Giants get Bitten

There were high expectations as the Coors Belfast Giants travelled to the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle for what would be their final regular season game against the Vipers. The Vipers team were without Pavel Gomenyuk, having taken an injury from a puck striking his ankle a few games previous. The Giants returned Mike Minard to the crease after a games rest against the Capitals and this being the first League game following the unfortunate early retirement of Jason Ruff through injury, Ed Courtenay was hoping not to repeat the previous Sundays poor performance against the Coventry Blaze

Unfortunately that wasn’t to be. The Vipers came out in their own arena with a few scores to settle and went about doing it in style. It only took 12 seconds before Shaun Skiehar and Jeremy Cornish squared up in centre ice. After some needless stalking they grappled and exchanged blows, but the fight ended out a draw as they both fell on each other to the ice. A feisty start to what turned out to be a feisty match.

With these two teams riding high in the Elite League it was sure to be a close contest and the Vipers opened the scoring with a sweet one time shot from GB veteran David Longstaff. He fired the puck home after leaving the penalty box and skating to the offensive zone, a cross pass from Cory Morgan found him open for the shot and he gave the home team the early advantage.

Newcastle doubled that advantage soon after, a scramble in the crease infront of Mike Minards net ended with Vipers Karl Culley tipping the puck over the line. The Giants protested after it seemed Minard was impeded by a slash from Vipers captain Jonathon Weaver, however the calls fell on deaf ears as referee Moray Hanson called the goal. A Great start by the Vipers and one they needed.

The Giants needed to regroup, they were finding it difficult to penetrate the Vipers defense and in a period in which they only had 6 shots on goal it was Curtis Huppe who gave the Giants the hope of fighting back. With Jeremy Cornish sitting two minutes for High Sticking the Giants made up for a poor earlier powerplay by capitalising on this one. Theo Fleury and Ed Courtenay turning providers for Curtis Huppe to sweetly place the puck behind Trevor Koenig and open the scoring for the visitors.

Shortly after the goal, Jason Bowen, who had been hitting hard since the start of the game and attempting to get under the Vipers skin, was hit by Vipers “Hard man” Andre Payette. Payette, who had earlier attempted to start something with Colin Shields, was once again trying to hit his way to victory. In this tilt it was Payette who shaded the win, for the first time against a Giants player, taking down Bowen in a scrappy fight. Both received 2+2 for roughing and Payette had to leave the ice due to cut received from a Bowen jab. Jason was received well by the Vipers fans who mimicked the donkey sounds Giants fans had been making at Payette as the game had progressed.

The first had ended 2-1, but the Giants had the best possible start to the second session. 30 seconds in and the puck fell to Shane Johnson in the left circle, his ensuing shot took a massive deflection and ended up in the back of the Vipers net, fortuitous on the Giants part but it brought them level none the less.

This lasted 7 minutes, however. Having sat a 2 minute penalty for elbowing, one which angered the Newcastle crowd, Andre Payette stepped out of the penalty box to find a nicely placed pass from Jonathan Weaver meet his stick and give him a 1 on 1 with Mike Minard. Payette shot early from the left circle and beat Minard with a shot the netminder usually saves. A sucker punch that gave Giants players and fans alike the feeling that it wasn’t going to be their night.

It wasn’t for the lack of trying. Colin Shields and Curtis Huppe both were handed breakaway chances by the Vipers defense and both were stoned cold by Newcastle netminder Trevor Koenig, who played probably his best ever game against the league leaders.

3-2 at the halfway point of the game, with the Giants having severe problems against a well organised Vipers side. It was Giants Man of the Match Colin Shields who found a way past Koenig to draw the sides level once again on the 35 minute mark. Todd Kelman and George Awada feeding the puck to the slot where Shields struck a slapshot into the top right of Koenig’s goal. Shields, who had earlier, strangely, received the same mimicked donkey sounds from the Vipers crowd had give the Giants a hope of a victory. 3-3 at the period end and the game as tight as the scoreline suggested.

What was to follow was a period the Giants would soon like to forget. The Belfast side needed to organise themselves and create chances. What transpired was a period in which they found it difficult to string passes together or for passes to meet sticks. Defensively they lost concentration and this led to the Vipers fourth goal. A poor attempt to clear the defensive zone allowed the puck to fall to Karl Culley, who’s strike from the blueline gave him his second goal of the game and the frustration and dejection was clear on the Giants body language.

Matters got worse only 40 seconds later. This time it was Andre Payette who turned provider, feeding a pass from Shaun Johnson to David Longstaff in the slot and Longstaff almost identically repeated his goal from the first period and gained his second with 12 minutes remaining in the game.

The Giants were being out played across the ice in the final stanza, they seemed to lose focus in an attempt to fan the fire the Vipers forwards were fuelling. Theo Fleury gave the Giants hope after 52 minutes, with Keonig covering what he expected would be a shot from Giants coach Ed Courtenay. Fleury received a pass, however, to the left of the goal and had a wide open space to place it in. The goal was marred however as Keonig followed into Fleury with a cheap-shot shoulder that knocked the Giants superstar to the ice.

The hope that goal provided was very short lived, a thundering blueline strike from Vipers influential defenseman Jan Krajicek rounded off a nightmare night for Mike Minard and gave the Vipers a 6-4 win. Their first victory over the Giants and one which the home fans savoured.

The Giants never took the lead at any point of the game and in the third period they were frustrated by an organised Vipers defense and a loss of focus on forward play.But it was the Giants defense who were the real villans of the evening. They came out soft, improved in the second period before vanishing in the final and even though Minard had a terrible game, his defense did him few favours.

But in a game where Karl Culley received the Vipers Man of the Match award, it was Trevor Koenig who was the real star. His one on one saves and puck distribution were superb. His covering play equally so and in this game it was Koenig who gave his team the impetus to achieve victory over the league favourites.

As for the Giants, two consecutive league defeats after a long unbeaten run is no reason to panic. The early cushion they had created is enough for them to feel relatively safe in the last run-in of the league championship. However the style of this loss is one Ed Courtenay and his side will want to discard, forget and move on from as they welcome the other league contenders, the Nottingham Panthers, on Friday night.

Patrick Smyth

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