[old_time_hockey]

avelanch, on 05 November 2009 - 01:19 PM, said:

I'm surprised as well, especially since he actually plays in Vancouver.

Welcome to Vancouver! If you don't know their name and number from SPAC they don't exist. No one knew who James Wright was until TB kept him on their NHL roster. But yet missing Evander Kane and James Wright the Giants are in the thick of it for the league lead in a rebuilding/youth year.

[avelanch]

old_time_hockey, on 06 November 2009 - 02:40 AM, said:

Welcome to Vancouver! If you don't know their name and number from SPAC they don't exist. No one knew who James Wright was until TB kept him on their NHL roster. But yet missing Evander Kane and James Wright the Giants are in the thick of it for the league lead in a rebuilding/youth year.

SPAC?

and when i lived in vancouver i went to the giants games as often as possible (wasn't that often though, due to me being a poor student )

[old_time_hockey]

avelanch, on 06 November 2009 - 10:13 AM, said:

SPAC?

and when i lived in vancouver i went to the giants games as often as possible (wasn't that often though, due to me being a poor student )

SPAC = Sportsnet Pacific

[avelanch]

ahhh, lol. when i lived in vancouver it was just sportsnet.

[DeNiro]

Connauton with a goal so far in a 2-2 tie with the oil kings. He now has 19 points in 22GP, not too shabby.

[DeNiro]

Oh man, Connauton's looking like an absolute stud on D right now. A goal and an assist in a 5-1 Giants win today. He's also getting that +/- up and is now only a -5. So far he's got 21 points in 23 GP, keep it up!

[JohnTavares]

God, this guy needs more attention! He has been incredible this season.

21 points in 23 games as a rookie in the WHL as a DEFENSEMAN so far. Amazing.

In comparison,

Kevin is ahead of Scott Glennie in scoring, as a defenseman. In case you guys don't know who Scott is, he is the 9th pick in 09.

Connauton also is ahead of Kyle (bonehead) Beach, as a defenseman. Beach was drafted in 08, 11th overall, right after our own Cody Hodgson.

Also ahead of Stefan Elliot in points, in which many people wanted to pick with our 1st round pick in 2009. And some more notable names that is behind Connauton in scoring is: Barrie, McNabb, Teubert, Jared Cowen, Ashton, etc..

Gillis is truly my idol.

[falcon]

People have to remember though Connauton is one full year older than most of his draft class, he's the same age as Yann Sauve which means he was eligible in the 2008 draft and was passed over.

That said any player putting up point per game as a rookie dman in any league deserves some attention.

Are there any Giants fans lurking around here that can give us a first hand review of his defensive play? That's the part I am most concerned about since I don't think anyone questions his ability to put up numbers.

EDIT: Not to take away anything from Connauton, but Elliot is also almost a year younger, and is a +19. I wouldn't have minded picking Elliot in the second round which he almost fell to us.

This post has been edited by falcon: 11 November 2009 - 09:02 PM

[JohnTavares]

falcon, on 11 November 2009 - 07:58 PM, said:

People have to remember though Connauton is one full year older than most of his draft class, he's the same age as Yann Sauve which means he was eligible in the 2008 draft and was passed over.

That said any player putting up point per game as a rookie dman in any league deserves some attention.

Are there any Giants fans lurking around here that can give us a first hand review of his defensive play? That's the part I am most concerned about since I don't think anyone questions his ability to put up numbers.

EDIT: Not to take away anything from Connauton, but Elliot is also almost a year younger, and is a +19. I wouldn't have minded picking Elliot in the second round which he almost fell to us.

Yeah, I would have as well, but Elliot was ranked so much higher than Connauton.

I think Keivn's a diamond in the rough. But we'll need more games. Even if he can be a #5-6 powerplay specialist that would be fantastic.

[RBork77]

old_time_hockey, on 06 November 2009 - 02:31 AM, said:

well taking last season (2008/09) what would happen on the Giants PP is Blum and Regner would man the points. What ever 3 forwards went out didn't matter. That is the thing under Don Hay. His system is of interchangable parts.

If the faceoff was won the point men would run the PP distributing the puck. More often than not Kane would slip his check and get a cross crease pass or get the garbage in front.

Should they lose the faceoff, 4 men would rush down (including 1 dman). Battle in the corner or end boards while the better skater stayed at the line. So the fact that a Giants Dman was down low on a PP is the game plan.

A perfect Giants game is create a turn over at the opposition blue line and then bring crazy puck support. They have always had the dmen and goalie to support that. Especially when you have/had people like Meszaros, Fistric, Festerling and Regner on D. People like Mikkelson (only guy I know that can skate as fast forwards as backwards)and Festerling knew they had to use their positioning and speed to their advantage. People like Blum knew when to pinch. Of course it helps when you have the all time WHL shutout leader in net behind you. But even this year the Giants have the best 1 - 2 punch in net with Jamie Tucker and Brenden Jensen since Sexy and Blaine Neufeld winning the Memorial Cup. Neufie is easy to overlook...but if the Giants didn't have him to settle Tyson down in the first round against Chilliwack, who knows what would have happened. I still will never forget him spilling off the bench with a big trainers towel waving it after each win. A better teammate you could not have.

Good post man! One of the only posts I've actually enjoyed reading...ever.

[avelanch]

falcon, on 11 November 2009 - 08:58 PM, said:

People have to remember though Connauton is one full year older than most of his draft class, he's the same age as Yann Sauve which means he was eligible in the 2008 draft and was passed over.

That said any player putting up point per game as a rookie dman in any league deserves some attention.

Are there any Giants fans lurking around here that can give us a first hand review of his defensive play? That's the part I am most concerned about since I don't think anyone questions his ability to put up numbers.

