Kingdom Of The Giants :: Belfast Giants Fan Community, News & Views
Bravehearts
Sun 02 Oct- Belfast Giants at Edinburgh Capitals, W 5-0
- Giants Goals: Dignard, Doucet, Dowd, McBride, Crane
With the Odyssey Arena booked up, the Belfast Giants are currently spending a lot of time on the road. This previous weekend saw a long coach and ferry trip to the east coast of Scotland where the Giants returned to Fife for the first time since the memorable 6-5 OT defeat in the Cross-Over Cup when EIHL sides met BNL sides for the only time in a Challenge Cup group game. This was followed on Sunday by a trip to Murrayfield in Edinburgh and the struggling Edinburgh Capitals.
Saturday night saw Fife put up somewhat more of a fight than when they visited the Odyssey, however the home side were once again outclassed by the Giants with Garret Zemlak, who left the game injured after a collision with Adam Keefe, and Blair Daly facing 47 shots while Fife could only muster 17 themselves including only 4 in the final period.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Benoit Doucet who notched his first hat trick for the Northern Irish side. Daryl Lloyd tallied his first goal for the club while Derek LeBlanc, Robert Dowd and Mark Garside also found the net and George Awada tallied his first point of his comeback. For the Flyers there were markers from Matt Cohen and Ian Bowie.
On Sunday the Giants skated into Murrayfield and left with a 5-0 win, although the scoreline may flatter a little and the game may not have been easy as some may have imagined. Stephen Murphy managed a shut out, facing only 21 shots while the Giants went one better than the previous night and tallied an impressive 48 shots on former Giant Nathan Craze.
With 17.12 of the first period gone, and the Giants two goals up, Jozef Sladok took exception to Adam Keefe coming to close to Nathan Craze, both players dropping the gloves, Sladok edging the fight as acknowledged by Keefe. Expect to see a rematch in the future there.
The goals were shared around with five different scorers including a maiden goal for Tom Dignard, another each for Doucet and Dowd, while Brock McBride and Ryan Crane scored to continue their solid starts to the year.
So another four point weekend on the road, and while it may have been expected eventually Edinburgh or Fife will improve and cause teams problems, so these banana skins must be avoided.
Live Scores
Last Game
- Sat 18 Feb
- vs Flyers, W 7-1
- Giants Goals: Pelle, Kuiper, Dowd, Peacock, Clarke, Rebek, Hoffman
- Flyers Goals: Gunn
League Standings
| P | TEAM | GP | W(OT) | L(OT) | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giants | 35 | 28(0) | 4(3) | 59 |
| 2 | Panthers | 35 | 25(0) | 8(2) | 52 |
| 3 | Steelers | 29 | 25(0) | 4(0) | 50 |
| 4 | Blaze | 34 | 22(0) | 12(0) | 44 |
| 5 | Devils | 33 | 18(0) | 8(7) | 43 |
| 6 | Clan | 32 | 19(0) | 12(1) | 39 |
| 7 | Capitals | 34 | 11(0) | 20(3) | 25 |
| 8 | Stingrays | 35 | 9(0) | 22(4) | 22 |
| 9 | Stars | 34 | 5(0) | 25(4) | 14 |
| 10 | Flyers | 31 | 4(0) | 23(4) | 12 |
Giants' Stat Leaders
| Points | Craig Peacock | 50 |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | Robert Dowd | 24 |
| Assists | Craig Peacock | 33 |
| PIM | Adam Keefe | 188 |