Kingdom Of The Giants :: Belfast Giants Fan Community, News & Views
...And A Partridge In A Pear Tree..
19-Dec-2007The Coors Belfast Giants will be looking to capitalise on a fantastic away win over the Coventry Blaze by repeating the feat on Friday night in the Odyssey Arena.
Ed Courtenay’s side produced one of their best performances this season to shut-out the league leaders in their own barn. 1st period goals from Mark Dutiaume and Courtenay himself were enough to seal the fate of the defending champions. A superb display by Stevie Lyle kept the Blaze at bay and set up an intriguing encounter at the Odyssey Arena.
The Blaze will be without Captain Sylvan Cloutier and former Giant Curtis Huppe again this weekend, the former of which injuring his hand in the Blaze’s last visit to the Odyssey Arena. While a Giants team, still without Carlyle Lewis following his injury in Edinburgh, will be hoping to give the Odyssey crowd an early Christmas present with a good result over Coventry.
On Sunday night the Giants travel back over the water to Newcastle to take on the Vipers. When these team last faced off the Vipers were flying high at the top of the table, however since then the team from the North East have lost their way a little. With only 3 wins in the 10 games since the Belfast visit on 18th November, the Vipers penalty shots victory over the Sheffield Steelers last Sunday helped them cling to 3rd place in the league table, only a single point ahead of Sheffield
The Vipers take on the Giants at a bad time for their roster. Injuries to Colin Shileds, Todd Jackson and Jeff Hutchins who is expected to undertake surgery this week, may put the Vipers bench at a distinct disadvantage. Coach Rob Wilson will have further selection trouble as he is yet to replace departed defenseman Petr Kratky. Therefore the travelling Giants will be hoping to take advantage of a severely short-benched Vipers side.
It’s a big weekend for the Belfast Giants, 2 big games against 2 of the top 3 teams in the league. As the mid point of the season comes and goes, the Giants fans will be hoping Santa brings 4 points come Christmas Eve.
This weekend you can of course follow the games here on KotG. There will be Text Commentary here from 6.30pm on Friday night of the Giants v Blaze game, while of course you can get the webcast from the official Belfast Giants website. On Sunday we’ll do our best to keep you up to date with the game in Newcastle trough the Text Commentary and the Chat room. Ond of course all in-game stats are available through ih-update.co.uk
Patrick Smyth
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League Standings
| P | TEAM | GP | W(OT) | L(OT) | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giants | 54 | 46(0) | 5(3) | 95 |
| 2 | Steelers | 54 | 41(0) | 11(2) | 84 |
| 3 | Panthers | 54 | 38(0) | 12(4) | 80 |
| 4 | Devils | 54 | 32(0) | 12(10) | 74 |
| 5 | Blaze | 54 | 32(0) | 20(2) | 66 |
| 6 | Clan | 54 | 31(0) | 19(4) | 66 |
| 7 | Stingrays | 54 | 16(0) | 34(4) | 36 |
| 8 | Stars | 54 | 13(0) | 35(6) | 32 |
| 9 | Capitals | 54 | 13(0) | 37(4) | 30 |
| 10 | Flyers | 54 | 8(0) | 40(6) | 22 |
Giants' Stat Leaders
| Points | Robert Dowd | 78 |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | Robert Dowd | 40 |
| Assists | Craig Peacock | 49 |
| PIM | Adam Keefe | 247 |