The Vancouver Giants picked up all four points available this weekend, earning home wins in back-to-back games at the Pacific Coliseum.
First-overall pick and overall wunderkind Tyler Benson tries to stuff a puck home past Tri-City Americans goaltender Eric Comrie. He didn’t score on the play, but he was a major factor in Tyler Morrison scoring his third of the season, and his Giants won the game 5-2. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
Canuck faithful came out on Friday night to see draft pick Hunter Shinkaruk, the captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers. But it was Saturday’s WHL debut of Tyler Benson, the top pick in last summer’s Bantam draft, that garnered the most attention.
Benson didn’t factor in the scoring, but he took a regular shift on the third line and did not look out of place skating against players four years his senior.
More to come, including pictures of four players with some serious hockey pedigree, but right now I need some shuteye before crushing the UBC Fall Classic in the morning.
A young Caps fan celebrates amid the smoke after Vancouver drew level in the first half of Saturday’s U-18 tilt. Photo by Chris Withers.
In their last home games of 2013, the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency sides took to the pitch at Coquitlam’s Percy Perry Stadium on Saturday in front of perhaps 200 spectators, and handed the visiting Portland Timbers a pair of losses. The U-18 squad overcame an early blunder to win 3-2, while the U-16’s rode a pair of Dario Zanatta goals to a 2-0 victory.
It was an inauspicious start for Vancouver, and especially goalkeeper Nolan Wirth. Early in the first half, a Timbers attack died when a foul was assessed to one of their forwards. Wirth shooed his teammates away, opting to take the free kick himself from just outside his own 18-yard box. Instead of clearing the ball up the field, however, he tried to kick the ball across the field to left back Sam Adekugbe. The cross was easily picked off by the Timbers player – who must have blended into the turf, or something – and he had acres and hours to roll the ball in for a 1-0 Portland lead. Continue reading Whitecaps Residency Continues Cascadian Dominance→
When Whitecaps striker Darren Mattocks plays at his best, he has some of the fastest feet in Major League Soccer. Less than 48 hours after landing in Jamaica for the off-season, he ran off his mouth on a television program called Soccer GPS, blaming Martin Rennie for both his own lacklustre play this season and the team’s failure to make the playoffs.
Forward Darren Mattocks was one of the few Whitecaps to resort to blatant simulation on the pitch this season. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
“When Darren lead [sic] the team as a rookie, Vancouver was in the playoffs, right?” Yes, Mattocks referred to himself in the third person throughout the interview. It gets better. “In my second season, the coach have me on the bench the majority of the season. We couldn’t agree. The player who lead the MLS in scoring played for Vancouver, couldn’t put them in the playoffs. So you read between the lines.”
Let’s not forget, last Christmas Mattocks predicted it would be him, not Camilo, who would score 20 goals this season.
Props to rookie goaltender Reto Berra, who picked up a win in his very first NHL start, in overtime over the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks no less. He made 42 saves on 44 shots — that’s a .955 save percentage, earned against the likes of Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews.
Not too shabby, Mr Berra. Keep that up, and something tells me this Abbotsford Heat paint job might need a flaming C or two thereupon.
Abbotsford Heat goaltender Reto Berra looks at his options as he plays the puck during AHL action. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
It was a result fitting of the theme last night at the AESC. On a night where ghosts and ghouls took in the action off the ice, the Monsters took it to the Heat on the ice.
In stark contrast from the night before when the Heat banked a convincing 4-2 victory over the Lake Erie Monsters, the team dropped a 3-1 decision to the visitors.
Trick or Treat? The Abbotsford Heat’s annual Monster Mash game on Saturday, October 26 brought all kinds of hair-raising beings to the AESC. Thanks to photog extraordinaire Clint Trahan for the picture.
The Vancouver Giants came out swinging in the first period, then held on for a gritty 4-3 overtime win over Calgary Wednesday night. In the first period, Hitmen goaltender Chris Driedger didn’t look much like the young man who stopped 38 of 39 shots to gift his team a 2-1 win over Kelowna on Tuesday night. He was beaten three times in the first period, including once on a spectacular dangle by rookie Alec Baer.
Forward Alec Baer scored a beauty midway through the first period en route to a 4-3 win for the Vancouver Giants on Wednesday. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
He wouldn’t allow another puck past him until 2:04 of overtime, however, when Tim Traber swept home a rebound to seal just the third win of the season for the Giants.