EDIT: Not to take away anything from Connauton, but Elliot is also almost a year younger, and is a +19. I wouldn't have minded picking Elliot in the second round which he almost fell to us.

from the few games i've listened to online, kevin's been pretty damn good defensively.

[NuckMan]

I went to the Giants Rockets game a few weeks back, and I had a nice report written up but my computer crashed. Fail. If anyone wants me to elaborate I have specific examples of each point I could bring up as I watched the game pretty well only when he wasn't on the ice and when he was I watched him:

Game thoughts:

-Excellent skating
-Bomb from the point, solid passing
-Tons of poise when faced with forecheckers
-Wasn't afraid to take a hit, but wasn't overly physical
-You could see the wheels turning between the ears, as he made several correct decisions NOT to pinch
-Made several good pinches overall, and one bad one that thankfully did not result in a GA
-Defensive positioning as part of the 5 man unit was generally solid, except for the occasional scramble/run around by KC and the entire 5 man unit
-Got beat 1 on 1 leading to one of the goals (beauty goal, Kevin should have done better)
-1 on 1 was his biggest weakness during the night, although he angled Rocket forwards to the outside well
-Snuck in off the point for a virtual tap in at the far post on the powerplay

Overall Giants won, and I would give him a 'B' on the night. When he was on the ice, something happened. However sometimes it happened in the back of his net too.

The kid has the talent and the tools, and now he just needs to be refined before he becomes a pro.

[falcon]

NuckMan, on 11 November 2009 - 11:18 PM, said:

I went to the Giants Rockets game a few weeks back, and I had a nice report written up but my computer crashed. Fail. If anyone wants me to elaborate I have specific examples of each point I could bring up as I watched the game pretty well only when he wasn't on the ice and when he was I watched him:

Game thoughts:

-Excellent skating
-Bomb from the point, solid passing
-Tons of poise when faced with forecheckers
-Wasn't afraid to take a hit, but wasn't overly physical
-You could see the wheels turning between the ears, as he made several correct decisions NOT to pinch
-Made several good pinches overall, and one bad one that thankfully did not result in a GA
-Defensive positioning as part of the 5 man unit was generally solid, except for the occasional scramble/run around by KC and the entire 5 man unit
-Got beat 1 on 1 leading to one of the goals (beauty goal, Kevin should have done better)
-1 on 1 was his biggest weakness during the night, although he angled Rocket forwards to the outside well
-Snuck in off the point for a virtual tap in at the far post on the powerplay

Overall Giants won, and I would give him a 'B' on the night. When he was on the ice, something happened. However sometimes it happened in the back of his net too.

The kid has the talent and the tools, and now he just needs to be refined before he becomes a pro.

Great, informative post. Thanks a lot, we need more contributing posters like you.

Well that sounds pretty good, I have every confidence in the Giants coaching staff in helping him hone his defensive skills. I was just worried that his defensive play was so non-existent one or two years in the dub is not enough, but from your report it looks like I've been worrying too much.

[NuckMan]

falcon, on 12 November 2009 - 01:26 AM, said:

Great, informative post. Thanks a lot, we need more contributing posters like you.

Well that sounds pretty good, I have every confidence in the Giants coaching staff in helping him hone his defensive skills. I was just worried that his defensive play was so non-existent one or two years in the dub is not enough, but from your report it looks like I've been worrying too much.

Glad you enjoyed my post. I know I certainly enjoyed Kevin's performance, the bad bits included because you can look for improvement down the road. As for his defensive play he was paired with Manning (who impressed me) on the PP and Toigo for even strength shifts (in general). His defensive play is definately a work in progress, don't get me wrong on that one, but as I said previously, he has the tools. Now all he needs is top notch coaching and tons of playing experience and the Giants will provide that for him, and I am confident he will become a more complete defenseman as a consequence.

Quick story from the game:

Giants are being forechecked heavily. KC wins the puck deep in his zone below the goal line. Instead of panicing, he calmly attempts to skate the puck out of his zone instead of chipping it off the glass and handing the puck to the Rockets who had the bulk of the momentum at this point. He was then tracked down by two Rockets before reaching the neutral zone, and KC lost the puck. Did he panic? No. He won the biscuit back and finally skated it out of the zone, kept possession, and relieved the pressure on his team at the same time. He did this while being harassed by forecheckers. Needless to say I was thouroughly impressed by this display. Sure he made mistakes, and you can argue that the 'safe' play is to chip it out off the glass, but the kid is only 19. I say let him apply his trade, use his tools, and make mistakes. I would rather a defenseman make a play quickly in transition, move the puck himself, or fire it up to forwards than give it away and be forced to chase yet another dump-in.

OK so it turned out to be a not-so-quick story.

[old_time_hockey]

Chad Scarff, who is the D Coach for the Giants, has said that Kevin loves to learn. He pays close attention to drills and asks smart questions in practice.

They have been happy with his progress and are interested to see what he can bring to the playoffs since he really hasn't had a taste of a full season and then playoffs. They are trying to prepair him mentally and physically.

[avelanch]

Connauton just saved a goal, goalie made the save but it trickled through and kevin made a good read and was able to stop it before it crossed the line.

[avelanch]

Kevin with an assist on the PP.

This post has been edited by avelanch: 13 November 2009 - 09:54 PM

[Spectacular]

Keep updating man, I am really liking this Connauton character. He has strong offensive skills.

[playboi19]

avelanch, on 13 November 2009 - 08:48 PM, said:

Kyle with an assist on the PP.

who?

[avelanch]

ahem, i mean kevin

sorry 'bout that, I was just reading a wellwood thread

This post has been edited by avelanch: 13 November 2009 - 09:54 PM