Thought it was the most brutal first period I have seen in a game in a long time. Giants' gigantic players (although they do have a couple of smaller ones) smashed our Guys all over the place, pinned them to the boards and squeezed the life out of them. Felt by the end of p2, our Guys were exhausted and frustrated. Some of them looked so shellshocked they just didn't want to face another shift of that.
Unfortunately, we don't have many players who can retaliate the physical onslaught. Our smaller, lighter players were simply overrun, cut off at the pass, turned over or kept to the sides.
Dislike the Giants' arrogance and their dirty play but, boy, they have all the moves to counter anything the opposition have in their armoury. Hence a lot of dumping and chasing from us.
Only way to out play a team like that is to be faster than them...and ensure all your chances are pure gold winners on the pp.
It's games like this that demonstrate that.
Some of our players are off the boil and it's obvious. Missing Mosey and his calm reading of the game. Absolute credit to our 4th line tonight who brought energy, tenacity and chaos on their shifts. In fact, in p1, they were the only line to get some decent shots on Giants' goalie. Brandt deserved the MOM.