There has been a lot of banter over the last few weeks regarding Martin Rennie and his uncertain future here in Vancouver. I thought I’d weigh in with my thoughts on the situation and why Martin Rennie should stay, for now.
He was widely regarded as a saviour for the club when it was revealed he would be taking over for Tom Soehn to start the 2012 campaign. His signing was seen as a coup for Bob Lenarduzzi and the front office – bringing in a young, highly regarded coach to grow with the expansion MLS franchise.
Once the players are on the pitch, Whitecaps FC bench boss Martin Rennie can only stand at the sidelines and watch his MLS future unfold, just like the rest of us. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
They say the first game home after a road trip is the hardest game to play. The Vancouver Giants put the spurs to that urban legend Friday night, spanking the Kamloops Blazers 5-1 at the Pacific Coliseum to end an eight-game losing streak. The majority of that stretch came during a brutal road trek that included six games in six cities in eight nights. Let’s not forget that in the Dub, all of those klicks are logged by bus — it was a two-day jaunt from Vancouver just to reach the first game in Brandon, Manitoba.
Vancouver Giants defenseman Brett Kulak delivered a dominant performance in a 5-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers, scoring once and adding two assists. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The G-men had been outscored 36-15 since their last win on September 21. A game against the 4-7 Blazers was just what the doctor ordered, then, as the Giants desperately needed a win to put a little wind in their sails in the still-young season.
They came out gunning, jumping out to a 1-0 just 2:20 into the game. The Giants would score early in each period, and overall outshot the Blazers 38-24 in the win. Calgary Flames prospect Brett Kulak scored once and added two helpers to become the team’s top scorer this season. Kulak now has two goals and eight points in 11 games played.
The hideous runs so wide and so deep in this maroon disaster, not even Teemu Selanne can cleanse my eye sockets. Photo stolen from ducks.nhl.com
In an age of hyper marketing, intense competition and tightly controlled PR, it’s amazing that truly horrible ideas can still make it past the brainstorming stage. Whether it’s the nightmare of design by committee or just a conflagration of mediocre talents pulling the wool over the eyes of out of touch rich CEOs, we occasionally see awful designs rolled out in an underwhelming explosion of anticlimax. Today, we analyze the most recent NHL obscenity with the resurrection of Somebody Approved This.
One month ago today, the Anaheim Ducks warned the world that they hated us all. Instead of disconnecting our cable, building shelters and indiscriminately hooking up with old flames, it seems that hundreds of people instead lined up to purchase a retro maroon Mighty Ducks of Anaheim jersey. You say you don’t remember, but you do: it’s the one replete with angled grey stripes and Disney’s duck-faced Jason mask.
During tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators, the Ducks will wear these abomaroonations, play early 90s music, and charge just 93 cents for popcorn, candy and soft drinks. That’s right, folks, today you can look bad, sound worse and develop type two diabetes — all for a single greenback!
Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur poses with his Spawn Toys likeness during the Abbotsford Heat home opener Friday night. Photo by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
The Abbotsford Heat took three of a possible four points in their home opening weekend, splitting extra time results with the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday and Saturday nights.
Six-foot four goaltender Reto Berra backed the Heat to a 3–2 decision on Friday, thanking Corban Knight for ending things 1:58 into overtime. In turn, the Admirals rode 6’5″ netminder Magnus Hellberg to a 2–1 shootout win on Saturday.
It was a familiar refrain of sorts of the Heat, who spent much of last season splitting double headers they probably should have taken outright. The Heat came out of the second intermission on a mission, breaking the zero-zero tie just 41 seconds into the third on Roman Horak’s first of the season. They carried the play for most of the period, but squandered consecutive power plays before giving up a late tying goal against the flow of play. It marked the second game in a row the Heat led going into the final six minutes of play but were unable to hold on for a regulation win.
Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur was in attendance Friday, shaking hands and signing hundreds of autographs; he is the latest in the Heat’s lineup of Hockey Legends to visit the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre. The Man Who Scored The Goal That Sank Don Cherry’s Coaching Career looked great, and was great with the adoring fans who lined the stairwells for a moment with monsieur Lafleur and his blue Sharpie.
Unfortunately the Flower wasn’t enough to bring more people through the turnstyles. More than half the rink was empty for opening night, and game #2? Well, you can see for yourself:
Saturday’s official attendance: 1,814. Saturday’s actual attendance: judge for yourself. (Hint: there were nearly as many people on the benches as there were in the stands.) Weak iPhone panorama by Jason Kurylo for Pucked in the Head.
