EIHL week 10 round-up

Giants were on the road for both weekend games and first stop was Braehead to face the up (at home) and down (on the road) Clan. A fast start by the visitors brought no rewards and they were to pay dearly for that as Clan powered to a 3-0 lead by the opening period interval.

Although Giants did score in the opening minute of the 2nd session this was an impressive and structured game by Drew Bannister’s men and they were never in any real danger from then on in with the player/coach himself rounding of a fine 4-1 win with an empty net strike late on. This result not only gave Clan the 2 league points but also booked their place in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.

That reversal by Giants could have seen Nottingham take advantage but they slipped up too – perhaps less surprisingly at Cardiff, with Devils winning 3-1, helped enormously by a double by Max Birbraer and 34 saves by Stevie Lyle, with his shutout only broken by David-Alexandre Beauregard with 18 seconds remaining. The other league game on Saturday saw Coventry take full advantage of Edinburgh missing their starting goaltender Nathan Craze to win up in Scotland by 8-3 with Shea Guthrie, Aaron Nell and Owen Fussey all hitting doubles.

We have already mentioned that Braehead grabbed important Challenge Cup points against Belfast but so too did Dundee as they won 3-2 in Kirkcaldy against Flyers, being 3-0 ahead until late on only to see the home side make them sweat with a couple of late strikes. Two goals for Jarrett Konkle paved the way for the Taysiders. It was also a late late show for Sheffield in Hull as a counter by Neil Clark with a mere 10 seconds remaining saw Steelers edge it 3-2 and keep their Challenge Cup hopes alive.

Sunday now and Belfast were in Coventry. Blaze built a 3-1 lead by the 14th minute but Giants were in no mood to return home pointless for the weekend and stormed back with a couple of shorthanded strikes to take the game to overtime then a shootout, where ultimately Paul Thompson’s side prevailed with young Robert Farmer grabbing the winning shot.

Nottingham entertained Fife at the NIC and in a remarkably game came up against a goaltender in Garret Zemlak, who in facing no fewer than 76 shots, stood on his head and threw in a number of cartwheels as well as he saved 74 of the rubber bullets fired at him. Flyers themselves could only muster 11 shots but made a couple of them count, forcing Panthers into a shootout where David-Alexandre Beauregard ensured massive relief all around the NIC when he was the only player from the original 3-man opening round of shots to find the target and give Corey Neilson’s title chasers the extra point.

The only other league match-up saw Edinburgh travel to Sheffield still without goaltender Nathan Craze and lost out heavily again as Steelers routinely won 6-1, helped by a double from Jeff Legue.

The other games were Challenge Cup clashes and both ended in 2-2 ties. Cardiff are still in the mix in Group B after player/coach Gerad Adams fired home a last minute goal to gain a tie in Hull and Braehead remain unbeaten in Group A with Brock McPherson ending Dundee’s hopes with a 57th minute equaliser in Tayside.

The Challenge Cup now has 3 confirmed semi-finalists in Braehead, Belfast and Nottingham with probably either Cardiff or Sheffield to join them.