Wednesday 19 February 2014

Vancouver Giants Beat Hurricanes 5-2

LETHBRIDGE - The Vancouver Giants scored a pair of quick first period goals and that was the difference as the defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-2 Wednesday night.

The Vancouver Giants came out gunning at the ENMAX Centre in this game. Things stayed scoreless until just after the halfway mark when Vancouver would open the scoring with a pair of goals just 19 seconds apart. Teagan Sacher made a stop, but he didn't fully cover the puck. Travis McEvoy came in and tapped it into the goal to make it 1-0 Giants. Right after the draw from centre ice, Vancouver came straight down the ice and score again. Alec Baer put the puck by Sacher and just like that it was 2-0 Giants. That's the way the period ended. It was also a feisty period, featuring three fights. Vancouver held a 17-8 edge in shots on goal.

In the second, both clubs would get some quality scoring chances and late in the period the Hurricanes got back into the game, thanks to a power play goal. Carter Folk banged home his 3rd goal of the season, beating Jared Rathjen to cut the Vancouver lead to 2-1. With less than a minute remaining in the period, the Canes would take a penalty and the Giants would re-take a two goal lead. Carter Popoff, the Giants leading scorer buried one to make it 3-1 Vancouver after 40 minutes of play. The Canes were out shot 33-22 through two periods.

In the third, the Giants blew the game open with a couple of goals. Cain Franson scored to make it 4-1 Giants and then a few minutes later Joel Hamilton scored to give the visitors a commanding 5-1 lead. Lethbridge would get one more before the end of the game. Giorgio Estephan, on the power play notched his 11th goal of the season to make it 5-2 and that's as close as they would get in this game and the Giants would beat the Canes for the second time in a month. In the two games these clubs played this season, Vancouver beat Lethbridge by a combined score of 15-2. The Giants out shot Lethbridge 48-29 in this game. The Canes went 2/5 on the power play and Vancouver 1/4. The loss drops the Hurricanes overall record to 12-45-2-3 in 62 games this season.

Final Push at Home

The Hurricanes have just three remaining home games left. Their next action at home is March 7th when they host the Regina Pats. The Canes will also take on Swift Current March 8th and then play their final game of the season at the ENMAX Centre March 14th vs. Medicine Hat.

Next Up

The Hurricanes have just 10 games to go in the season and hit the road for their next five straight. The Hurricanes will take on the rival Tigers in Medicine Hat on Saturday night. This will be one of three games these two clubs will play against each other in the last three weeks of the season. Game time is 7:30 pm MST. The pre-game show on CJOC at 7:00. The Hurricanes will then head off to Saskatchewan and Manitoba next week where they will play 4 games in 5 nights.

Thanks,
Pat

6 comments:

  1. The officials did a really good job in the first period to resist making their usual bad call(s); NO undeserved momentum for the opposition in this one.

    Unfortuantely for the Canes, this officiating treat came on a night when our tender was still recovering from PTSD; losing track of the puck twice for easy goals, lowering the collective shoulders of his team mates.

    The officials more than made up for a well adjudicated first period with their usual inconsistency and incompetency in the second and third to destroy any hope of come back for the home team.

    Amazing how an official can overlook an obvious Too Many Men on the opposition team, then literally less than ten seconds later call it against the home team.

    Duke's hit mid way through the second was a strong and a well-timed clean finishing check and we see a checks like it a hundred times a year thrown ON our players go uncalled. It was worthy of Hit of the Night, not two minutes for interference. Brutal call!

    How an official that (presumably) is trying to be objective chooses not to call an obvious Checking From Behind / Boarding infraction that sends Alldridge defenceless into the boards face first, yet decides a gloved-ahead puck with the Canes fleeing the zone is worthy of two minutes is beyond reasonable explanation.

    Officiating incompetency aside, through strong and consistent TEAM play and hard work, Vancouver scored a couple contenders for Goals of the Week. The Hurricanes, though more skilled individually, are poorly organized and need a real coach badly.

    After "all the video," and "all the improvement," the players aren't in the positions they need to be in, and they aren't making the basic plays and passes that would give them a chance at this level. There was and still is adequate skill on this team to achieve much greater results.

    One would HAVE to assume that the ONLY reasonable explanation of keeping this coach after the monumental failure being displayed this season is the financial implication of terminating his contract.

    Drake may be an awesome guy. He might even be valuable to have around as a video coach or other role. CLEARLY, he is not yet ready to be a Head Coach. Last year he failed as Head Coach with the ECHL's Solar Bears, and this year he WILL add the worst record in the history of the Lethbridge Hurricanes to his resume.

    GM, time to call a sit-down with Drake. Give him some options to move on willingly to minimize some negative press. If Drake isn't man enough to admit his multi-faceted failure and reasonable enough to resign to allow the team "to move in another direction," then he does not have the best interests of the Canes at heart, and we need to move him out now.

    Tell me how much money we need to buy him out and lets start selling and wearing "SAVE THE CANES - RELEASE THE DRAKE" T-Shirts! Everyone who has been to a game this year will ante up $20 and we will raise at LEAST $200K. Apply it to the contract buyout. Whatever else is needed, divide by the number of shareholders and send us an invoice. My cheque to the Hurricanes will be in the mail before the next morning.

    Money for SOMETHING! Lets get this train back on the rails!

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  2. Carter Amson gets 2 games for a check from behind----Henrik Samuelson gets nothing for ripping a players helmet off and hitting him on the head with it . WOW!!!. Maybe it's because the refs didn't call it-------but did the Canes management send it in to the league for review ? If they didn't ,why not?

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  3. Whenever I get frustrated with the bad job that officials do, I have to remind myself that I can always improve at my job, and refs are not TRYING to SUCK at their job (unless they are "on the take"), its just a very difficult job to do well.

    It does make me wonder, though.... Who is worse at their job on a daily basis than a WHL official? - Not very many comparables. After the Erkamps penalty and suspension for "kneeing," then the Henrik Samuelsson "non-call" and "non-suspension" for the first ever infraction of "Helmetwacking," I am confident that I have found the answer.....

    •Kevin Muench, Director, WHL Officiating
    •Richard Doerksen, Vice-President, Hockey (WHL Player Discipline)

    So when you have a tough day at work, just remember that these two cockalorums are contributing less to the world than any other humans on the planet.

    A. Notherdaeof

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    Replies
    1. The refs don't always catch all the calls, it then becomes incumbent on the coaching staff to forward video to Doerksen with a request for supplemental discipline? Considering the current state of the Canes, it is likely that these coaches didn't see it either and/or are just to overwhelmed with trying to ice a group that could at least compete with other WHL teams? Also, it is easy for the refs to kick bad teams when they are down, just the way it is...

      LBJ

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  4. The constant whining about the reffing is tiresome. Reffing hasn't affected the outcome of a single Canes game this year.

    The refs aren't out to get the Canes and the Canes don't get a unfair share of bad calls against them.

    Its nice to see fans trying to find excuses for the pathetic display we see out there but blaming the refs is pathetic even for this organization.

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  5. Referees do not win or loose hockey games, the Canes and their fans have much bigger fish to fry right now, scoring some goals and winning some games would be a great place to start!

    Chicks for free

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