"STAND BY FOR ACTION"

”Two Weeks Notice”, That’s what, according to the Belfast Telegraph, Ed Courtenay handed each member of his Coors Belfast Giants team after a pointless weekend, in more ways than one.

A home loss to the Hull Stingrays followed by their third defeat at the hands of the Cardiff Devils in little under a month, has left the Giants bottom of the Elite Ice Hockey League and led Courtenay to take drastic action.

If things weren’t tough enough, however, they are about to get a little bit tougher as the Giants play their first back to back road games of the season against two teams that have already caused them problems at home.

On Saturday night they face Hull for the second time in a week, the Yorkshire team were the first EIHL team to brave the wilds of the Dundalk IceDome and in turn became the first team this season to Shut Out the Giants. Hull followed that victory the next night at home with a 5-3 win over the Edinburgh Capitals, and despite their early misfortunes, Rick Strachan will be hoping his side will have now shifted momentum in their favour. Jeff Glowa is in fine scoring form, while new arrivals Rob Rankin and Paul "Copa" Cabana are looking to further plague the Giants as they did in Dundalk. American Forward Jake Riddle has already notched up 101 Penalty minutes over 11 games, including a misconduct against the Giants, and he was responsible for some fantastic play against the Caps last Sunday. The Giants will be hoping to keep all these guys quiet and not repeat the scoreline from their last visit to the Hull Arena, when the Stingrays tore the hurting Giants apart.

It’s a quick (but within the speed limit of course) drive down the M62 on Sunday to Manchester for the first visit to the Altringham Ice Dome, and the Giants are hoping to capitalise on the Phoenix recent down turn of form. Following an winning streak of 5 games, the Tony hand’s side have lost 3 of their last four games, with back to back losses last weekend to the Vipers and the Blaze. The Phoenix top lines have not been lacking in points however, Canadian Joe Tallari has 16 points so far and showed in the Odyssey Arena how dangerous a finisher he can be. Tony Hand is once again racking up the assists as he has done for longer than many of us care to remember, while Brian Passmore, Scott Basiuk and Sean Starke have all been wracking up the points for the Phoenix. Giants fans will also be wary of Brett Clouthier, the former Steeler caused controversy last season at the Odyssey Arena when he took on Shawn Skiehar and allegedly gouged at the former Giants eyes. Clouthier has 4 points and 46 PIMs and while he may not have the numbers equivalent to the likes of Riddle in Hull, Clouthier is one tough cookie the Giants hope to crack.

It will be a tough road trip at either end of the M62, and the Giants recent form will make it that little bit tougher. Shaun Sutter made his debut last weekend and Giants fans will hope, having more time to settle and train, he will find his mark this weekend. The Giants may also find a problem in Trevor Johnson, the D-Man still hurting with a hand injury, while Roman Gavalier’s return seems no closer.

With rumours of departure rife among fans, and Ed Courtenay handing out his umpteenth warning of cuts, the pressure on the Giants to perform this weekend is intense, otherwise come Monday some players may only have a week left.

Patrick Smyth

You can follow this weekends games here at Kingdom of the Giants, drop into the Forum and Chatroom during the game for up to date discussions, while all stats and scores from across the EIHL are available at ih-update.

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