Sweet! I would love to hear your opinion on the Giants. I haven't watched them play in a while. I had to stop watching because of the start of the NBA so I didn't have much time for them.
Alright, just decided to post today. Not as sleepy as I was on the bus.
First of all, this is the first CHL game I've ever seen so I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to junior hockey.
These are just my thoughts based on one game.
Geertsen (Giants): Had a solid game. Probably wouldn't have noticed him too much (other than his size) if I didn't have an extra eye on him but hey, that's what you probably want to hear about a 6'4 defender. Overall, he was - as the whole Giants defense - solid and able to handle the fast Cougars offense quite well. Good positioning and as the game went along he started throwing a couple nice hits here and there. The only negative aspect I noticed was his passing. Almost every time he tried to play a pass out of his own zone, he ended up icing the puck.
Bourke (Cougars): You could easily see he was one of the more talented guys on the ice. I was pretty impressed with the variety of skills he had to offer and how much the coach seems to rely on him. He was on the ice on the PK, at the point on the PP (once even for two shifts) and obviously on ES. Probably (one of) the best skater(s) on the ice tonight and also a good stickhandler. Was close to scoring a couple of times and also brought some grit to his game, including a minor penalty for a check to the head.
Giants in general: They were ok. Scored three goals over a span of ~6 minutes to make it 4-1 in the second period. Other than those 6 minutes, in which they dominated but also got a bit lucky on the second goal (a weak backhand, goalie would definitely want this one back), they did not create very much offense. The first period, I thought, was pretty much even with maybe a slight edge to the Giants. They came out strong in the second period but after giving up a late goal on the PK, the Cougars were the better team for the rest of the game. Nevertheless, you have to give Vancouver credit for not giving up too many scoring chances, focusing on defense and handling the Cougars offense pretty well. They played a disciplined game down the line against an apparently (looking at the standings here) weak team and finally deserved the win without having an awesome game.
___
I'll probably go and catch one or two more games (vs Kelowna on the 3rd of January and/or vs Tri-City on the 5th) and if there is some interest I might again post my thoughts on Geertsen and the Giants.
