The Giants came out hard in the first, driving well and winning most of the battles for loose pucks. Jamie Tucker was very lucky and at times very good early in the game, but he allowed some goals in the third he should want back. The boys got some soft nods from the refs tonight, but the Blazers were also not too smart about their play. The Giants had a 5 goal lead at one point, but were unable to get that coffin nail goal with some generous man-advantages and allowed the Blazers back into the game. The Blazers scored just 16 seconds into the third to begin their come-back. They gained momentum from their PKs in the second, when the Giants were too busy looking for that perfect play instead of getting it on net and then crashing, and carried it into the final frame. The Blazers got two more before the Giants finally managed to make them pay, restoring their lead to three goals and taking the win after being well-challenged and out-worked in the third. The Giants will need to eliminate these kinds of slips from their game if they hope to compete with the better teams in the league.

The home squad came out skating hard and pressuring the Blazers in their end of the ice. Jon Groenheyde had to be good early on to keep the Giants from scoring. Craig Cunningham notched his 20th of the season at 9:08 of the first, on the PP. You wouldn’t have noticed it from the score clock though as it had a glitch and showed a zero/zero score for the whole game. Brendan Gallagher and Kevin Connauton got the assists on the play. JT Barnett got one from the doorstep off of some great work by Nolan Toigo who held possession of the puck up the ice and into the Blazers zone, carrying it and avoiding checks until he found a seam to rifle it at the net. Barnett pounced on the rebound. 16 year old defenseman Luke Fenske got an assist on the play. The Giants rounded out the scoring on another PP, when Mike Piluso put it past the Blazer net-minder going hard to the net. Connauton and Garry Nunn got the helpers on the play.

The Giants continued to press in middle frame. The scorekeeper came up with a compromise during the intermission, posting the score as a graphic on the bottom of the video screen. Not sure what these guys are going to do when the Olympics come around as they have yet to have a season where they don’t have a major noticeable problems with the scoreboard, but especially in my observation with the operators of the time clock and scoreboard. They have had this system since the 2006-2007 Memorial Cup season, you would think they would have grabbed a clue by now or possibly even read the operator’s manual, but by all appearances they haven’t. Barnett gets his second of the game just 7 minutes into the middle stanza. James Henry and Toigo got the helpers. Henry was great on the forecheck for this one to spring the puck loose. 12 seconds later Nunn scored off of a sweet feed by Milan Kytnar. After that the Giants lost their momentum as the Blazers began to take liberties and the Giants had no answer on the PP. Tucker was run over by a late charge giving the Giants a five minute PP to play with and they failed to capitalize, even when they had a full two minutes of 5 on 3 within that period. The Blazers continued to press, but Tucker was at his acrobatic best, with a mind-blowing cartwheel kick save which was probably more luck than skill but looked really cool all the same. He stymied the Blazers late in the second when the Giants began to take some dumb calls.

Jimmy Bubnick scored at 0:16 of the final frame skating four on four. Tucker was a pinball tonight flinging himself around the crease and allowed a couple of goals by lacking positional solidity. He was fun to watch all the same and battled hard for loose pucks, but when he got caught running around and his boys were not coming back hard enough to clear loose pucks, he got burned. The Blazers with nothing to lose, brought a very aggressive PK and challenged the puck carriers, flummoxing the Giants when they were attacking and causing turnovers with greater regularity. Linden Saip scored one pinching from the point just over 7 minutes later and Maschmeyer was able squeak a wrist shot through traffic to find the twine. It was a close as the Blazers would come in this one, but for the Giants who have had too many of these kinds of games get away from them it was a very real scare. Hay took his time-out after the third goal and got his players regrouped. Kamloops play was at times cheap in this one and Henry finally challenged Josh Caron, but Caron did not drop the gloves until the linesmen were there and then tackled Henry off the bat only throwing fists when Henry was down and being hampered by the linesmen. It was a pretty gutless showing in my mind, from a player that played a dangerous pest game all night and had earned a battle. Sebastian Svendsen scored a nice tip-in goal from in front of Groenheyde. Neil Manning ripped a low shot at the net and Svendsen deflected it past the Blazer netminder. Connauton got the other assist for his third helper of the night.

The Giants out-shot the Blazers 40 – 36. The Giants went 2 for 11 on the PP, scoring early ones, but squandering late chances when the game got chippy. The Blazers were held to 0 for 5 on their PP, but at least one of their goals came on the tail-end of a just ended PP chance. This version of the Giants need to learn how to lock down these games, bring back as good as they get and not to be afraid to score ugly PP markers by crowding the net and going for the rebounds. They are not really a pretty play kind of team anyway and the sooner they realize that they need a full sixty minutes plus worth of effort the better prepared they are going to be when they tackle some real competition. The Blazers would have benefited from some smarter play and the kind of effort they showed in the final frame from the drop of the puck. Once again guys like Stretch and Bubnick continue to get points versus the Giants.

The Giants have a day off before taking on the struggling Prince George Cougars, who are last in the WHL by a good margin, on Wednesday. The Giants have a healthy squad back and it looks like Nunn and Kytnar are a good early pairing. I think Barnett instead of Piluso would be an even better fit on that line though. The pairing gives the Giants another line who can tally points and that’s something they have been lacking for most of the season. Hay was saying that this squad might be the one they go with the rest of the way and that they could use another defenseman if Hodder needs shoulder surgery. The Giants have three home games left before they embark on their first big road swing, clearing the way for the Olympic people to occupy and prepare the Coliseum. Wed and then Jan 2nd and 3rd. They will not be back at the Coliseum until March 12th and 13th. The puck drops at 7pm on Wednesday.

Three Stars

1. JT Barnett
2. Jimmy Bubnick
3. Jamie Tucker