The big bad Nottingham Panthers where the latest visitors to the Odyssey arena with the game expected to be a tight affair with lots of physical play and the fans where not disappointed, though the score sheet is a different story.

Nottingham where sporting their latest signing, NHL lock-out star Steve McKenna and the man mountain didn’t disappoint the travelling supporters as he combined for a goal and assist to lead the Panthers to a 4-2 victory. He assisted on the only goal of the first period by Marek Ivan who went on to take the man of the match award.

The second period was split but not before Nottingham made it 2-0 after a terrible mistake by Fredrik Nasval in the Nottingham end let McKenna through on a break away and he took it superbly roofing the puck over Klempa’s left shoulder. Shane Johnson pulled one back with the assist going to Tony Hand who to the shock of many fans managed to pick up the man of the match award.

The second period ended seven seconds early with both teams sent to the dressing room to cool off after an ugly incident with seconds to go. Nottingham’s Welsh forward Matt Myers who had his stick up all night delivered a terrible high stick to the face of Todd Kelman sending him to the ice bloodied and concussed. Todd tried to get up to skate to the bench but fell over and had to be helped to the bench by team-mates as a brawl looked immanent.

Myers was thrown out of the game and on his way to the tunnel, Giants hard-man Mel Angelstad tried to get at him to have a few words with Nottingham tough guy Steve McKenna getting in the way. All the players where in the dressing room and it looked like things might kick off but Giants coach Tony Hand came in to pull Angelstad away and leave any retribution that might be dished out to Myers to another day.

Their was a game to win in the third period and the Giants came out flying trying to get the game back even with star defenseman Todd Kelman now out for what could be a considerable amount of time. They tied the game five minutes into the period when top scorer Fred Nasval finally got lose from the man marking he was receiving from Nottingham to fire the puck home from between the circles to record his 13th goal of the season.

It wasn’t to be however as Nottingham kept up their pressure also and stole a goal with four minutes to go when Marek Ivan score his second of the game and what also proved to be the game winner. An empty net goal by the very quiet John Craighead rubbed salt into the Belfast wounds as they went down 4-2 in the end.

The return game between the two teams is in the Odyssey on December 30th and should prove to be a very interesting night indeed!

Belfast Giants 2-4 Nottingham Panthers

Giants: Johnson 34:23, Nasval 44:53.
Panthers: Ivan 12:09, McKenna 32:01, Ivan 56:04, Craighead (en) 59:56.
(Odyssey Arena, Belfast)

Lines:
Huppe – Hand – Nasval
Johnson – C.Bowen – Awada
Morrison – Kelly – Levers

J.Bowen – Kelman
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton

A night after a great victory over London the Giants travelled to Sheffield to take on the reigning champions the Sheffield Steelers but they could not put together the scoring form they have had of late as they got shut out by the Steelers on their way to a 1-0 victory. Man of the match for the Giants Martin Kelmpa in goals faced 23 shots making 22 saves with a late third period goal by ex-Giant Paul Sample being the only difference between the two teams.

The Giants shouldn’t be too disheartened by the loss and the shout as their form of late in front of goal has been superb.

Sheffield Steelers 1-0 Belfast Giants

Steelers: Sample 57:22.
Giants: None.
(House of Steel, Sheffield).

Lines:
Johnson – C.Bowen – Awada
Huppe – Hand – Nasval
Morrison – Kelly – Levers

J.Bowen – Kelman
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton

The new look London Racers came into town tonight with all eyes on their NHL stars that they had brought in to help revive their season. Scott Nichol (Chicago Blackhawks) and Eric Cairns (Florida Panthers) where in action for London as they are currently locked out of play in the NHL by the owners. The NHL’s loss is London’s gain as these top players come to play in the UK.

The game though was pretty uneventful and those who where hopeful of a Mel Angelstad Vs Eric Cairns fight where pretty disappointed. The first period was pretty quite and in the second the Giants went up by two goals with Todd Kelman back from injury picking up his third of the year and then George Awada, consistent as ever scoring his seventh.

The final frame seen London try to mount a comeback but one goal through Dusan Halloun was all they could muster as the Giants took the two points.

Belfast Giants 2-1 London Racers

Giants: Kelman 25:51, Awada 37:48
Racers: Halloun 57:22
(Odyssey Arena, Belfast)

Lines:
Johnson – C.Bowen – Nasval
Huppe – Hand – Awada
Morrison – Kelly – Levers

J.Bowen – Kelman
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton – Jamieson

After a superb win against Edinburgh the Giants fans expected the team to go onto the road full of confidence and with lots of goals to add to the eight they got against the Capitals. Unfortunately it couldn’t have been further from the truth tonight as they where put in their place by the league leading Cardiff Devils by a score of 5-0, the first shut-out of the Giants season.

With Martin Klempa back in goal after a night off the night before he certainly looked rusty giving up five goals on just 18 Devils shots. The Giants managed to out-shoot the Devils with 30 shots of their own but they couldn’t past the impressive Cugnet.

Two first period goals through Romaniuk and Sacratini sent Cardiff on their way and in the third period they rapped up the game with goals from ex-Giant Dave Matsos, Captain Ed Patterson, and then a short-handed goal moments from the end by Nathan Rempel.

The Giants now travel from Wales to England for Tuesday night’s game against the Nottingham Panthers. A win would send the Giants joint top of the league on points with the Cardiff Devils however the other teams would have games in hand and Nottingham who already have games in hand on the Giants will be looking to close the gap on them in the standings.

Cardiff Devils 5-0 Belfast Giants

Devils: Romaniuk 3:37, Sacratini 5:22, Matsos 41:08, Patterson 43:46, Rempel (sh).
Giants: None.
(Cardiff Arena, Cardiff).

Lines:
Huppe – Hand – Nasval
Johnson – C.Bowen – Awada
Morrison – Kelly – Levers

J.Bowen – Jamieson
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton

With two defenseman missing in Todd Kelman and Roman Gavalier the Giants where always going to be up against it tonight and that proved to be the case when they travelled to Coventry off the back of a terrible result the night before against Basingstoke when the Blaze made it two defeats this weekend and knocked them off the top of the league perch. The Blaze won the game 3-1 in the end with an empty net goal with Klempa off for an extra attacker.

It wasn’t a terrible performance however by the Giants as they dug deep with the short bench and still managed a good performance, out shooting the Blaze by one shot over the contest but it was one of them nights where the puck would not hit the net. Still with Roman Gavalier due back in a few weeks time it is promising for the Giants but they will have it tough this coming weekend when they travel to London to play the Racers and then when Sheffield visit the Odyssey the following night.

Coventry Blaze 3-1 Belfast Giants

Blaze: Poirier 1:51, Calder (pp), Poirier (en) 59:22.
Giants: Johnson.
(Skydome, Coventry)

Lines:
Huppe – C.Bowen - Awada
Kelly – Hand – Nasvall
Morrison – Levers

J.Bowen – Jamieson
Awada – Johnson
Walton