Giants 7, Panthers 4
Giants 1, Capitals 2 

Giant’s games have been odd lately.  You go up, but you just don’t know what you are going to get.  Going into December it was pretty routine, there were four goals a game for and the team where picking up win after win and looking very good for their lead at the top of the Elite League.  Many had already cast their vote that the Giants would indeed pick up the Elite league title for the second straight season.  Well December hit and I’m not sure weather Christmas parties and everything that goes with it got in the way but the Giants stopped playing hockey.

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Giants 2, Bison 3
Bison 4, Giants 1 

Well it’s boxing day and I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas.  I know we all needed something to take our mind off all things hockey for a few days after a bad week for the Giants.  Still it’s exactly what the boys needed, some time away from the rink to re-group and get their title push back on the rails.  Last week it looked like the wheels where really coming off.

It’s been a busy few days leading up to Christmas as well as attending the home defeat to Basingstoke so it’s taken a while to update here, but it’s not been something I’ve been looking forward to doing.  Eitherway, Basingstoke deserve credit, they have been the form team of the Elite league of late and grinded out two fantastic wins against our boys.  Certainly we deserved a win from the home game, missing a ton of chances and failing to score more than just the twice (Huppe & Dutiaume) on 37 shots to the Bisons 14.

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Giants 3, Capitals 4 (so)
Steelers 5, Giants 7

So it’s been a few days now and I’m finally getting writing on the weekends games but what a weekend it was.  One certainly comprised of one of the games of the season and the other as one of the shocks of the year.  Everyone expected the Giants to invite Edinburgh into their barn then send them home with their tails between their legs.  They then expected the boys to head over to Sheffield battle out a tough game and all being well take home the win.  Well as it turned out not everything went according to plan.

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Devils 3, Giants 2 (ASO)

Penalty shots may well feature in practice this morning after the Giants went down to the Cardiff Devils in their new rink in penalty shots.  The game was tied 2-2 after regulation and overtime before heading to the shootout.  George Awada, Jason Ruff and J.P. Morin all missed sending it into sudden death, when Awada and Ruff missed for a second time Cardiff finally got a goal to take the win and the extra point.  The Giants will be content enough with the single road point but must get back to winning ways this weekend against Edinburgh.

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Following up on the rankings two weeks ago, the outcome this version has each team in a new position.  Some teams have really fallen back in the last two weeks, Sheffield from second to ninth after minus nine goals through four games, while some teams have really climbed, Newcastle from seventh to first.

The Newcastle move highlights the slight flaw in this ranking.  Over five or six games it’s highly accurate but over a couple of games one big win and even a narrow defeat can still give you a positive outcome in the rankings.  Through five games things tend to work themselves out.  Nearly all teams played four to five games this fortnight with Newcastle only playing two picking up a plus four in the process.

Moving the rankings to a monthly basis maybe be worth looking at but enjoy them nonetheless.

1.  (7)  Newcastle Vipers           +4 / 2gp  =  2.00
2.  (3)  Belfast Giants             +8 / 5gp  =  1.60
3.  (1)  Coventry Blaze             +4 / 4gp  =  1.00
4.  (9)  Hull Stingrays             +1 / 3gp  =  0.33
5.  (6)  Nottingham Panthers        -1 / 4gp  = -0.25
6.  (8)  Cardiff Devils             -2 / 4gp  = -0.50
7.  (5)  Manchester Phoenix         -6 / 6gp  = -1.00
8.  (4)  Basingstoke Bison          -5 / 4gp  = -1.25
9.  (10) Edinburgh Capitals         +6 / 4gp  =  -1.50
10. (2)  Sheffield Steelers         -9 / 4gp  = -2.25

Ver 1.0
Ver 2.0
Ver 3.0
Ver 4.0

Blaze 2, Giants 1 

As it turned out the spoils between the number one and two teams in the league this weekend where shared.  The Giants who took a superb win last night where frustrated by an excellent performance in goal by Coventry goalie Trevor Koenig.  He turned aside 33 shots by the Giants allowing only one past him when George Awada scored short handed.  It leaves the point’s gap at seven points, just as it was going into the weekend with Coventry having four games in hand to try closing the gap.  Still, they must win them all to do so.

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Giants 3, Blaze 0 

The Giants got the weekend off to the best possible start with a huge win over second place Coventry.  They beat the Blaze 3-0 giving Mike Minard a 27 save shutout with ex-Coventry Blaze forward Jeff Hutchins coming back to haunt his old team with an outstanding hat trick.  It puts the Giants in the driving seat going into tomorrow nights game in Coventry with all the pressure on Coventry to come good and keep the Giants within their sights in the league standings.

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It doesn’t matter what team you are in the Elite league, this is by far the biggest weekend of the season to date.  The Giants take on the Coventry Blaze over two games in a home and home series that could really swing the course of the 06-07 season.  Should the Giants take maximum points from the two games they will gain a huge lead in the league that will take a big slip up to throw away.  Should Coventry take the points they will be right back on the Giants with games in hand to possible take over the lead.  A lot of neutrals would like to see Coventry take the points to keep the league tight but ask any Giants fan and they wont mind running away with it one little bit.

Two points at home and a little something on the road would mark a perfect weekend for the boys.

Stingrays 1, Giants 2

Three wins in four nights, six points and the Giants are in great shape going into the biggest weekend of the season in six days.  A 2-1 win over Hull tonight was the perfect way to end a great weekend for the league leaders.  Next weekend the Giants play a home and home game against Coventry the second place team in games that many think could decide how the outcome of the league title will shape up.  It might be a little early for that but the team that comes out best next weekend will be great shape.

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Giants 4, Steelers 1 

It was the game everyone was looking forward to since the last one.  If you don’t remember it then you haven’t been following the Giants very much.  It was the game that included a bench brawl with a huge fight between Shawn Skiehar and Brett Cloutier with a gouging incident that seen Cloutier suspended for two games and it gave this game an extra edge.

It didn’t take long for it to kick off in this game, Skiehar lined up beside Cloutier early in the first period and they dropped the gloves in a nice scrap that allowed Skiehar to settle the matter once and for all.  As for the game, the Giants took a first period lead, doubled it in the second and Mike Minard put on a superb performance in goal turning aside 29 of 30 shots to win the game for the Giants.

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Giants 6, Phoenix 4 

After taking a 3-0 lead early in the first period most people believed the game for what it was worth was a done job and that the Giants could finally turn their attention to the big clash this weekend with Sheffield.  Maybe that’s what they did but whatever happened a poor second period allowed Manchester back into the game to tie it up and eventually take a third period 4-3 lead.  That appeared to kick start the Giants who for all their poor play at times always looked like they could step it up a gear.  A game tieing goal by Marc Levers made way for Todd Kelman to fire home a bullet from the blue line to win the game.  George Awada added an empty net goal right on the final buzzer to give himself a three point night and his second man of the match performance in as many games.

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