Stingrays 1, Giants 7

No the headline is not a joke, I only logged onto ih-update midway through the third period and had to refresh twice as well as check I had the correct game before believing what I was reading. The Giants were leading 5-0 and went on to win 7-1 in their best performance I would imagine of the season. All that with a very short bench on ‘D’ with Gavalier AND Trevor Johnson both out of the line-up with injuries. This was the Hull team that the Giants could not score against just last weekend in Dundalk. The Giants put seven past them tonight with DeRouville only falling less than a minute shy of picking up his second shutout of the season. For all the critisism that’s came his way this season he’s certainly been keeping them out of late.

It was a big night for guys like Shaun Sutter who picked up his first points as a Giants as well as Carlyle Lewis who finally got off the mark with two goals in the game playing on a line with Courtenay. Ed shook up the lines seperating himself and the free scoring Scott Cameron for the first time this season and put himself along the gritty Lewis and it appears to have paid off and given a lot of guys some much needed confidence.

This past week Ed had issued two-weeks notice to every player in the team except for Cameron and Johnson it seems and it appears to have bucked up their ways. No question about it, this was much of what we come to expect from a Giants team. With Johnson and Gavalier still to come back into the lineup at an unknown time it will certainly boost a team that’s looking to turn around their season. Theres little doubt one or two players might go but more performances like this will make it tougher for Ed to decide.

Everything was clicking for the Giants, they went 2 for 2 on the powerplay and killed off all 8 powerplay attempts by Hull.

By all accounts one of the performances of the night yet again came from Dutiaume back on defence instead of his usual center spot, playing big minutes, skating well and leading the offence from defence. One of the worries of the night was George Awada who was the only import forward to go pointless on the night. Of course we know from watching Awada before that his two-way game is much more than about points but with just 1 goal so far this season it’s been a worry about the Captains lack of scoring. Hopefully he can snap out of the funk soon.

The shake up on lines had the team playing as follows:

Lewis - Smith - Courtenay
Awada - Cameron - Sutter
McKenzie - Moran - Morrison

Dutiaume - Jamieson
Neumeier - Walton
Christie

Tonight the team head into Manchester looking to put in their first back to back wins of the season and possibly lift them off the foot of the Elite League table. It would certainly be a start and for it to continue the upping in performances from guys like Smith, Lewis, Neumeier and DeRouville must continue.

Category: Game Recaps (07-08) » » Hull Stingrays |

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