Weekend double delight for Belfast

Stena Line Belfast Giants’ game on Saturday night in “Fortress Odyssey” did not display championship-winning hockey, but they  did manage to secure a two point squeaky-close win over the visiting Hull Stingrays.

As Belfast’s GM Todd Kelman put it: “Our special teams pulled this one out of the fire for us and the home fans.”

It was that man again after his return from nine years ago. Man of the Match, Robby Sandrock, scored twice on the powerplay to lead the Giants to victory over the Hull Stingray in front of over 4,200 people at the Odyssey Arena.

Belfast remained in the title hunt due to three powerplay goals whilst on a man advantage plus their ‘penalty kill team’ which saw off all five of the opportunities the Stingrays had with the extra man.

The Stingrays’ Kurtis Dulle, woke up both the Giants and their fans scoring before they even got settled in their seats; Belfast drew even through Kevin Saurette scoring on the powerplay.

Then Greg Stewart showed his skill by beating Ben Bowns up close to give the Giants the lead 2-1 going into the first intermission. In the second period, it was Colin Shields who made it 3-1 after banging in a rebound off Daymen Rycroft’s shot.

It was then that the Giants took their foot off the gas as Kurtis Dulle netted his second goal of the night cutting the Giants’ lead to 3-2. Up stepped Sandrock whose boom slap shot from the blue line, which Bowns is still looking for, made it 4-2 from a powerplay.

If one blast from the blue line was good why not another as Sandrock scored his second of the game, again on the powerplay early in the third period. First Hull’s Dmitri Roden netted in the second then Tom Squires scored midway through the final period making it game on again at 5-4.

The visitors did every thing possible to tie the score however Garrett Zemlak stood tall between Belfast’s pipes and the Giants’ defense shut down the Stingrays to hold on for the 5-4 victory.

Strangely that night, if your last name started with “S” you scored for Belfast. It will take more than fluke for the Giants’ title chaser ambitions for they were certainly tested in their performance against the Stingrays. It leaves much to be concerned about. Report cards should read, “Must do better!”

The Giants’ Head Coach Doug Christiansen must have relayed that report to the team in Cardiff on Sunday night. Coach Christiansen saw them come from 3-0 behind at the end of the opening period to eventually take all two points.

The game itself was a chirpy nervy contest, both squads being assessed ninety-two minutes equally distributed between themselves in the sin bin.

The Cardiff Devils made the game look easy romping out to a 3-0 lead in the first eighteen minutes scoring through Jesse Gimblett on the powerplay, Mark Richardson followed by Gimblett again on yet another powerplay.

Belfast started to believe in themselves in the second period after Craig Peacock was on hand to net on the powerplay. Their confidence grew after Daymen Rycroft pulled his side to within one and scoring short-handed.

After that goal the Devils’ Kenton Smith and Giants Adam Keefe got into a squabble, which saw Keefe ejected from the game.

Both teams had their chances to either tie the game for the visitors or secure the victory for the Devils so the third session was end to end with both sides holding nothing back.

During the final period, a no holds barred affair, both teams cancelled each other out for the majority of the 20 minutes. However with only 153 seconds left on the game clock, Belfast drew level through Colin Shields, following great work from Greg Stewart. That goal completed the comeback and dragged the Giants into a position to go on and win the game for the first time during the contest.

After a scoreless five minutes of sudden death overtime hockey, the outcome came down to a dreaded penalty shoot out. The Giants’ Craig Peacock and Jeff Mason saw their shootout goals cancelled out by Cardiff’s Stuart MacRae and Max Birbraer.

Which meant the shootout would be decided on sudden death. Craig Peacock scored once again for the Giants, followed by Garrett Zemlak saving well from Stuart MacRae, giving the Giants the two points in Wales.

Maybe the Giants really are who they think they are – contenders to repeat the Elite League Title.