A tale of two cities for Belfast in the EIHL

The Stena Line Belfast Giants could have returned to the top of the Elite League standings with a victory against Braehead. Instead, however, they met on a collision course with their newly appointed, experienced, former long-standing NHL player coach Paul Gardner.

Gardner, a cool, friendly, self-assured Clan appointee Head Coach, conducted his players with a winning degree of positive poise. The Braehead players iced in with the same belief despite some early pressure from the Giants.

The Clan took the lead through GB international, Rob Farmer who burst down the right wing boards and fired a low wrist shot to score against his former teammate Garrett Zemlak, starting in goal for the Giants.

The Scots team doubled their lead before the end of the period as Ash Goldie netted on a pass from the Clan’s new signing Toms Hartmanis to give them a comfortable lead at the end of the first period.

If two was good, three was even better as Hartmanis lifted the puck past Zemlak to make it 3-0. In less than a minute later Jade Galbraith made it 4-0 on a feed from Goldie.

It took the Giants until the third period to stage somewhat of a late comeback with two goals of their own. Defenseman Will Colbert got the first whilst Colin Shields netted the second.

The Giants were on a roll, aided by a four-minute power play, as they looked to bounce back into the game. They together with their fans had expectations of a fantastic Belfast come back. Someone forgot to tell Gardner or his players as they scored shorthanded to make it 5-2 and effectively kill off the game.

‘Never-say-die’ Giants’ head coach, Doug Christiansen, pulled Zemlak with the Giants on a power play creating a two man advantage but again the Clan scored themselves in yet another short-handed goal from Goldie firing home his second of the game.

In a post-match interview the Clan’s Coach Gardner stated: “I’m just getting to know our players. Initially, I was brought in to close out the season assisting player-coach Jordan Krestanovich.

“That didn’t workout as planned so I’m head coach now and looking to build our squad into conference champions moving towards the play-offs  I like what I see and am in talks with the management about next year when I could assemble my own team.

Hockey is mainly played between the ears and if you believe in yourselves good things happen. I think our players are now gaining that feeling” concluded Gardner.

Was this the start of yet another Giants slide into mediocracy? No sirree Bob! The Giants bounced right back with a convincing 5-0 shut-out victory on Saturday night over the Edinburgh Capitals at the Odyssey Arena.

The opener came from Scottish forward and former Capitals player Mark Garside who latched on to a pass from Greg Stewart, skilfully slotting in the puck under the stick of Edinburgh’s puck stopper Tomas Hiadlovsky.

Giants’ Craig Peacock netted Belfast’s second on the power play. By now Belfast had the visitors on the skids by adding a third goal from Darryl Lloyd who worked hard all night, especially in the corners later reaping his reward through the accolade of Man of the Match.

The Giants continued the pressure and Davey Phillips made it 4-0 just before the mid way point in the game. Colin Shields completed the scoring with a shorthanded goal to round off a convincing 5-0 win for the Giants.

Replacement goalie Garrett Zemlak, who until recently was on his way home to North America after being released by the Braehead Clan, achieved his third shut-out in five games helping the Giants back into the hunt to repeat the Elite League title.

Getting the call from Doug Christiansen after learning of the injury to Stephen Murphy in the Coventry Blaze penalty shoot-out victory Garrett commented: “I’m pleased to be playing for the Giants and hope to continue throughout the remainder of the season until Murphy recovers.

“I guess the hockey gods are looking after me so I’ve got to be happy playing for the Elite League champs and contending to repeat that title” concluded Zemlak.

Finally Coach Christiansen had this to say about the Giants weekend: “Any time you hold a team to twenty shots or less there are positives to be found. Against Braehead we certainly didn’t compete so yes it was important to bounce back with a strong win.

“We now know for certain that there is no room for errors in the rest of our season. Our destiny is still in our hands by keeping the pressure up on Nottingham. We have to pick up points by winning hockey games and the next is against Hull this Saturday night. It’s a matter of who blinks first, Nottingham or Belfast” said Christiansen.

• Injured Giants goal keeper Stephen Murphy, hopes to regain his fitness and has been included in the GB National squad along with Mark Garside, David Philips, Colin Shields and Craig Peacock with Doug Christiansen Assistant GB Coach and Jason Ellery – Giants and Team GB’s equipment manager as they move towards that vital series of games in Latvia on Thursday 7th February 2013. The GB team face their toughest challenge in this their final Olympic qualifier first by icing against Latvia, then on Friday 8th February against France followed by Kazakhstan on Saturday 9th February 2013.