Perfect 10.

The Coors Belfast Giants completed their five game homestand with a dominating victory over a short benched Basingstoke Bison, making it a perfect ten points from ten.

Once again the Giants took an early lead as Colin Shields set up George Awada to slot home his fifteenth goal of the season with just over two minutes on the clock and on the powerplay. Although the Giants dominated most of the early spell of the game, they were unable to add to the tally and the period ended without any further scoring.

Player/Coach Ed Courtenay doubled the Giants lead five minutes into the second period after Theo Fleury and Steve O'Brien combined to work an opening in the Bisons defences. Five minutes later and it was Old Golden Skates Rob Stewart who was the benefactor of some outstanding play by George Awada and Colin Shields. Although the Giants were clearly the better team, the Bison did manage to force their way through on occasion, forcing goalie Mike Minard to make several important saves.

The Giants began the third period with back-up goaltender Nathan Craze in between the pipes, and any worries over the Bison exploiting his relative inexperience at this level evaporated as he made several outstanding saves before the Giants proceeded to double the lead, scoring three goals in fifty-two seconds. George Awada, Curtis Huppe and Theo Fleury all scored to give the Giants an unassailable 6-0 scoreline. The Bison did not completely fold however and the did manage to nick one goal back as their MotM Mark Galazzi scored with just over ten minutes of the game remaining. Although the Bison were well beaten, Theo Fleury was not finished, as he scored an absolutely sublime goal, deking Bison goaltender Mark Bernard, to bring his points tally to four for the game (2G+2A).

This was not the end of the action though, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Theo Fleury again in the thick of it. Taking exception to some rough play from Brad Cruikshank, Fleury crosschecked the player and followed it up with some verbals. After the ensuing melee, the referee deemed that Fleury had also intentionally high-sticked Cruikshank and he was then thrown from the game. Cruickshank received a two-minute minor penalty for his actions. Although their was a sizeable crowd tonight, they never really got vocal until the last period when the Giants scored in quick succession, and then again only after Fleury got his penalty.

The Coors Belfast Giants next game is away, at the Edinburgh Capitals on Monday Jan 2nd. The next home game is against the hard-hitting Newcastle Vipers on Saturday Jan 7th, face-off time 7pm.

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