"Its Great! I Love It!"

Those were the first words out of Paul Sample's mouth after his Man of the Match winning performance which saw him score the first ever Giant goal by a UK born and trained player.

The 21 year old seemed lost for words but is enjoying every bit of his experience with the Giants, having revealed he'd never been to Belfast before.

"I'm pretty happy about tonights win and my goal. Its been great here so far - i love being in Belfast."

The fairy tale ending looked a long way off in the first ten minutes of the game however. Assistant coach Curt Bowen was first in the box for high sticks at 1.36, while assistant captain, Schulte was lucky to remain on the ice after an altercation when he was checked from behind in the third minute of play. Schulte retaliated on the Phoenix player while still on his knees by tripping him with his stick. Still not content though, he skated after him again and tried to push the player's helmet off and earned himself 2 + 10 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Phoenix took their opportunity, given the two man advantage and scored through Jeff Sebastian before Bowen could leave the penalty box. Eric Lind made it 2-0 at 8.55 as things went from bad to worse for the home side. The Giants turned it around though 19 seconds later when newly appointed captain Jason Ruff set up Colin Ward to decrease the deficit by one. Unfortunately Coach Stewart seemed to be drinking whatever his No.27 was before the game, and earned himself 5+ Game for spearing, which meant he had no further communication with his players until the final hooter as the rules state.

It was left to Ruff to restore the balance, as he drew the side level before the first break taking the pass from Kelman, and charging up centre ice, but Schulte had a final say and spent another two minutes in the bin for cross-checking, before the period was up.

The second period was a turnaround, and it began with Kenny setting up Sample for his first goal. Brebant took a hooking penalty on Schulte and Schulte duly made it 4-2. Phoenix gave away another powerplay for too many men and Curt Bowen benefitted from Ruff's second assist of the night and made it 5-2 at 30.27.

Phoenix captain George Awada scored a well taken goal to make it 5-3 in the 36th minute. Awada had the visitors best chance of the third period, but the upright denied, and that was how it stayed til the close.

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