The Giants came into tonight’s game on a bit of a slide, dropping two in row for the first time this season. They put their WHL best 14-1-0-0 record on the line tonight and were eager to avoid losing three straight, or so they should have been. The team which actually showed up put in a half-hearted effort and were out-worked most of the night. The home squad looked as disinterested in winning the game as they did putting in the kind of commitment it would take to stop their losing ways. Battling awful officiating and their own ennui the Giants would fall to 14-2-0-0, which while still impressive sets a bad precedent especially in the way they lost.

The game started with some fisticuffs from Milan Lucic and Aaron Boogaard, which seemed to suck the energy out of Lucic rather than elevate the team. The fight took a long time to get started as the players drifted just out of one another’s reach until they hit the boards close to the Americans bench.. Haymakers were the punch of the day with both combatants landing big blows, but in the end it was a fairly uneventful draw. The teams played a very uninspired first period as they traded chances and skated up and down the ice with neither team taking control. Hitting was minimal and even though the Giants out-shot the Americans they really did not have an real solid scoring chances, giving Carey Price some easy saves to make with no traffic to speak of in front of the net.

The Giants played better early in the second and pressed the attack in the Tri-City zone, drawing a hooking penalty by keeping their feet moving and working while protecting the puck. They scored the first goal of the game on the PP, off of some nice work by Brendan Mikkelson. Brendan carried the puck off the side-boards and skated to the top of the slot where he found an open shot on Price. Milan Lucic was standing at the top of the crease screening Price (one of the few times the Giants ran a screen) and deflected the puck on net. Price made the save but the rebound lay to the open side where Michal Repik picked up the loose biscuit and snapped it home, putting the home team up 1-0. The Americans scored just over a minute later when the Giants got caught running around in their end and left Taylor Procyshen on the doorstep for the rebound. The Tri-City team added another one not even one minute later when a blatant goalie interference went uncalled and the Americans put the puck past a sprawled Tyson Sexsmith lying underneath Michael Kaye who stormed the net and ran down the goalie and then made no effort to get off the goalie. Referee Derek Zalaski allowed more than few pick plays, failed to call many interference penalties and then would call soft equalisers when one of the teams were on the PP. But as bad as Zalaski was though, the Giants have only themselves to blame for the loss as they put in a lack-lustre effort and did not take care of the puck.

The G-Men came out in third and killed off a penalty remaining from the end of the second. However this did not give them momentum and the Giants would be out shot 18-9 in the final frame. The Giants put in probably one their softest third period efforts all season and capped off their poor play by allowing a SH goal against just 6 minutes into the period. The Giants failed to get the puck in deep on the PP and instead played a poor passing game along the blue-line upon entering the Tri-City zone. The Americans easily stripped the puck and took it down the ice. Drew Hoff fed Colton Yellow Horn who took the puck right at the Giants net and snapped a hard one on Sexsmith. Tyson made a quick pad save, but could not get the puck as Yellow Horn gathered his own rebound and put the proverbial nail in the Giants coffin. The Giants pulled the goalie late, but could not put the puck past Price and suffered only their second loss at home this season, disappointing fans with their emotionless play more than the L in the stats column. Only Michal Repik and Brett Festerling showed any hunger tonight, but it was too little against Price.

The Giants did not play the game we are used to seeing them play and it’s a bit worrisome as this has been the script more often than not lately. Their fore-check was anaemic and their hitting was sporadic. The only bright spot was their PK when they brought their tight checking game back to the fore. Unfortunately, the Giants did not bring their signature hard aggressive play to rest of the game and were not willing to go to the hard spots on the ice to make the play, or get the goal. Price had to be good but not great and the Vancouver squad moved like they had lead in their skates. The Tri-City squad was hungrier for the puck, went to the net (running down Sexsmith on three separate occasions), and had very a aggressive fore-check frequently pinning the Giants in their own zone and got the win by out-working the usually out-workable Giants.

The Giants went 1 for 8 on the PP, while holding the visitors to 0 for 6. The shots were 35-34 in favour of the Americans. The next game for the Giants is down in Portland, on Dec 8th. They dropped a 1-0 OT teddy-bear toss night tilt there the last time they played the Winterhawks. The Vancouver squad will be eager to get off the current losing streak and return to their winning ways. Hopefully they manage to get in some good solid practices before heading down south. Puck drops at 7:30pm local time.

Three Stars
1 – Carey Price
2 – Taylor Procyshen
3 – Michal Repik