That title is the vibes I got from reading what the Blaze coach had to say about the game tomorrow night. By all accounts the only way to beat the Giants is to choke the life out of the game. Sit back and defend, put five men behind the puck and try steal a goal or two. Opening up and going toe-to-toe with the Giants is impossible. These are not my words, but the thoughts of the Hull Stingrays coach Rick Strachan. MORE »
Of all the pun’s that can be used with the name Dion Darling, that was the best I could come up with! Pathetic. Anyway, what’s this all about you ask? Old man Darling is back in the Elite League and has signed a contract to the end of the season with the Cardiff Devils, the team he finished last season with. Calling him ‘old-man’ might be a little over the top, the guy is only 33-years of age but he’s been around so long it just seems that way. Remember his great scrap with Paxton Schulte back in the old days? No doubt he’ll strengthen the Devils blue-line as they look to make a run for the playoffs.
It was pointed out this morning on the KotG forum by my fellow contributer to the Kingdom of the Giants, Patrick Smyth (DWD) that Steelers goalie Jody Lehman and his wife had a baby girl. Very sweet isn’t it? Normally I wouldn’t pay this sort of thing much attention on this blog but it was the post made by a Steelers fan on the news of this event in the Lehman household that Patrick refered to that caught my attention and sent me into histerics.
Yes, some Steelers fan is pinning the Challenge Cup defeat to Nottingham mid-week on Lehman not being availble. Sure, they may have won with him in the line-up but this crazed fan is angry that Lehman’s wife Raquel choose to have her baby at this time.
Brace yourselves . . . Phsyco’s do roam among us:
“Disgraceful? tough! sorry to hurt such sensitive souls. If you are joe public then fine, family comes first, if you are a pro sportsman who talks about wanting to win trophies you have to walk the walk, I’m sick and tired of nice losers at the Steelers I want winners.
I have no problem with jody having wanting to have a family, how about timing to have them in the off-season or at the very least at the start of the season it’s not rocket science.”
It’s been the topic of the day over on KotG and for good reason. The EIHL are talking about serious changes to the league’s set-up next season from the salary cap to the number of imports allowed on each team. The story broke here today and it has the fans talking about the pro’s and con’s. I haven’t had a great deal of time to look at it so I’ll give it some time before writing anything that will be read and digested by the proverbial masses, for a day or so. (The real excuse being I just dont have time right now).
The Giants have been getting good publicity from many angles but a column by Frances Burscough in today’s tele is a promotion to all girls to get out and watch the Giants for other reasons than just the high speed physical sport she mentions:
“Ok, so I confess, the best part about seeing the Giants is actually, well, seeing the Giants.”
When I talk to people who are not to knowledgeable about hockey, but knowledgeable about sports in general and the topic of hockey comes up it usually doesn’t take long before they bring up the subject of fighting in the sport. Nearly always they cannot buy into the fact that this can and should exist in a sport. Usually of a football background (as I originally was) they can’t understand the argument for standing off and having a toe-to-toe bout. I always mention how the fight actually ‘keeps the game clean’ but it generally falls on deaf ears unless you actually have a game handy to show them with a few fights that perfectly explain the need for a good fight.
We all know the Giants are in fine form and have now won thirteen games in a row but take a look at the table below for a breakdown on how each player has produced over the last eleven games. Pete Campbell and Ed Courtenay are averaging over two points per game while Dutiaume, Sutter, Awada and Shane Johnson are all scoring at least one point per game. Even the secondary scoring the Giants rely on from time to time throughout the year are on their best form - Carlyle Lewis who has been as busy with his fists lately as he has with his stick has eight points in ten games played and Jamieson and Morrison each have six and four points respectively.
Giants 11 Game form:
NO. PLAYER POS GP G A Pts PIM
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12 Peter Campbell C 11 10 15 25 14
72 Ed Courtenay RW 11 7 17 24 7
14 Mark Dutiaume C 11 7 11 18 17
21 Shaun Sutter RW 11 7 7 14 10
41 George Awada RW 11 5 6 11 4
4 Shane Johnson D 11 2 9 11 42
24 Carlyle Lewis LW 10 2 6 8 59
6 Leigh Jamieson LW/D 11 5 1 6 2
19 Scott Cameron C 11 4 2 6 6
25 Trevor Johnson D 11 1 5 6 30
77 Roman Gavalier D 11 1 4 5 20
20 Mark Morrison RW 9 2 2 4 7
8 Lewis Christie D 11 1 1 2 2
42 Paul Moran C 7 0 2 2 7
18 Graeme Walton D 11 0 0 0 26
30 Stevie Lyle G 11 0 0 0 2
1 Adam Cree G 2 0 0 0 0
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Watch Carlyle Lewis give Ryan Shmyr a bit of a beating. Shmyr got the take down maybe but Lewis did all the damage. Big win for a guy on real fighting form and really protecting his team-mates.
