The Vancouver Giants were lucky to come out with a win versus a team far below them in the standings. One of the reasons for this was Torrie Jung, the Rocket’s 17yr old goaltender who made some excellent saves throughout the game turning away 42 of 46 shots by the time the smoke had cleared. The other reason was that the Giants did not play their best hockey. They lacked the cohesiveness they showed earlier in the season and have not looked like a contender as of late. It appeared as if the Giants had effort out there and by the numbers they seemed to dominate, but they did not play as team and were nowhere near aggressive enough going to the net. Late in the third they got into penalty trouble, with back to back 5 on 3’s against. The calls were pretty weak, considering what they weren’t calling on the other side of the puck, but that did not hide the fact that they allowed the Rockets to dominate the play, get two PP tallies, and send the game into OT. In OT the Giants took yet another early penalty, but managed a SH rush which was turned away by the young net-minder, robbing Wacey Rabbit with a cross-crease quick glove to keep the game tied. The Giants were awarded a penalty and so the teams went to 3 on 3. Cody Franson scored his first goal in eleven games in OT to get the home team the win, but really they should never ever have allowed themselves to get into that position. This is not how a true contender plays the game and it raises questions about how far this particular squad might go in the playoffs.

The G-Men came out of the gate looking like a team expecting the win, but not willing to make the effort to take it. It felt more like half-effort out there especially on the defensive side. The home squad opened the scoring off of some great work from the one Giant player who was full value and more tonight. Spencer Machacek had a four point night earning every one of those points notching two goals and two assists. Early in the first period Milan Lucic found Spencer cutting down the wing with a soft pass which Machacek chipped into the open side.

The crowd tonight was especially feisty and the goal lifted more than a few people out of their seats. Blaine Neufeld, getting the start for the Giants tonight had to make a few good stops in the first to keep his team in the game. The Giants went up by two mid-way through the opening stanza when Timmy Kraus benefited from some good work by Machacek and Lucic. Machacek dug the puck out and got it to Lucic who threw a hard shot on Jung. Jung kicked it to the open side where Kraus had snuck down the seam. Tim had a wide open side of the net and made no mistake bulging the twine. The Rockets got that back off of yet another poor play by the G-Men in their own zone. The Giants failed to clear the puck and Craig Cunningham skated by his man to give Tysen Dowzak a wide open look at the net. Dowzak fed Evan Bloodoff in the slot and the puck was behind Neufeld before he could blink. Poor goal and indicative of some of the sloppy play the Giants have been putting forth lately in their own zone. The goal gave the Rockets a bit of a lift and the home squad were lucky to get out of the period further unscathed. The shots were 11-10 in favour of the home team.

Re-grouping in the dressing room the Giants came out with a vengeance in the second pounding 20 shots to the Rocket’s 1 in the middle stanza and only managing to come out with one goal to show for it. Torrie Jung stood on his head in the second holding his team in the game by his fingernails. The only Giant player to tickle the twine in the middle frame was, of course, Spencer Machacek. Tim Kraus came hard into the zone and drifted a pass to Mikkelson along the boards. Mikkelson cut toward the slot and threaded the puck diagonally across the slot to Machacek who was standing on the doorstep tapping it into the open net, for his second goal of the game. This was at 2:10 of the second and although they put their best effort forward for the remainder of the middle stanza they could not beat Jung. Part of the problem was that when the Giants got on the PP they did not play the same way they did 5 on 5. Why the G-Men don’t plant someone in front of the net and leave them there on the PP is beyond me and the sloppy passing and poor decision-making on the man-advantage is becoming frustrating. The Giants needed to have a productive second and put the boots to their opponent but it was not meant to be, setting up an improbable and disappointing come-back in the third.

The Rockets were not giving in after their goalie kept the game close in the second giving them a chance to come back, and took their game early to the Giants forcing the home squad to take some lazy penalties. About mid-way through the third, after killing off the first of their 5 on 3’s the Giants were tagged with another penalty to put them back down by two and it would hurt them. The Rockets scored fairly early on the second two man-advantage giving them time to work the puck around on the man-advantage PP which followed. David Schulz tied the game on the PP, after Chris Ray got the visitors close on the two-man-advantage. The goal was followed by much booing from the home faithful who felt they were getting shafted by the referees. The officials made themselves a bit more visible part of the game than the spectators would have hoped calling some very soft penalties down the stretch, while ignoring the same on the other side. The Vancouver squad got the wake-up call and began to push back. The Giants players came in waves for the final ten minutes but were not able to get one by Jung for the win.

The Giants opened the OT period taking yet another sloppy penalty and it damn near cost them the game. AJ Thelen who had been playing behind all night took a lazy hooking penalty. The Giants gave up a good chance before turning the puck around and storming down the slot short-handed. Kendall McArdle fed Wacey Rabbit on the doorstep who was being hooked a bit, but managed to get his stick on the puck. Jung got across the crease and flashed the leather to deny the speedy sniper a chance to be the OT hero. The teams then played 3 on 3, something in my opinion is a much better way to go before going to a shootout ( 5min - 4 on 4 ), (5min - 3 on 3) and then the shootout would be far more entertaining, but I digress. The Rockets were the first to get the chance though as a soft back pass gave the visitors a partial breakaway. The Rocket player cut into the slot and across the goal mouth, and it took Neufeld to make a spectacular and marginally lucky stop cart wheeling ala Hasek to keep the rubber out of his net. The Giants gathered the puck and rushed it right up back the ice. Wacey Rabbit raced the puck up ice and fed Spencer Machacek coming into the zone. Machacek stopped behind the goal-line looking to pass. Cody Franson came hard down into the slot, received a perfect pass from Machacek and made no mistake rifling it past Jung to give the home team the victory. It was Franson’s first goal in eleven games and got the proverbial monkey off of his back as Cody looked to be putting together a better game this evening.

The Giants did not capitalise on their PP opportunities and the Rockets did. The Rockets young goalie kept them in the game, but in the end the Vancouver squad did not play a complete game to put their opponents away early. Spencer Machacek earned first star honours playing all over the ice and contributing on every goal for the home squad.

The Giants out shot the Rockets 46-25, and the home team went 0 for 7 on the PP while allowing their opponents to go 2 for 7, which was almost the story of the game.

The Giants head to the Okanagan to take on the Rockets for the second game of the home at home series. They will still be without Michal Repik who will be serving the second of his two game suspension. The puck drops at 7:00 pm local time (PST).

Three Stars

1 – Spencer Machacek
2 - Torrie Jung
3 – Cody Franson