The Giants looked more like a contender tonight as they took out this season’s nemesis the Kamloops Blazers in convincing fashion. The price they paid for the win may have been too high though. Early in the first period the home team lost fan favourite and team sparkplug Garet Hunt to what is being called a broken femur at this time. The Giants scored first on the PP which was re-tooled, simplified and relied more on traffic in front of the net, than seeing eye passes to succeed. The G-Men killed four penalties in the first when the game was close holding the Blazers off of the score-sheet. In the second the Giants opened it up the scoring again on the PP, and then notching three more to put the game away powering 20 shots on Dustin Butler in the middle stanza. Kamloops got one back in the middle of the Giants scoring spree, but failed to gain any real momentum as Tyson Sexsmith did his best to shut the door. The third was a whole different game with the Blazers pressing back, but a parade to the penalty box, stuffed to standing room with coincidental penalties due mostly to some gutless reffing as Herman was not willing to point the finger and make a decision. This set-up the final line brawl with a couple of minutes to go in which all the participants got 5’s and Games. A solid win that seemed pulled out of October 2006, or March 2005, rather than their current mode of play and about damn time.

The Giants opened the game ready to play, skated hard and crashed the Blazer end as if demons were perched on their shoulders egging them on. Despite rattling a few bodies and getting some early chances they couldn’t hit the net and it was the Blazers who went up 4 shots to 0 early on. The Giants efforts were rewarded though when the Blazers were forced to take a penalty covering the whirling dervishes flying through their end of the ice. The new look Giants PP had traffic on front of the net, and moved the puck quickly and players kept their feet moving! What a concept. The result was that Cody Franson drifted into the slot and was fed at the point by Wacey Rabbit. Took a low hard shot through traffic which slid into the open side and Butler never saw it.

It was at this time, after laying out a few bodies already in the opening minutes that Garet Hunt lined up Keaton Ellerby and missed the check. This is nothing new for Garet except this time he wasn’t getting up. This happened right in front of me and I mean right in front of me, with Garet kissing the glass six inches from my face (I lean forward when I watch hockey). He caught his foot or leg in a stick and hit the boards wrong. When he went down he just kind of lay there and did not move a muscle, quite a mean feat for Garet who is the type of guy who never stops moving. After the trainer came out and had a very lengthy examination and discussion with number 24, remember this is right in front of my eyes, they brought out the stretcher and had to cradle Garet to get him in onto the gurney, Garet still did not move. Later in the game the Shaw camera guy beside me told us that it was probably a broken femur, as that’s what they were saying over his headset. This kind of injury is sure to end Garet’s season, with three to six months of rehab and probable surgery and might sadly put a question mark beside him for next season as he would have to be only one of three over-age players selected to play on the team. It is such a huge loss to the team who I am sure made sure they got the win tonight for Garet Hunt, as they all (to a man) played like he would have played had he been able and it was a good thing to see. I truly hope to see Garet return as an OA player next season as he is probably the most inspirational player the Giants have ever had strap on blades. Garet is pure heart and every team can use a guy like that, not to mention the fans adore the fearless fire-plug with no quit. Heal quickly Garet we will all miss you.

The Giants killed off all four PPs the Blazers got in the first setting the stage for their overwhelmingly dominant performance in the second period. Just 1:43 into the second the Giants scored yet another PP goal. After going something like 22-0 without a PP goal this must have felt like manna from heaven. Cody Franson found the twine for the second time as he squeaked a shot through traffic to find the back of the net. McArdle and Jonathon Blum garnered the assists. Less than three minutes later the Giants padded that lead off of some excellent forecheck and relentless pressure in the Blazer zone. The third goal was all Spencer Machacek. After digging the loose biscuit out of the corner, Machacek cut around behind the net and tried a quick wrap-around, but was stymied by Butler’s pad, however on a second effort stabbed the rubber between the wickets on the Blazer goalie trickling the puck across the goal-line. It was the kind of goal the Giants have not been getting lately and it’s the kind of goals and effort required to win against skilled teams.

