In one of the easier games of the season the Giants turned on the scoring style as they romped away with a 6-0 victory over the Dundee Stars of the BNL in the cross-league game. Two goals in the first, one in the second and then three in the third sealed the victory in what was otherwise a pretty un-interesting game.

It was the forth shut-out of the season for star goalie Martin Klempa. Curtis Huppe also managed to end his goal drought by scoring his first goal for the Giants that was not an empty netter. He was shuffled onto a line with Tony Hand and it proved to work as the player coach set up Huppe’s first goal.

Belfast Giants 6-0 Dundee Stars

Giants: Awada 8:11, C.Bowen 14:29, C.Bowen 31:54, Johnson 42:07, Huppe 45:58, Nasval 54:08.
Stars: None.
(Odyssey Arena, Belfast).

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

J.Bowen – Jamieson
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton 

Belfast rolled into Nottingham and stole two valuable points in their challenge cup qualifying quest. It was a tight game that could have went either way with Belfast out-shooting Nottingham 30-20 with both goalies in fine form.

It was Nottingham who took the lead after twenty two minutes when Marek Ivan scored with an assist going to John Craighead who has been having quiet season up to now. Going into the final frame the Giants needed a lift and that came from assistant coach Curtis Bowen who fired home his fifth goal of the season with an assist going to name-sake Jason Bowen.

The Giants kept the pressure on and with just under five minutes to go where rewarded for their efforts when coach Tony Hand fired home the game winner with George Awada picking up the assist. Hand the Giants top points scorer so far this season record his 6th goal of the year with the winning goal.

Nottingham Panthers 1-2 Belfast Giants

Panthers: Ivan 22:52.
Giants: C.Bowen 43:25, Hand 55:39.
(National Ice Centre, Nottingham).

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

J.Bowen – Jamieson
Angelstad – Gavalier
Walton 

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

The game was over within the first ten minutes as the Giants hammered the Edinburugh Capitals 8-1 at the Odyssey Arena to record their first ever win over BNL opposition on home ice. The Giants were four goals to the good within ten minutes and it allowed Chris McGimpsey who was making his first ever pro start to relax in goal and play a superb game coming within 47 seconds of a shut-out in his first start as a Giant.

Fredrik Nasval was the other star of the night as he scored his second hat-rick for the Belfast Giants to make it 11 goals in just 12 games for the Swede. As well as this being the first time a BNL team has played in Belfast their where a few other firsts as Roman Gavallier, just back from injury, scored his first goal late in the first period and then the final goal of the night from Belfast was score by Mel Angelstad who converted a superb one on one with the goalie to score his first ever goal in a Belfast jersey.

The win sends the Giants level on points with the Cardiff Devils who they are playing tomorrow night in Cardiff.

Belfast Giants 8-1 Edinburgh Capitals

Giants: Hand 1:23, Nasval 1:41, Nasval 4:55, Awada 9:19, Nasval 14:40, Gavalier 19:20, Johnson 44:41, Angelstad (sh) 55:28.
Capitals: Cingel 59:13.
(Odyssey Arena, Belfast).

Lines:
Johnson – C.Bowen – Awada
Huppe – Hand – Nasval
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