Rollin, Rollin, Rollin...

After a 6-2 victory on the road over the Sheffield Steelers, Ed Courtenay led the Coors Belfast Giants back home over the Irish Sea to the Odyssey Arena where the first home encounter with the London Racers awaited them.

The Racers inflicted the Giants with their first defeat of the season back in September when they over came them in Lea Valley by 4 goals to 2. Since then the Giants have gone from strength to strength, holding their position at the top of the Elite League. A slight personnel change has taken place also. Matt Reid has since departed and been replaced by Theo Fleury. Fleury himself has averaged over 3 points per game since his spectacular arrival only a few weeks ago and has embedded himself, unsurprisingly, as a firm fan favouite.

The game started slowly with the Giants trying to raise their intensity after three games on the road. The physicality was apparent as Leigh Jamieson took a big hit from Jason Robinson for which he needed attention. But it took 11.51 before the breakthrough came for the Giants. Giants Man of the Match Shawn Skiehar adding to his late starting tally, latching on to assists by Ed Courtenay and Theo Fleury (again adding to his ever increasing points tally). Racer Player/Coach Dennis Maxwell was not happy however, he believed that Skiehar was in the crease and complained vehemently to referee Mike Hicks, but his protests fell on deaf ears and the period ended 1-0 and without any penalty calls

The Giants were boosted tonight by the return of former captain Shane Johnson who had been out since the second game of the season with ligament damage and as the second period started his experience was invaluable the Racers pressed hard to tie the sides up. At one point Maxwell latched onto a defensive lapse by the Giants and bearing down on netminder Mike Minard, he waited for the goalie to commit, but he was unable to lift it over him. Seconds later Minard denied Cornish with the pads when the Racers enforcer was clean through.

The Giants had their first powerplay of the game when Troy Smith of the Racers was sent for hooking midway through the period. The Giants powerplay has been on form this season as they have picked up quite a few points. Captain George Awada, Jason Ruff and Theo Fleury have struck fear into most teams with their ability to capitalise on the man advantage. This time however the Racers were able to kill off the penalty with only Ruff coming very close to doubling the home teams advantage, denied by London’s Man of the Match, Ladislav Kudrna in the London goal. And as the period ended, most notable was the length of time Fluery had spent on the ice. Having begun the power play, he spent at least 4 minutes 30seconds of the last five minutes on the ice.

During last nights visit to the Hallam FM arena in Sheffield the Giants were struck a blow as Curtis Huppe, who had racked up a massive 18 points in 13 games, was put out by an ankle injury. Curtis has been a crucial part of the Giants early success and his injury will come as disappointment to coach Ed Courtenay who will be without his services for six weeks.

The Giants started the final period looking to finish the visitors off. Fleury pushed hard, and had a great chance saved by Kudrna’s pads. Five minutes in to the third period Ed Courtenay was sent to the box for slashing, giving London their first powerplay of the game. The Giants killed it off and as he left the box Courtenay took the puck to stick, he laid it off to Steve O’Brien, O’Brien hooked up with Fleury. As Kudrna moved to cover a possible shot by Fleury, Theo laid it off for the advancing Courtenay to slot home and put the Giants 2-0 up with 13 minutes left on the clock.

The home team were proving just how dangerous they are in the offensive zone causing the Racers defence all sorts of problems. The London players started to get frustrated and as Graeme Walton pinned Matt Foord to the boards, Foord lashed out and a small rumble ensued, Walton getting sent for roughing, Foord getting an elbowing penalty for initially lashing out.

London coach Dennis Maxwell has a reputation for creating a more physical game if his team are behind in the dying minutes. This was apparent in this game not only with Foord lashing out but with Trevor Baker getting a 2+2 minutes penalty for a high stick to Jason Ruff’s face with under four minutes in the game. The ensuing powerplay was all about Theo Fleury. Fleury took the puck and controlled the play as the period died out.

The Giants came out 2-0 winners and took four points from four this weekend, allowing them to remain top of the Elite League. With the other teams still playing catch up with their games in hand, the Giants move on to have back to back games against the Coventry Blaze, Saturday’s game at the Odyssey Arena while for Sunday they travel to Coventry hoping that they can take maximum points from the reigning Grand Slam Champions.

Patrick Smyth

Aaron Kernohan

More News

Live Scores

League Standings

full table >>

Giants' Stat Leaders

Site Search