Vancouver’s fourth goal was beauty and got the proverbial monkey to stop pitching its tent on McArdle’s shoulder. The puck was forced loose along the side-boards and Tim Kraus picked up the leavings. Kraus moved down the left side to almost the goal-line , but cut back on a dime and feathered a pass through to the McArdle cruising through the slot. McArdle one-timed the puck while in motion and picked the far-side on Butler. It was goal only a skill player could score and gave the much snake-bitten McArdle hope that his slump was finally over. The Blazers got one back a couple minutes later as a high shot was re-deflected with what appeared to be a high stick in the slot and found the cage above Sexsmith’s shoulder. After a bit of booing from the 12,800 fans packing the stadium play resumed. On the very next shift the Giants got that goal back. Michal Repik who looked good all night found Milan Lucic in the sweet spot, middle of the slot, and Lucic made no mistake rifling it past Butler who had to feel like he was hanging target in a carnie game, as the Giants pounded his net with 20 shots in the middle frame.

After the scramble for Loonies during the second intermission the Blazers opted to put 16yr old Dalyn Flette between the pipes to start the final period. Flette turned away all of the Giants shots and made several fantastic glove stops, some from point blank range, to keep his team in the mix. His team however were more interested in taking revenge as they opened the period mixing it up, starting most of the rough stuff and ending up with no penalty for their play. This is where the referee, Derek Herman, really missed the point of his job and set up the kind of fracas which ensued as time ticked down in the game. Just 25 seconds into the third period the players began jostling, but the aggressors were most definitely the Blazers. The ref did not see it this way even though in one particular incident a Blazer player threw down Kendall McArdle and McArdle did not fight back, did not retaliate and skated away, but got tagged by the ref anyway. What’s the point of even trying to take the high road when the ref is too clueless to realize it. A bit over a half a minute later Milan Lucic and Matt Kassian drop the gloves out of nowhere and have nice toe to toe battle with Kassian eventually getting the take-down, but the result being a draw as both players got their licks in and Lucic scored a very solid right on Matt’s jaw. A bit over a minute later the ref assesses two more coincidental unsportsmanlike penalties. By doing this he was signalling that there would be no punishment for starting the rough housing.

The teams continued to exchange penalties and get equalisers called to the point of being ridiculous. That was until the 17:37 mark of the third period when all hell broke loose and a line brawl ensued. Every player had a partner and they were all going at it hard and heavy. Not exactly heavy-weights out there either, but they were all game. Michal Repik earned my respect as he threw some nice hits, awkward but fully committed. James Wright was in his first real WHL fight. In the end the ref might have done the team some favours because if this isn’t a way to gel with your team-mates I don’t know what is. Mike Wuchterl who had his opponent down and helpless, stopped and let him go without laying that final punch. I would have liked to say the same thing about Ryan Bender, but he proved himself to be a gutless weasel by continuing to pound on his downed opponent repeatedly and it sickened me. The ref saw all of this and the only extra penalty assessed was to the Giants goalie Tyson Sexsmith for leaving the crease. With the Giants on the PK and time ticking down the fisticuffs resumed. This time heavy weights Tim Kraus and Brent Regner got involved with Jusso Puustinen and Reid Jorgensen, truly a battle of Titans (note tongue firmly planted in cheek), but good for both squads having those guys willing to go for the sake of their team-mates. In all 52 penalties were assessed with 18 PP opportunities for both squads.

The Giants out-shot the Blazers 33-23, and went 2 for 8 on the PP while holding the visitors to 0 for 10. The questionable reffing could have affected the game far more than it did and thankfully it did not have a very major impact over-all. The Giants finally got their anemic PP going by making quicker passes, keeping their feet moving and putting traffic in front of the net. The injury to Garet Hunt could give the Giants team a rallying point and a collective focus which will hopefully stow their egos as they try to get the Cup for Garet. The line-brawl and subsequent fisticuffs could also serve to help gel this disparate team and get them focused back into a unified vision ending with them raising the Cup above their heads in May. The real Giants showed up and I hope never to see the muddled mess of players I witnessed this past month. They got some luck, made a whole lot more and found the back of the net from all areas of the ice, but mostly they played as a team and that’s the most important thing of all.

The Giants next opponent is the Kelowna Rockets and the Vancouver squad will be looking to vindicate themselves for their late slump when the Rockets were last in there barn and the shutout the very next night in Kelowna. Look to see the team playing as a team and ready to play Giants hockey once again. Puck drops at the Pacific Coliseum on Sunday at 5:00pm.

Three Stars

1 – Kendall McArdle
2 – Cody Franson
3 – Spencer Machacek