EIHL week 12 round-up
Another week of Elite League action with all games for regular season points this time round, as we take in the weekend and bring you right up to date with the Tuesday and Wednesday midweek clashes.
It’s still Belfast leading the way following a successful trip to Scotland where they played out two games of varying stress on themselves and their supporters back home in Northern Ireland. Saturday night saw Fife taken apart in the final period in Kirkcaldy, with Doug Christiansen’s men starting slowly and finding themselves behind early to a Matt Siddall goal.
Craig Peacock levelled late in the first and Darryl Lloyd scored the only goal of the second before Giants ran riot in the third against tiring opponents. A Jon Pelle Hat trick in that final stanza was the highlight as Giants took it 7-1 in the end.
A different story in Dundee on Sunday as despite leading 3-2 at the end of the first period, Giants were never able to quash the fired up Stars and the game was tied at three in the 30th minute by Ross McIntosh, a situation that prevailed right through to the end of regulation and even the overtime period before Craig Peacock was on the mark in the shootout to complete a four-point weekend for Giants.
Second spot remains in the hands of Nottingham, this despite Panthers only being in action once – and losing out in overtime against Sheffield in the House of Steel in front of another huge crowd of over 6,000.
Panthers had found themselves 2-0 down by the 10th minute thanks to a double by Ashley Tait but they battled back with two early strikes in the second period from Jordan Fox and Danny Meyers before eventually losing out on the extra point to a rare goal from Steelers stalwart defenceman Mark Thomas in overtime.
This win completed a four-point weekend for Ryan Finnerty’s men as they impressed up in Braehead the previous night, building a 4-0 lead after two periods with a Jeff Legue treble, on the way to a final 4-2 win in what was always a physical clash, culminating in Clan forward Kyle Bruce being ejected on a match penalty for checking to the Head.
Coventry remain fourth but the pack are closing in on them following two weekend losses against Cardiff. Saturday night in Wales saw Devils in command and leading 4-0 after only 15 minutes, with Phil Hill hitting a brace. Blaze were never able to pull that back, going down 4-1 in the end.
Then at the Skydome on Sunday another slow start by Blaze left them 4-0 down again, this time by the 25th minute and although they clawed themselves back within a goal by the end of the second session it was to by Devils night once again as they prevailed 5-4 in the end with Brad Voth firing in the game winner in the 50th minute.
Another team enjoying their weekend a great deal were Edinburgh as they posted a couple of home wins over Hull and Braehead. With Nathan Craze back from injury, Capitals were giving little away at the back and disposed of Hull 3-1 on Saturday followed by Braehead 4-2 on Sunday with a Rene Jarolin treble, this despite short-benched Clan heavily outshooting their hosts.
The other Sunday game saw Hull post their first win in eight games with a 3-2 victory over Fife but this was far from straightforward and required a couple of goals by Jason Silverthorn and Jereme Tendler late on to block the Scots sides challenge.
On to the midweek action now and Tuesday night saw Braehead gain quick revenge on Edinburgh at home with a very comfortable 8-2 win. Brock McPherson was very much the main man in this game, scoring four times against a punchless Capitals, who could only muster 19 shots on Jaakko Suomalainen in the Clan cage.
Then on Wednesday we had a shock result in Wales as Devils went down 3-2 in a shootout against Hull. Stingrays had led 2-0 for most of the contest and only a couple of third period strikes enable the home side to take this one to overtime before both Dominic Osman and Frantisek Bakrlik counted in the shootout to give Stingrays the extra point.