Kingdom Of The Giants :: Belfast Giants Fan Community, News & Views
Big Double Header Weekend Ahead
17-Oct-2008
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The Belfast Giants look this weekend to continue their impressive start to the season. Friday night sees the visit of the current reigning champion Coventry Blaze for the first time this season.
The sides have met once so far, with the Giants picking up a 3-2 win in the Skydome, Steve Thornton scoring the winning goal on a powerplay with just 19 seconds remaining. Alas the Giants will have to do without their player coach tonight as he sits out the final game of his suspension whic was reduced from 9games to 4 on appeal.
The Blaze suffered a couple of bumps early on with succesive defeats at Sheffield and at home to Cardiff, but since then have gone on a good run, losing only that 3-2 game to Belfast. They have definitely shown what they are capable of putting 18 goals on the board last weekend with an 11-1 win in Edinburgh and a 7-3 win over the struggling Bison.
With both Belfast and Coventry stronger up front than on defence, we could be in for a cracking game tonight. Special teams could be a critical decider.
Saturday night also promises to be a stormer as the Newcastle Vipers skate into Belfast for a Challenge Cup game. Belfast easily defeated the Vipers in the first Elite League clash of the season putting 8 goals past Verner in their goal, leading the Vipers to try and rough things up in the final few minutes.
However the next game was a bit of a shock when the Giants went to Newcastle, and expecting a rough and tumble game, were outsmarted by the Vipers who snuck a 1 goal win on the play of goalie Verner who turned away 48 of 51 shots. In the second game of the double header weekend in Newcastle, the Giants responded with a 3-1 win, again racking up over 40 shots.
This game however was more memorable for the incident that saw coach Thornton banned, initially for 9 games, when he made contact with Andre Payette's head with his stick, a very out of character incident.
This ban was reduced on appeal to 4 games, and ironically the first game back for Thornton is against the Vipers. With the Giants through to the semi final of the challenge cup, it remains to be seen whether the Vipers play the game, or paint a target on coach Thornton's back, as they can be a dangerous team when they concentrate on the hockey as shown when the Giants visited Newcastle. Once more Andrew Verner could be the key man.
Here's to a great weekend of hockey in the Odyssey.
Aaron Kernohan
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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 |