Phoenix 1, Giants 4

Not only did the Giants win tonight by Coventry lost to Sheffield to give the Giants even more hope of retaining their league crown but make no mistakes it’s still going to be an uphill battle.  George Awada wasn’t doing damage on the scoring front tonight like last night, no, he was dropping the gloves for only the second time in his Giants career with none other than the leagues toughest, Brett Cloutier.  Hutchins, Gavalier, Coutenay and Ruff got the goals for the Giants with Gavaliers being his first of the season.  DeRouville turned aside 24 shots and the Giants powerplay finially clicked as Manchester seen player after player head to the penalty box throughout the first and second period.

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Giants play their second game in two nights tonight, this time on the road in Manchester where the Giants will be looking for yet another two point performance.  They’ll also be hoping Coventry slip up yet again after losing the challenge cup final 3-0 against Cardiff.  Not sure i’ll be doing regular updates from the game - it’s St.Paddy’s day afterall, but if I have the chance I’ll try keep track of how things are going in Manchester.

Giants 4, Panthers 3 (SO)

Theres an old saying often thrown around in sports, “Commeth the hour, commeth the man”.  Last night ‘the man’ showed up for the Giants when they need him the most – Their Captain.  Down two goals midway through the second period the Giants where looking for someone to step up and take control of the game and Captain George Awada did just that.  He dragged the Giants back into it with two second period goals to tie the game and a hat-trick goal late in the third to tie it up yet again and send it into OT and a shootout which the Giants duely won taking a vital two points.

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First thing is first, it’s been a few days since I’ve tended to the site so it’s definitely worth recapping some of the great stuff that has went on over this week – namely Killers testimonial.  It was one of the most memorable nights in the history of the Belfast Giants as some of the best players in the history of the team showed up to pay their respects to Kelman in his big game.  The game consisted of two fifteen-minute periods of hockey that sandwiched a super-skills competition.  Make no mistake about it, the skills competition was the best part of all.

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Everyone has been doing it the last few days and therefore so will I.  Thing is though, I’m not sure exactly what events will be in the competition and what players will take part in them but I’ll just list some of the most popular and pick the best performer from each team.  Lets see if I get any right.

FASTEST SKATER:
Killers All-Stars – Rod Stevens
Giants – George Awada

HARDEST SHOT:
Killers All-Stars – Rob Stewart
Giants – J.P. Morin (Huppe will run ‘em close)

MOST ACCURATE SHOT:
Killers All-Stars – Theo Fleury
Giants – Curtis Huppe (if he plays, if not), Jeff Hutchins

RELAY RACE:
Killers All-Stars – Tony Hand
Giants – Mark Dutiaume

PENALTY SHOTS:
Killers All-Stars – Theo Fleury
Giants – Mark Dutiaume

Tonight will be one of the games that if you’re at it, as a Giants fan, you’re not likely to forget it again.  Yep, I can guarantee you that tonight will be one for the history books when the first ever testimonial for a Giants player takes place when Todd Kelman and his group of all-stars take on the current Belfast Giants team.  It’s a testament to the kind of guy Todd Kelman is when you look at the guys flying in to play for his all-star team made up mainly of ex-Giants legends.

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On the night when Paxton Schulte’s jersey was retired officially for good the Giants made it an extra special night for the fans by winning their fifth straight game keeping the pressure on Coventry at the top of the league.  It may be a huge task for the Giants to catch them but the recent form stuggests they will give it their best shot and should they fall short they will be in fine form going into the playoffs.  Ed Courtenay iced for the 7th straight game, going into the contest it was not yet sure if he would return behind the bench allowing Huppe back into the team now that six games have passed but he opted to keep the winning formula and Huppe ran things from behind the bench.

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Let’s rewind almost three years to March 27th 2004.  The final hooter goes bringing to end the final game of the Giants season.  In all it’s been a disappointing year, the team have finished forth in the league and have missed the playoff final four weekend after winning the thing the previous season.  All that however isn’t of concern to the fans in the stands.  Right now, the only thing that matters is saying goodbye to two of the team’s biggest hero’s – Colin Ward and Paxton Schulte.  It’s been a difficult season for Paxton, increasingly frustrated with refereeing in the league his penalty minutes count has soared this season to 424.  It’s only been a few weeks since he finally announce the towel was being thrown in and he was quitting the game.

As the fans stand and applaud Wardy and Packer they watch as the numbers 27 and 11 are raised to the rafters as a final farewell to the guys.  What the people in the arena that night don’t yet realise, is that the jersey’s are only to be retired for one year.  Nope, even now three years on people still don’t grasp the sense in retiring a jersey for just one year.  Ask any fan and they’ll tell you it should have been all the way, or not at all.

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Rumours are doing the rounds that ex-Giants captain Paul Kruse has confirmed he will be playing for Todds team in the game between Killers all-stars and the current Giants team.

Kruse played for the Giants in the 02-03 season as team captain, leading them to the Continental Cup Finals in Lugano as well as to the British Playoff championship – the only time they’ve won the trophy.

The Kelman roster is as follows:

Goals: Nathan Craze
Defence: Todd Kelman, Jason Bowen, Shane Johnson, Rob Stewart,
Forward: Paxton Schulte, Theo Fleury, Rod Stevens, Colin Ward, Paul Kruse, Tony Hand, Paul Sample, Reid Simonton, Jonathan Phillips.
Coach: Dave Matsos

If I’ve left anyone out please let me know.

Below is an article from yesterday’s Belfast Telegraph.

Belfast Telegraph — In just over a month’s time Todd Kelman will play his last ever game as a professional ice hockey player.  He won’t be lost to the Belfast Giants though, here he tells Stuart McKinley about his new career path…

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