Giants take a bite out of the Vipers

Christmas is coming and the Coors Belfast Giants were certainly in the festive mood. With *five* consecutive home games scheduled over the festive period they began the run against the Newcastle Vipers. With Ed Courtenay hoping to maximise the points from these 6 match-ups they started on the front-foot with a physical 7-5 win in front of the Odyssey Crowd

Having been unable to put anything past Martin Kucera in the Edinburgh Capitals net last Sunday, Theo Fleury got off to a top start after only 4 minutes. Latching on to a build up from Jason Ruff and Todd Kelman, the former-NHL Superstar gave the Giants a one goal advantage early in the game.

And it only took Colin Shields 3 further minutes to double that advantage. A great finish from an Ed Courtenay pass. 2-0 to the Giants.

Much had been touted about Newcastle’s replacement for Mel Angelstad, picking up Jeremy Cornish from the sadly defunct London Racers. But as he squared up to Shawn Skiehar straight from a face off in the first period, it only took the Giants enforcer 1 clean right punch to floor the Vipers hard man. Much to the delight of the Odyssey crowd.

The Giants were on a high from their obvious dominance of the opening session and with under 10 minutes of the game gone, Giants Captain George Awada made it 3-0. The Giants running away with only 8.02 on the clock.

In a goal ridden first period the Vipers showed that they weren’t going to be put to bed before the first period break. With two of the Giants goal scorers, Fleury and Awada, sitting out penalties for tripping and hooking respectively, Matus Petricko took advantage of the 5 on 3, scoring from an assist by Vipers coach Rob Wilson, pulling the deficit back to only two goals. 3-1 with 5 minutes remaining in the first period

The action in the First period didn’t end there. Andre Payette decided it was his turn to take on Shawn Skiehar. “Ski” was reluctant to fight, maybe due to the newly introduced fighting rules restricting the players ability and the possibility of being ejected because of it. Maybe this was Payettes intention as he badgered the Giants forward. The linesman seemed unwilling to break them up and so they “danced”. Payette may have wished he hadn’t as Skiehar came out on top once again and only received a 2 minutes roughing for his trouble, while Payette sat a 2+2, Referee Moray Hanson seemingly acknowledging the fact Skiehar was forced into the situation. Skiehar was “Rollin”

The second period started in ernest, the Giants on the penalty kill thanks to a Todd Kelman hooking call, falling foul of the stricter enforcement of such call by the referee. But following the penalty George Awada took home his second of the night making it 4-1

However once again the Vipers fought to remain in the game. Matt Beveridge picked up an unassisted goal that seemed to deflect in off Rob Stewarts skate and past Mike Minard, providing the visiting side with further hope they could pull back the now 2 goal deficit.

Passion was flowing from both sides. Hard hits, tough plays and end to end action. The game seemed to take a nasty turn when what seemed like a blatant spearing from Shane Johnson, but it was missed by Moray Hanson. Coach Ed Courtenay continued his scoring streak with a goal midway through the second. Restoring the Giants 3 goal cushion with assists to Fleury and O’Brien.

Leigh Jamieson wasn’t gonna let that stick. On a breakaway he bared down on Trevor Keonig in the Newcastle goal before roofing the puck and extending the Giants the advantage to 4 goals as the period ended.

The Giants have been unstoppable over the last number of weeks and they chalked up their seventh goal of this game Jason Ruff getting on score sheet and Fleury gaining his third point of the night with another assist. The game seemed to be slipping away more and more from the visitors. 7-2, 4 minutes into the final session.

Midway through the 3rd period the Vipers socred a third goal, Beveridge picking up his second, hover it seemed a lost cause at this stage, the Newcastle side engaging in some damage limitation as the Belfast side were romping our comfortable victors

But not without an action packed final few minutes. Man of the Match Skiehar faced up to Rob Wilson and much to the confusion of the crowd was not shown the gate by Moray Hanson. The Vipers then hit back with two goals from Jonathan Weaver and Jan Kraijek, but with Kraijeks goal coming with under a minute left in the game to bring it to 7-5, the Giants took the two points and began their home run with a very physical encounter.

Next up in the Odyssey Arena to face the Belfast side are the Nottingham Panthers next Saturday in a 1st v 2nd Clash!

Patrick Smyth