It's a Knockout!

The British Knockout Cup was devised as a way to fill the games left vacant at the demise of the London Racers. The Coors Belfast Giants had run out 7-3 winners of the first leg of their campaign against the Edinburgh Capitals and tonight the Caps returned to try and overcome that deficit in the second leg at the Odyssey Arena.

Edinburgh however only arrived with 14 on their gamesheet, including their two netminders and therefore it didn’t instil any confidence that they were expecting to defeat the league leaders by a four goal margin. The Giants also seemed to have this game down as a “nice to have”, starting back up netminder Nathan Craze, giving Mike Minard a well earned rest, and using the game as an opportunity to develop their younger talent. Mark Morrison, Marc Levers and Graeme Walton, all being given large chunks of ice time.

In what was a lacklustre game, the first period was punctuated by a strange goal by centre Colin Shields. The puck had been dumped along the left wing boards as Capitals netminder Martin Kucera left his crease to play it. Taking it on his stick he looked up to see an advancing Shields, this forced him to cover the puck with his glove, however somehow he missed the puck, allowing Shileds to pick it up and fire into the empty net from a tight angle. The Giants taking the lead 12 minutes into the game and holding it till the break.

The second period began somewhat like the first, quick, few penalties. It was the second half of the period in which the game began to pick up. 3 goals in a matter of 4 minutes brought what was slowly looking like one of the dud’s of the season. With the Capitals replacing their netminder, Curtis Huppe fired home the Giants second of the game, the Giants top scorers, Ed Courtenay and Theo Fleury turning providers. The Caps hit back however though Matthew Rich, socring on one of a grand total of 3 shots the Edinburgh had in the second period, and less than a minute later Marc Levers restored the Giants two goal advantage, thanks to a superb pass from Graeme Walton. The period ended 3-1 to the home team and it seemed that the Capitals were in somewhat of a hurry.

The period breaks were shortened to 12 minutes at the request of the Capitals and this added fuel to the speculation that this game meant very little to either side. The Giants minds looking forward to tomorrows game in Newcastle and using this as a training exercise.

Steve O’Brien opened the scoring in the final stanza. Taking only 40 seconds to extend the Giants advantage to 4-1. And this uneventful game came to a conclusion when, in the last minute Neil McCann latched onto a Tony Hand pass to fire past Nathan Craze and end the game 4-2.

A Dull uneventful quick game and the Giants advance to the Semi-Finals of the British Knock Out cup, but that will be at the back of their minds as they prepare for tomorrows game against the Newcastle Vipers which promises to be a rough test for Ed Courtenays side.

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