On The Road Again

• Belfast Giants at Coventry Blaze, W 5-2
• Giants Goals: Awada (3), Crane, Garside
• Blaze Goals: Kralj (2)

Another weekend on the road, another 4 points added to the bank for the Belfast Giants. On Saturday night the Giants travelled to Hull, followed by the first visit of the year to the Skydome in Coventry.

Saturday night's game in Hull can be summed up in one word: Penalties. Despite not being an overly physical game, the Giants managed to rack up 35 PIM in the first period alone and Hull took advantage with 2 powerplay goals (at 2.15 through Silverthorn and 16.32 through Derek Campbell) to go 2-0 up. A late Brock McBride tally got the Giants back into the game with 19 seconds of the period to go.

Into the second and further penalty trouble 4 minutes in saw Hull regain a 2 goal advantage as Silverthorn added his second. The Giants had it all to do... But this team does not sit back. McBride scored his second at 28 minutes to reduce the deficit once more. Benoit Doucet continued his fine form and tied the game at 3-3 just over half way through and it was game on.

The decisive moment of the game could again be summed up by the word "penalty". With 50 minutes gone, Derek Campbell reacted to an abuse of official call by chasing Daryl Lloyd and punching him to the back of the head. This gave the Giants a long 5 minute powerplay and sees Derek Campbell suspended for at least one match. With 4 minutes of this man advantage gone, Jeff Mason popped up, pouncing on a rebound to put the Giants 4-3 up, an advantage they held on to to claim the victory.

The Skydome in Coventry is an Arena in which the Giants have rarely tasted success. The Blaze have not had the best of starts to the season, and with their relative lack of success last year, many fear Coach Thomson will not allow his team to remain empty handed once more.

After a tough game the night before with a lot of shorthanded time racked up, there was a fear the Giants may not be fresh. George Awada quickly allayed those fears, however, notching his first goal since his return to the roster only 1 minute 20 seconds into the game. Two minutes later Awada turned provider, setting up Ryan Crane to double the lead. Despite being outshot by the home side, the Giants were not finished and Mark Garside added a powerplay marker with barely thirty seconds of the opening period left to make it 3-0 and put the Giants firmly in control.

Would the tiring Giants sit back and absorb the Blaze pressure for the rest of the game? Awada had other ideas, once more starting a period with a bang as just 57 seconds had ticked by before the Giants made it 4-0 and surely, finally, it was game over? The Blaze, and in particular Martin Kralj, were not convinced. Barely a minute after the Giants' fourth goal Kralj picked up his first of the night, sneaking the puck past the outstanding Stephen Murphy from an Aaron Nell feed. With Tom Dignard in the box for a high stick, Kralj added a second just 30 minutes into the game.

With a full half a game to go, were the exertions of the previous night in Hull now catching up with the road warrior Giants?

Once more the experience and class of temporary injury replacement George Awada told. Brock McBride linked up with the Giants veteran and the puck found its way past Peter Hirsch in the Blaze goal for a fifth time, completing Awada's fourth Giants hat trick and putting the seal on a fine tenth consecutive Giants victory as the final period passed without any further addiction to the scoreboard.

Live Scores

League Standings

full table >>

Giants' Stat Leaders

Site Search