The Giants gutted out another win. It seems those are the only kind of wins they could get in this one as the young Blazer team did not lack in intensity, but the Giants are capable of out-lasting them in a full 60+ minutes. Mucha was sat in favour of Groenheyde, with the same results. Round 1 is over, bring on Round 2. Zebras a bit too hands-off and "let them play", but I suppose I prefer that over the other way. Cunningham was also his usual monster self. Good win, great sweep. So does Shaw shift to different series now, maybe Everett/Kelowna, or Kootenay/Medicine Hat?

Giants Brush Blazers
Rnd 1 Game 4: Vancouver 5 Kamloops 4

Don Robinson

The Blazers came out flying and pinned the Giants in their own end of the ice for a good third of the opening frame, as the Giants failed to get a shot on net for the first 7 minutes of the game. The Giants struggled to get out of their own zone at times and when they did rattled more than their share of rubber off of the red iron. The Blazers got the only goal of the first on the PP. The Giants reloaded for the second period and came out, harder and a bit more intense, yet not quite full on. The Blazers stayed about equal in intensity. The Giants tied the game early in the second. Kamloops got that back before Vancouver potted two more, taking the lead for the first time in the game. Kamloops was able to get the tying goal on the PP before the end of the second sending the teams to the third tied. Despite the Giants early pressure in the third, it was the Blazers scoring their first even-strength goal of the game to pull ahead once again. The Giants evened it up less than a minute later and then went into their full intensity mode, pressuring the puck and cycling it tenaciously in the Blazers end of the ice. The work paid off, as they were able to get the go-ahead goal about 5 minutes later. The Blazers now have an amazing 19 straight game playoff losing streak.

Colin Smith opened the scoring on the PP, going to the net and tipping a nice pass past Mark Segal. The refs in this one seemed to have a hands-off policy, calling very few penalties in the game which was a blessing for the Giants, even though they ignored some pretty clear clutching, as the Blazers were 3 for 3 in the game on the man-advantage. Milan Kytnar scored off the rush, squeaking a puck through Jon Groenheyde’s pads to tie the game in the second. Kevin Connauton and Brett Breitkreuz did some good work to get the puck to Kytnar.

The Blazers went ahead on a weird PP marker that I still believe should have been waived off out of principal. Jake Trask, with the puck in his uniform skated right into the net and allowed the puck to drop behind the goal line from out of his gear. The replay does not show whether or not he held the puck or it was just caught up, but for me the principal behind this is that it was carried into the net by a player and should be treated the same as closing your hand on the puck and throwing it into the net. The league should definitely review the play though; to determine what the official call will be were this situation ever rise again. The Giants were able to tie it back up just past the midway mark of the period on their only PP marker of the game.

Brendan Gallagher got the puck to go off of some great work by Lance Bouma and Craig Cunningham. James Henry scored an unassisted tally a few minutes later to the give the Giants their first lead in regulation in Kamloops in these playoffs. Austin Madaisky who has had a coming out party of sorts this series, found the net through traffic from the point. Colin Smith grabbed back the lead mid third, but it was all Giants after that as they stepped their game into another gear. Craig Cunningham batted the puck in from his belly after being hauled down fighting to the net. The puck was loose and a scrum ensued, but the puck trickled past the goalie’s pads and across the line. The Giants kept up the pressure and were all over the puck trying to get the go-ahead goal, which they managed to do about 5 minutes later. Bouma used some very solid work in his own end of the ice to get the puck up to James Wright who feathered a puck onto a streaking Gallagher’s stick. Gally slipped the puck five-hole on Groenheyde for what would be the eventual game winner and series clincher.

The Giants barely out shot the Blazers 31-29. They went 1 for 5 on the PP, while giving up 3 for 3 on the PK, a stat they will not like and one Hay will remind them of constantly during their brief healing hiatus between rounds. Mark Segal was better tonight and made some good stops challenging the shooter. Jon Groenheyde, got some luck of the red iron early in this one or the Giants would have had two in the first and more later. He made one amazing stop having the puck go off his helmet and off the crossbar as he sprawled across the crease in a desperation save of what should have been a sure goal. Cunningham was again a monster as was Gallagher as neither player were willing to give up on the puck once they had their head of steam up. Musil was a rock on the back end and Connauton was pressing offensively constantly almost to detriment of his defensive duties, which we are all used to seeing. Henry was once again all over the ice, Bouma intense and Kytnar unlucky not to get more than one. Thomas Vincour was a game time decision injury scratch and the break should allow him time to heal.

The boys need to practice changing up some of their systems, as they might not work so well against a team in the next round. The level of competition is going to jump up considerably and Segal will have to follow suit. Cunningham by sheer force of will, might drag his team through these playoffs and it would be a fun thing to watch. They won this series more out of their intensity and grinding ability to claw back than a pure finesse kind of game. They gutted out every game if not every period and battled hard enough to get the sweep. As has happened in their series sweeps versus the Bruins, this year’s first round was not an easy task to win four straight. Their special teams stats suffered a bit and their goaltending still needs to find a more consistent form, but this is a contender team if only for their complete refusal to stay down. Round 2 will very likely see them start on the road the weekend after next.

Three Stars

1. Craig Cunningham
2. Colin Smith
3. Austin Madaisky