say Congrats.....the boys are living up to a classic story of hardships, and they still keep on winning..
Good Luck in Prince this weekend, boys, the Coug's are gunning for a playoff spot....