Last night’s game marked the first ever professional goal by Lewis Christie. He tallied a second period goal against Manchester on a feed from Mark Dutiaume.
In tonight’s 6-2 win against the Nottingham Panthers, captain George Awada picked up a hat trick and his 99th, 100th and 101st goals as a Giant. The 100th goal tied him with Jason Ruff for the franchise lead and the 101st stood him alone as the top all-time Giants goal scorer.
The Giants have just beat the Panthers 6-2 tonight giving them their 13th win in a row, continuing the record, and almost as impressive, 34 goals in just 6 games. That’s an average of 5.67 goals per game over that span for a team who in the first half of the season were averaging just over two per game. Another incredible feat is that the scoring over the past two games - twelve goals in all - has come without the help of Ed Courtenay on either goals or assists. Remarkable considering the amount of helpers Ed has had this season, but proving the depth of the Giants team. Ed Courtenay who took a heavy hit last night used himself sparingly throughout the game leaving it to Captain George Awada to pick up a hat trick and to become the Giants all-time leading goal-scorer.
Awada who has struggled in front of goal this season may well have got the spark he needed to kick-start his season on picking up the hat-trick and the scoring record. It’s his first three goal game of the season and third of his Giants career.
The game also included another fight. By all accounts from the game, Ryan Shymr of the Panthers was trying to intimidate an already banged up Ed Courtenay. Carlyle Lewis didn’t appreciate it and dropped the gloves with Shmyr and give him a good hiding. It’s Lewis’ fifth fight in four games and the third in row done in the name of protecting his coach.
The win keeps the Giants in second place and keeps the pressure on the Coventry Blaze.
When the season is said and done and the fans are looking to kill time in the off-season talking about the best of the year gone past, I would imagine there will be little debate on the game of the year. Last night’s game against Manchester will get the award.
The Giants beat the Phoenix 6-2 but not only did the game include goals and fast end-to-end play, it included two fights, some true hockey retribution, a penalty shot and the best atmosphere of the season. My faith was restored in the need for an enforcer in hockey and anyone who tells me that fight’s do not have a place in the game . . . I will point them in the direction of this game.
In the second period of the match-up Ed Courtenay was rammed into the boards pretty hard by Phoenix tough-guy Brett Cloutier. Being the player-coach and top scorer of the team, this did not sit well with Giants proverbial ‘police-man’ Carlyle who moments later took a run and flattened Phoenix player-coach and ex-Giants coach Tony Hand. It sparked a pushing match and on the ensuing face-off the two tough guys came together to produce an excellent toe-to-toe scrap. It’s the way hockey should be and credit to the referee for letting the two guys duke it out. The fight cleaned the game up and ended any possibility for further dirty play and the referee knew it.
The fighting wasn’t done however, as the game attempted to re-start the two smallest guys on the ice - not to be out-done by the two biggest - dropped the gloves and helmets and went at it. The Giants Mark Morrison leaving the Phoenix’s Stauffacher bloodied and needing treatment. It all took place with only a few minutes left in the period and so the referee called the period early to let the Zamboni clean up the blood of Stauffacher.
When the game re-started fifteen minutes later there was no more penalties - A clean game of end to end hockey ensued.
The Giants who lead 3-1 going into the final framed turned up the gas scoring three more to take a victory by a margin that the Phoenix did not deserve to lose by. The Phoenix had kept the game tight throughout with the first half of the match still tied at one. The Phoenix missed a penalty shot with a great save by Stevie Lyle. It sent the crowd wild and the Giants fed off the momentum scoring a few moments later to take the game by the scruff.
The Giants head into Nottingham tomorrow night, likely tired and maybe even a little beat up. Ed Courtenay looked a little shaky after his hit from Cloutier. He didn’t take a shift the rest of the second period but did come out to play in the third.
