The Giants coming off of two blow-outs over Chilliwack, decided not to show up for their tilt versus Moose Jaw. The last time these teams met was the WHL Finals and the Moose Jaw team is a shadow of that squad with only 7 players returning from the previous incarnation. Joey Perricone was one and he was full money tonight as he turned away 39 shots, earning first star honours in the process. Although Perricone was solid he did not have to be stellar, but was very good at quashing rebounds and not allowing second shots. The Giants sleepwalked through the game throwing shots from the outside but never having the hunger to drive the front of the net, or willingness to pay the price creating screens. In short the Giants took the night off and it showed. A major contributing factor though was the fact that the refs were tagging every decent hit with a penalty ostensibly ruining the game for the fans. The game lacked emotion and flow, which could be directly attributed to the punitive and stifling officiating, punishing any good hard play all night long.

The Giants came out in the first with lacklustre effort and no drive or commitment. The Warriors, on the other hand, had another level of motivation and were ready to go from the drop of the puck. Local boy Garret Robinson a Warrior team-mate who skirted death after a horrific traffic accident in which four Warriors were in the car, was in attendance and looking hale and healthy. The Warriors had something to play for and they did. The Giants could have pressed harder and had more hunger, but they all seemed content to phone it in – active yet not tenacious on the fore-check and very little fight. Another of the boys in the car accident was Joey Perricone who seemed to pick up where he left off last year in the WHL finals with solid play and giving his team the opportunity to be in the game. The Warriors tallied the first goal off an awful give-away by Nolan Toigo. Toigo threw the puck blindly into the middle of the ice right onto Giffen Nyren’s stick. Nyren made no mistake going in all alone on Tyson Sexsmith and making a nifty fore to backhand deke lifting the puck over Tyson’s outstretched pad and glove. The Giants continued to lumber through the first period and were lucky to get out only down by one.



The Giants came out in the second skating a lot harder and forechecking more aggressively. They still were not going to the net as much as they could have, but they took their game to the Warriors and controlled the puck in the Moose Jaw end for the majority of the period. Early in the period on the PP the Giants managed to tie the game. Tim Kraus made a nice cross-ice pass to Kyle Lamb down low and Lamb went to flip the puck across the net to Jonny Blum who pinched in and the puck went off of a Moose Jaw defender’s stick and in behind Perricone. The Giants continued to press but could not get their other PP opportunities in gear, and they were assessed a few penalties whenever they began to hit to try to gain some momentum for themselves and rev up the crowd a bit. Perricone made some very nice saves and did not allow any rebounds to speak of during the Giants flurry in the second. Very late in the second JD Watt was assessed a boarding penalty that was marginal at best.

The penalty carried over into the third period and just :37 seconds in, former Giant Jason Reese made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Riley Holzapfel who one-timed a rocket past Sexsmith to put the visitors up by one. Sexsmith had no chance and Spencer Machacek was stick-less (he gave his to Festerling who abandoned his stick outside the blue line) in the slot and unable to intercept the pass. The Giants seemed not to really sag, but definitely not press, and instead returned to their somnambulist play of the first period, which they continued throughout the final stanza. They had no real hunger on their fore-check and although they had some chances they were never right in Perricone’s face. The Giants did nothing with a late period PP opportunity and so with 1:26 to go the Giants pulled the goalie and worked the puck down low with extra attacker going to the net. Try as they might they couldn’t get the puck to the front of the net as all of their attempted passes were blocked and nobody really seemed interested in gathering up the puck and driving the net to try to score or at least to draw a penalty. The puck found its way out the neutral zone where former Silvertip Brady Calla threw a prayer from between the red and blue-line toward the net. In trickled in the empty net as time ticked down and with 16 seconds left killed any hope at a comeback the home team might have had.

The Giants out shot the Warriors 40 – 17, and they were 1 for 5 on the PP, while Moose Jaw went 1 for 6. Really boring game to watch tonight. Joey Perricone was solid between the pipes for Moose Jaw and earned first star honours for his efforts. Jonny Blum played a massive amount of ice-time and was by far the best defenseman on the ice. He pinched well and held the line when necessary. The Warriors played a very good patient road game and were the hungrier of the teams, probably still smarting from dropping a 3-1 decision to Chilliwack the night before. They worked hard and allowed their goalie to see the shots and cleared the front of the net of bodies when the Giants deigned to make it that far. The G-Men seemed content to take shots from the outside and never really felt as if they were interested in winning this game, and so they didn’t. This is the Giants first loss versus an Eastern Conference opponent, this season and a very inauspicious way to start a new year.

Three Stars
1 – Joey Perricone
2 – Jonathon Blum
3 - Riley Holzapfel