Continental Cup dream over for Giants

Stena Line Belfast Giants entered the prestigious European Continental Cup by taking on their first opponent Dutch champions, Rujiters Eaters Geleen.

The Giants, wearing their specially commissioned red jerseys for the competition, were easy victors over Geleen 11-1 with both Stephen Murphy and Andrew Dickson sharing the ice time and win. Mark Garside and Noah Clarke’s double goal tally was more than enough to see the Belfast outfit home winner with ease.

It was the  match-up they all had waited for but they had the extra player with them in the form of their loyal following of fans who not only made the trip to Landshut, Germany, but made themselves heard as they cheered their Giants team on to victory over Dutch Champions, Geleen.

Ever since they arrived in Landshut, the Giants fans have been painting the town Teal and Giants. Belfast defenseman, Will Colbert couldn’t wait to get on the ice for Saturday’s game against Landshut to be cheered on once more by saying: “Our fans were fantastic last night, they made a huge difference and are going to be a big part of our success in this tournament. They cheered loud for 60 minutes and then cheered loud for another 60 during the second game too!”

Colbert continued by saying: “It’s a top opportunity for us to play a team of this standard, I’m excited for the game, all the players are. It’s going to be a tough game but a great game, we really need our fans to get behind us once again for 60 minutes.”

Well a 7-1 defeat was not what the Giants or their fans had hoped for as Belfast fell to their heaviest defeat of the season at the hands of the Landshut Cannibals who skated off winners.

Penalty trouble in the opening 20 minutes led to three goals without reply putting the host team firmly in control. The puck wouldn’t cross the goal line as proved by the Giants’ Mark Garside who struck the post whilst the Giants were shorthanded, narrowly missing an opportunity to tie things up.

Belfast’s David Phillips played his part stepped in to make a huge hit on the Cannibals’ blue line however even that inspirational hit saw the puck fall to a Landshut player, creating an odd man rush leaving the opening period to end 3-0.

In the second period the Giants needed to come out flying and everyone on the Belfast bench thought they had the perfect start as Andrew Fournier’s wrap around attempt seemed to cross the line, however the goal was waved off by the Austrian referee and the Giants were still in search of their first goal.

As the Giants piled on the offensive pressure they were left vulnerable at the back end and Landshut struck again twice before the Giants finally got rewarded for their efforts as Scott Champagne netted the team’s lone tally to reduce the deficit to 1-5.

Champagne’s strike gave the Giants a glimmer of optimism and once again the guys came out flying at the beginning of the third period and were again playing with intensity and creating chances. Rycroft, Clarke and Stewart all had some fantastic scoring opportunities but it was again Landshut who were to be celebrating as they netted twice more to finish the scoring at 7-1.

The defeat by the German host side had ended any hopes that the Giants could progress to the next stage of the competition in Italy.

However not wanting to let themselves or their loyal fans down it was the Giants’ Sam Roberts who opened the scoring in their third match against Romanian champions HSC Csikszereda when he sent a rasping shot into the roof of the net in the first period.

Early in the second, Greg Stewart made it 2-0 with a slap shot when the Giants were short-handed after their opponents had a man in the penalty box.

Craig Peacock then added number three to give the Giants a three-goal cushion going into the final 20 minutes. However, the Belfast side had to rely on a few smart saves from puck stopper Stephen Murphy to keep a clean sheet.

Graeme Walton had a couple of chances to increase the lead only to be denied by the Romanian goaltender. Andrew Fournier netted the Giants’ fourth goal to wrap up a comfortable win although the result was cold comfort after their failure to progress to next months round in Italy.

Craig Peacock celebrating his goal against HSC Csikszereda (Image: Diane Davey)

So the Giants’ Continental Cup adventure is over with the team flying home from Germany with thoughts of what might have been running through their heads.

“On Friday we were excellent — you don’t score 11 goals against a team at this level without playing very well,” said coach Doug Christiansen, “We played well in our final game, but in between, when it mattered most, we were below average.

“We didn’t play anywhere near our best. I think the guys were too excited after getting off to such a good start and we gave up too many chances. When you go 3-0 down to any team it’s hard to claw it back and weren’t able to do it.
When you play like we did you are going to lose. We were playing in Germany against a team that play a different style, there was a different style of refereeing and unfortunately we didn’t adapt to that quickly enough and we got punished for it” concluded Christiansen.

Now the Giants back in “Fortress Odyssey” have to regain first place from Sheffield who they play both Friday and Saturday night in a double hitter in Belfast. It should be electrifying.

• Images courtesy of Diane Davey