Facing an opponent they could very well meet in the opening round of the playoffs the Giants allowed themselves to be easily out-worked and stripped off the puck, often giving away the biscuit with lazy passes. The Giants had no luck and average if not poor goaltending, as they found that majority of their mistakes were being fished out the net in this one. The Blazers opened the scoring and then notched another mid-frame. Cue line-brawl. The second goal became a scene of all hands to fists. That goal chased the Giants ‘tender from the net, to be replaced by the back-up who would last four goals against before Don Hay would make the switch back. The Blazers notched another marker, taking the game 3-0 for the home team going into the first intermission. The Giants were shell-shocked when the Blazers scored an early one in the second to bulge their lead to 4 goals. The G’s got that one back, but suffered a big set-back not long after allowing two goals in ten seconds. The scoreless third felt like both teams were phoning it in, but the Blazers still managed to out-shoot the struggling Giants squad. The Blazers scored their six goals from six different players, tallying every one of their goals even-strength.

Chase Schaber opened the scoring. Ryan Hanes tallied the second one and some bad blood lead to all players on the ice grabbing a partner for a fist taco tango. Nolan Toigo and Trevor Hansen were tossed from the game, getting game misconducts for the fracas. The brawl seemed to energize the Blazers more than the Giants though and the game slid downhill from there. Mark Segal was pulled in favour of Derek Tendler between the pipes. Linden Saip tickled the twine behind Tendler later in the period taking the game to the break with the Blazers holding a huge advantage.

The Giants hoping to turn the game around in the second were given a boot to the groin when they gave up a goal less than a minute into the frame. They made a PP count a couple of minutes later when Neil Manning ruined Kurtis Mucha’s shutout bid, assisted by Kevin Connauton and James Henry. A couple of minutes after that Brendan Ranford potted one, and off the ensuing face-off Mark Hall stripped the puck going in alone, beating Tendler and chasing him from the net to be replaced by Segal once again. The Giants barely held on for the rest of the period, pushing back a bit, but unable to solve Mucha again on the night. It was the only period they out-shot the Blazers, squandering most of their PP chances in the process.

The third was a bit of snoozer, chippy with roughing penalties and a frustrated Nathan Burns instigating a fight with Brendan Ranford while sticking up for a team-mate. Seems like the 16 year old was the only Giant with a bit of pride left in the waning minutes of an uncharacteristic blow-out. The Blazers out shot the G’s in the period putting 8 shots on Segal.

The Blazers out shot the Giants 37 – 30. The Giants went 1 for 5 on the PP, while holding the Kamloops squad to 0 for 3. The Giants lacked the drive and hunger they needed to have in this game and took their third straight loss a lot better than they should have taken it. Good teams don’t lose three straight. They need a serious bounce back game in Kelowna tomorrow night as they cannot afford to slip into the playoffs on a downslide. They made some very dumb give-aways, did not take care of the puck and gave the Blazers a very easy win. Their goaltending tandem were not good on the night either, exacerbating their defensive breakdowns. The puck drops in Kelowna at 7pm.

Three Stars

1. Brendan Ranford
2. Ryan Hanes
3. Kurtis Mucha