Belfast Giants v Edinburgh Capitals @ 5 p.m.
Coventry Blaze v Sheffield Steelers @ 6 p.m.
Cardiff Devils v Nottingham Panthers @ 6 p.m.

5:45 p.m. The Giants have finished the first period and lead 2-0 with two big goals by Jeff Szwez. One text I have gotten from the game tells me that this guy is by far the best player on the team. No surprise there, the guy is clutch.

5:49 p.m. Coventry and Nottingham are yet to get underway but as of right now the table looks as follows:

1 Belfast 54gp 71pts
2 Coventry 52gp 70pts
3 Nottingham 52gp 68pts

5:55 p.m. Second period underway again for the Giants and the other two games will be getting underway any moment now.

6:05 p.m. Coventry leading Sheffield 2-1 already after just a few minutes of action. No score in Cardiff.

6:17 p.m. Awada scores with four left in the second period to make it 3-0 Giants. Surely they don’t blow this game now? It’s the second goal tonight for the Giants on the PP and they are now 2-3 tonight with the man advantage – rare.

6:35 p.m. Craig Peacock makes it 4-0 Giants with just over a minute to go in the 2nd period but Sheffield are 4-1 down to Coventry after just one period so it looks like Coventry will retain their league lead tonight. The good news is that Nottingham are being beat 1-0 in Cardiff.

7:05 p.m. Having never had it so easy the Giants take the win, 4-0, outshooting the Capitals 59-16. Unfortunately though the Blaze are beating the Steelers 4-1 in the second though the Panthers are losing 1-0 to Cardiff.

7:13 p.m. League standings at the minute:

1 Coventry 53gp 72pts
2 Belfast 54gp 71pts
3 Nottingham 53gp 68pts

7:38 p.m. Cardiff now two up on Nottingham but no change in the score at Coventry.

9:09 p.m. Coventry now 5-2 up in the third, Nottingham still 2-0 down.

9:25 p.m. Coventry squeak it 5-4 in the end. Sheffield ran them close it seems but they got the two points that matters.

9:53 p.m. Cardiff beat Nottingham 3-0 and put them far enough behind that even if they win their game in hand they will still trail the Giants. They need Coventry to fall apart to have any chance and the Giants have got to feel good about finishing second now.

TABLE:

1 Coventry 53gp 72pts
2 Belfast 54gp 71pts
3 Nottingham 53gp 68pts

All the Giants can do is win their final two games to move to 75 points which would include beating Coventry and hope that they take no more than two points from their other two games.

1 Coventry – 52gp – 70pts
2 Belfast – 53gp – 69pts
3 Nottingham – 52gp – 68pts

Coventry games remaining:
14 Mar v Sheffield
18 Mar v Edinburgh
20 Mar @ Edinburgh
21 Mar v Belfast

Giants games remaining:
14 Mar v Edinburgh
20 Mar v Newcastle
21 Mar @ Coventry

Panthers games remaining:
14 Mar @ Cardiff
17 Mar v Edinburgh
20 Mar @ Sheffield
21 Mar @ Newcastle

The Giants currently sit four points back on the Blaze but having played two games more and with Nottingham wedged in between them having played two more times than the Giants. So yes the Giants will look for the Blaze to drop points, but in theory beating them in the three remaining games can still salvage the season. Of course there are a few things against that.

1. They haven’t beat the Blaze all season so exciting three wins on the trots seems like a big ask, though in hockey, never rule anything out.

2. The Giants need to go almost perfect the rest of the way if they are expecting the Blaze to do likewise (not withstanding the three head-to-head games), though there is every chance the Blaze will hit a few hurdles along the way.

But think about it, there is still 24 league games to be played which means there is a lot of wins and defeats to come and also injuries, for both teams. So I was a little hasty in my anger at reading the awful result against our title rivals to call the title race over. There is still lots to be played, the Giants just need to find a way to sort out their form against the team they want to beat to the title.

The results keep the Giants there or there abouts in terms of the league title race and certainly they look like a team that will compete for the championship. But a lot of teams look competitive in the early going so there is plenty to play for and every point is vital at this stage. The last thing you want to find yourself doing is playing catch up.

The league table makes interesting reading but you have to study it pretty hard to get a proper idea of who is doing what because teams have played different numbers of games than one another meaning the games-in-hand factor comes into play. But since it is only November it is maybe still a little early to get too worried about what other teams have to do. The thing for the Giants right now is to continue winning and keep the pressure on.

Statistic updates are a few weeks behind but should be updated in the next day or so

Mark ‘Mo-Train’ Morrison plays with an ‘A’ on his chest during home games but by all accounts he played like a leader coming up clutch for his team. Morrison has seen less ice time this season under Thornton than he had under Courtenay, but that was mainly due to the team having an extra forward rather than six defencemen this season. But with injuries hurting the Giants forward lines of late it has proved opportunistic for Morrison with 5 points in his last 10 games including tonight.

The Giants got more good news when they found out the team they beat last night, Manchester, had beaten Nottingham 4-2. Unfortunately though Sheffield beat out Coventry but both teams got at least a point as the game went into overtime.

Belfast remain in 3rd place just a point behind the Panthers but with a game in hand. Win that and they move clear into second place and on the hunt for the Steelers who would then be 6 points clear.

P.S. I’ll update all the stastics in the coming days and get the sice back on track. Promise!