You Gotta Hand It To Freddy...

Sheffields favourite Brummy, Dave Simms, described the game as the "Hand and Nasvall Show", as the Belfast Giants took a vital point in 5-5 draw in the Odyssey Arena

In a must win game for the Belfast Giants it was never clear cut for either team. And it was the visitors who drew first blood. Lefebvre scoring off a Ben Bliss pass. But late in the first period the Giants hit back in style. At 17:09 player/coach Tony Hand linked up with Todd Kelman to provide Captain Shane Johnson with a knock past Stevie Lyle that the recently acquired netminder couldn't handle and the Giants drew level.

Less than 2 minutes later it was 2-1 to the Giants, George Awada deflecting home from the Curts Bowen and Huppe and the game was in full swing.

In a physical game Jason Bowen took a puck hit to the knee in the second period that put him on the bench for a short while forcing the Giants to adjust their game. And at 33 minutes dead Erik Anderson latched on to a Jeff Christian pass and evened up the scores.

The second period had to end early due to an injury to referee Nigel Boniface who'd taken a knock to the ankle. But just before it did, a thundering shot from Tony Hand deflected off Shane Johnson and into the net giving the Giants a 3-2 advantage as the period came to a premature end.

The remaining 3 minutes 28 seconds of the second period were played at the beginning of the third session and those 3:28 came as a shock to the home fans. Mike Peron, arguably the Steelers player of the post-season, made it 3-3 at 39:25 and only 16 seconds later they took the lead as Erik Anderson got his second.

Stevie Lyle and Martin Klempa swapped sides as the Giants fought their way into a tense final period. And it only took Fredrick Nasvall 2 minutes to add to that tension firing home from a Mel Angelstad assist.

The home fans know exactly how badly they Giants needed two points tonight from this game, and were left biting their nails when, unassisted, Daryl Andrews gave the Steelers a late lead at 45:19, but Jason Bowen made it a 5-5 game 40 seconds later....

As some fans reached for their heart medicine, Mel Angelstad took a late slashing penalty to make the Giants plight that little bit harder with only 2 minutes left. However the Penalty Kill unit held out and the game ended level.

It was a game where the Giants were on top, Tony Hand and man of the match Freddy Nasvall producing some fine hockey. A lot of wasted chances by the home side, most notably the few missed by George Awada. But the point does keep the Belfast side's playoff dream alive.

With a road trip tomorrow night to Cardiff and a return trip to the Odyssey for the Steelers on Thursday, one can only ask what a 5-5 end to end game like tonights has done to the legs of Tony Hands team..... They'll have to show some bottle if they are to go the distance

Patrick Smyth