Giants-History.com » Dundonald Ice Bowl

Giants fall a goal short of Challenge Cup Final

Richard Blayney — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:05:39 +0000

The Giants were in Dundonald tonight trying to overturn a 5-2 defect to the Cardiff Devils from the first leg of their Challenge Cup Semi-Final and looking to return to the final of the competition for the second year in a row and defend the trophy they won last year. Knowing they had given the Devils a three goal lead from the first leg they had to go attacking from the start, not that such a tactic is unusual to the Giants who are known as an offense first club, but tonight the result had to be good. Enforcer Sean McMorrow was scratched from the line-up in return for speed and scoring power through the roster but if post game reports from fans are to be believe, player-coach Steve Thornton only rolled two forward lines anyway and the team didn’t have the legs to claw back the tie and win it.

Dropping behind inside the first three minutes would never help but three goals in the following thirty minutes of play put the score at 6-5 overall and giving the fans that had showed up to the old barn a bit of hope. Hopes were dashed though either side of the second intermission when a power play goal followed by a short handed goal just seconds into the third frame for the Devils put the tie beyond reach.

The Giants didn’t give up however, two Colin Shield’s goals in the final five minutes again pulled the tie within one with the Giants leading 5-3 on the night, but it wasn’t to be and time ran out on their hopes of retaining the trophy.

Another win against the Blaze and the Giants are into the Challenge Cup Final

Richard Blayney — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:05:59 +0000

There will be plenty of time to build up this final — The first Challenge Cup final for the Giants since that last one that we never want to talk about. Unfortunately it will be my duty as a Giants blogger to mention it and even the Black shirts that came with it. It will also be up to me to investigate whether the team intend to wear Black in the final again. As to who they play in the final, that looks like it could be Manchester after they won their first leg semi-final 5-2 against Basingstoke. Tonight for the Giants though it was another win over a team they used to struggle against, Coventry, in a 4-1 result after a 1-1 tie in the first leg.

Dundonald was packed and the team fed off the energy putting in an excellent performance. The Giants haven’t taken this tournament to seriously in recent years under Ed Courtenay but it is clear that Steve Thornton does rate it and wants it for that matter. Actually, Thornton wants as many trophies as he can get his hands on regardless of the number of games the Giants have to play to get to them.

Jason Rushton was the centre of many fans attention tonight as they further scrutinised the player and his playing abilities to see whether he was worthy of a place in the team. Thankfully Rushton showed what he can do with the stick in his hands tonight after displaying the other side of his game this past weekend. He scored the game winning goal and along with goals from Shields, Thornton and Awada into an empty net the Giants won a chippy game.

The lack of penalty minutes on the box score might make it read as a calm enough game and that is what I thought having looked at the score sheet, but reports from fans suggest there were many off the puck incidents, many of which were missed by referee Mike Hicks. It means for nothing though as the Giants move on and we can look forward to an final.

Advantage Giants

Richard Blayney — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:28:05 +0000

Nobody might take the Knockout Cup very seriously but everyone takes an opportunity to give the Blaze a beating seriously and tonight the Giants got to do that. The Giants beat their rivals 5-1 in the first ever competitive Giants game at Dundonald Ice Bowl and the fans were left in suspense after it was announced there would be a new signing to be announced tomorrow. The second leg will be in Coventry tomorrow night and baring disaster the Giants should progress.

The Giants obviously took advantage of the Ice Bowl conditions in which they are used to from practicing in and while ex-Giant and current Blaze, Carlyle Lewis must have done is best to prepare his team-mates for what to expect in Dundonald the team clearly couldn’t handle its unique atmosphere!

In goals tonight was Nathan Craze and he turned in a fine performance meaning he will likely retain the starting position for the second leg and potentially the challenge cup games against the Blaze also.

Beating the Blaze 5-1 is always great to see though regardless of the competition. It would have been nice had it been the league of course but this will give the Giants team a real boost as they show encouraging signs of finding their early season form. This is the first of four cup games against the Blaze in the coming weeks and with league match-ups to come also both teams will be sick of the sight of each other come the end of the season.

The Blaze have a better head-to-head all-time record against the Giants but results like this and that could really begin to turn by the end of the year.

Dundonald to host two Giants games

Richard Blayney — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:44:50 +0000

The Dundonald Ice Bowl, a hockey mecca and the oldest standing hockey area in the Northern Hemisphere is set to hold two Giants games, the biggest games the building will have ever hosted. Prior to this one it was an open practice session scrimmage of the 2005 Belfast Giants and before that a game between the Castlereagh Knights and some other local rec team. The Giants had previously been scheduled to play the two cup games against rivals Coventry in Dundalk, but fan pressure has convinced the team to move the fixture to Dundonald.

You might be wondering why the game isn’t being played in the Odyssey but the simple reason is the Giants didn’t think they would get this far in the Challenge Cup — its almost uncharted territory in the post-war hockey era — and well they just shocked us all by entering the Micky Mouse Knockout cup at all. So with that in mind and the Odyssey being booked up at this time of year they had to look elsewhere.

Dundalk had been a favourite holiday destination of the Giants last season for a number of games but it didn’t sit easy with some fans and when a 2000 strong protest with placards and pitchforks took place outside Todd Kelman’s office last night it persuaded him to move the fixture to the state of the art rink in Dundonald.

Some people are worried there will not be enough seats to go around in Dundonald but there are rumours the building is talking about adding seating to bring the capacity up to 150. Come early and come with sharp elbows because standing room will be at a premium.

Coventry will be the team lucky enough to grace the hallowed ice of Dundonald against the Giants. Coventry you will know are one of the Giants biggest rivals. I honestly can say I never thought I would see the day the Giants not only played in Dundonald but played a team the size of Coventry there. Never say never I suppose, there is even talk of a rival rink in Coleraine in the coming years.