A Weekend To Savour..

St. Patricks Day, that was the last time the Coors Belfast Giants achieved a 4 point weekend. Home and away wins to the Panthers and Phoenix respectively gave the Giants 4 points in a League battle that had already been wrapped up by Coventry Blaze, putting the Giants in 2nd place. Those days seemed a million miles away from this weekend as the 6th place Giants took on the Sheffield Steelers at the Odyssey Arena.

The first match up of the season between these two side did not disappoint. The visitors struck first, Jeff Legue scoring the first of two capialising on a defensive lapse by the Giants. But a moment of class from former Steeler, Shane Johnson saw him feed a wonderful cross ice pass along the blueline, keeping George Awada and the returning Scott Cameron onside, to the right boards, the link up between Cameron and Sutter drew Jody Lehman out of position and allowed them to tee up Awada on the edge of the left circle, finishing into the open net for one of the prettiest goals seen in the Odyssey this season.

Before the first break however it was advantage Sheffield once again, Doug Sheppard and Ashley Tait once again turning provider for Jeff Legue to finish, this time the Giants defense did all they could but were unable to stop a lovely finish from the Steelers Man of the Match.

Shaun Sutter, another former Steeler, had been a player high on the Steelers fans wish list of players in the off season, however it was rumoured his wage demands were too high. The travelling fans were delighted in the first period when Sutter missed an open netted sitter when presented it by Scott Cameron. However that delight in his miss turned to frustration at their own defense when in the second period Sutter had all the time in the world to pick up a rebound on the edge of Lehman’s crease, skate out to the right circle, turn and unleash a bullet of a shot almost ripped the net. The Giants were level now at 2-2

In his programme notes, Ed Courtenay alluded to the special teams being the key to this game, “…so we need to play a disciplined game and take advantage of any powerplay opportunities we get”. And that they did, however the Giants only got one powerplay opportunity in a game that saw each side punished only once. 30 seconds into the final period, Mark Thomas was sent to the box for holding and with only seconds remaining in the PP, Courtenay and Peter Campbell linked up to give Belfast the lead for the first time in the game.

The first two periods were a tight end to end contest between two evenly matched sides, and with the Giants leading Jeff Legue popped up again, however depite Stevie Lyle being beaten by the shot, the post came to the rescue and sustained the Giants lead. Minutes later, Peter Campbell was once again the provider as he and Mark Dutiaume, who like Cameron was also returning from injury, set up Carlyle Lewis for an easy finish into the Steelers goal, doubling the home sides advantage.

David Matsos will not be happy with his teams reaction to Lewis’s goal, the Steelers team began to shut down and fall asleep. The remainder of the game was one of dominance for the Giants, capped by a second goal by Giants captain George Awada. Awada had been under fire from a section of the Giants fans for not racking up his usual numbers. However the American, in his 4th season with the Giants, has kept his work rate high throughout and was rewarded by his second goal of the evening. With the Steelers on a heavy forecheck to try and level things up, a Stevie Lyle save from Randy Degianais was picked up by Todd Kelman. A spot perfect pass by Kelman released Awada through the middle and on the breakaway the Giants Man of the Match made it 5-2.

The Steelers did their best to spare the blushes as Ashley Tait made it 5-3 with seconds left on the game clock, however the game was won and the Giants took the spoils, much to the consternation of a few of the travelling fans.

Sunday night saw the Giants return to Hull, the scene of their 7-1 thrashing of the Stingrays a month ago. This was an altogether difference prospect however, with Kudrna fully fit and back in the Stingrays goal, it was a harder task for the visiting Giants.

Peter Campbell opened the scoring, 5 minutes into the game, to make it 7 goals from 7 games as a Giants player. The Canadian really relishing his partnership with Ed Courtenay, who along with Mark Dutiaume, picked up the assists.

Second period goals from Cabana and Gottfried for the Stingrays gave the home side the advantage heading into the 3rd period. However Carlyle Lewis squared up proceedings 5 minutes into the final session, Campbell picking up his 2nd point of the night and 4th of the weekend as he set up the Giants hard man for the equalising goal.

It remained at 2-2 to the buzzer and no one could break the deadlock in overtime, so it was left to penalty shots to separate the teams and decide the direction of that extra point. And it wasn’t a display for the quality finishers, there were no goals from the first round of 3 shots, Mitchell, Boothroyd and Cabana all missing for the Stingrays, Sutter, Campbell and Courtenay likewise for the Giants. So in sudden death shots the rotation began again, and after 5 penalty shots each, Peter Campbell finally found the net and ended the match.

8 months have passed, and 2 months into the new season the Giants finally have that 4 point weekend. Not only that, 5 league wins on the trot for Ed Courtenay’s side means that the Giants are currently one of the form teams in the EIHL. And on Thursday night they face the other form team. Cardiff Devils are on a streak of 7 games unbeaten and are waiting to face Sheffield Steelers in the semi finals of the Challenge Cup. With both teams on a high, Thursday clash will be a real tough test for this Giants side playing with renewed confidence and belief.

Patrick Smyth

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