Giants had the lead early in the third, but allowed the Bruins to score on two consecutive PPs and let the game slip away with a pathetic whimper. Jamie Tucker was out of position after making the stop a couple of times, but the boys were crap at clearing the front of their net. The Giants once again fail to win their fourth straight game in row this season. They have won three straight a few times, but cannot close the deal on the fourth. A very, very bad loss to take, lazy plays leading to dumb penalties and allowing a lead to slip by allowing players room in the slot to make plays. All of the Bruins came on the PP as they ended up going 3 for 4 with the man advantage and holding the Giants, usually fine, PP to 1 for 5. The boys came out strong in the first, but gave up a goal and then allowed themselves to be out-played badly in the middle frame, but were able to get a goal to tie the game. The home team scored early in the third to take the lead for the first time, sat back and then allowed two straight against with some poor PP markers. The PK sucked badly, and the boys needed to play a lot better in their own end of the ice and Tucker didn’t make the clutch stops he needed to make, something that lost him his starting gig and won’t help him to get it back.

The Bruins opened the scoring in the first which sounded like it was anything but a Gordie Howe kind of game on Gordie Howe night. It was the Bruins who were taking physical penalties early on as the Giants stayed a bit too calm. The Giants out-shot the Bruins 12-4 in the first, but were on the wrong side of the score-sheet by the end of the period. Brandon Manning opened the Chilliwack scoring on the PP, putting one past Tucker. The Giants lacked gritty emotion in this one and played some lazy hockey when they needed it least. The home squad found the twine at 15:13 of the second on the PP. Lance Bouma scored his 11th of the season off of Gallagher and Cunningham. Mike Piluso scored the only even-strength goal of the game, taking a Garry Nunn pass off the rush and rifling it past Braden Gamble. Kevin Sundher scored two PP goals to give the Bruins back the lead and eventually the win.

The penalties the Giants took were lazy hooking penalties, being caught behind the play, sitting back a bit after getting a lead. In the end it killed them as their usually deadly PK was anything but and their goalie was not as focused as he should have been. A bad loss to take by giving up a lead due to careless lazy play, lacking emotion throughout the game and insulting Gordie on his night by playing less than committed hockey. A very sucky way to go into the Christmas break. Let’s hope they smarten up on the road when they come back to play Kelowna on the 27th. Happy Holidays to all of you and the best of the season.

Three Stars

1. Kevin Sundher
2. Lance Bouma
3. Jesse Craige