Friday, October 26, 2012
Keeping up with the Flyers: Claude Giroux and Danny Briere
It has been a few weeks now since I reported that Danny Briere and Claude Giroux had signed with the Berlin Polar Bears of the DEL. I have been trying my best to keep up with them, and I’ve even managed to watch one full game of theirs and plenty of highlights. The style of play is much different than in the NHL. The emphasis on checking and playing the body are not as important as they are here. Speed and stick handling seem to be the key in most leagues over-seas.
That seems to be alright with both Giroux and Briere. Neither of them is known for their physicality in the NHL, Giroux a bit more than Briere. With the larger ice surface and more room to skate in the DEL, the opportunity to put up some points is there, and that is exactly what they are doing.
Danny Briere scored a hat trick the other night and has 3 goals and 8 assists for 11 points in just 4 games. Claude Giroux’s numbers look very similar; he has 3 goals and 7 assists in the 4 games that he has played in. Both men are getting plenty of ice time. In the game that I watched, they were both on the number one power play unit and seemed to fit in fine with the rest of the guys on the team.
This is what they had to say following the win they had the other night.
Danny Brière: “It is a good feeling to help the team in such a good way. Hockey is a team game. You can’t do anything alone. The players help each other. Everybody has roles. I try to find the holes so that the other guys can put me in action. It is a great feeling to play with Giroux together. He has really good eyes and I try to take advantage of it”.
Claude Giroux: “Usually that is the way it happens between us. I give him the puck and he puts it in. He is very good in scoring. When I see open ice I try to get the things going – unfortunately my back-to-back effort didn’t go in at the beginning of the third period”.
So it looks like both players are doing well over in the DEL, and we can just hope that when this lockout ends, they bring that same success back to the Flyers!
-Brett Gibbs
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