Near perfect start for Giants

BELFAST,U.K- The new look Coors Belfast Giants have stormed their way to the top of the Elite League table with an impressive nine wins out of ten league games under new Coach, Steve Thornton. The Giants opened the season with two wins under their belts, beating the Dundalk Bulls/ Latvian Hawks select side two nights in a row in August, before the League opener in the Odyssey Arena against the Cardiff Devils.

The following week, old rivals Newcastle Vipers returned to the Odyssey and suffered an 8-2 defeat at the hands of the Giants, with new signing and former Coventry Blaze star, Evan Cheverie finding the net four times. The Giants then made the trip to Newcastle on September 20 for a double header weekend. They suffered their first and only loss of the season so far on the Saturday night, losing to the home side 4-3. On the Sunday night game, a Thornton high stick caught Viper Andre Payette in the head, causing an uproar from the Vipers team, and saw the League hand out a nine game suspension to Thornton, following two other lengthy suspensions given out a week earlier to Hull Stingray Rick Kozak (10 games) and Cardiff’s Devils Brad Voth (12 games). Thornton appealed the suspension, allowing him to continue to play until his appeal was heard, ultimately allowing the Giants to recover from injuries which Malcolm MacMillan and Andrew Martin had picked up earlier in the season. Thornton’s appeal also ultimately lead to a win in the Coventry Skydome,an Arena which the Giants have had trouble securing two points in since the inaugural Elite League season in 2003-04, with the Coach netting the puck with 19 seconds left on the clock to give the Giants a 3-2 win over the reigning League Champions. Thornton’s ban has since been reduced to four games, with Kozak and Voth’s bans also being reduced to six for Kozak (which see’s him return to action the weekend of Oct 11) and seven to Voth. The new Giants have all impressed the Belfast Fans so far, mainly ‘Triple R’ Bobby Robins, who has eight goals and eight assists from 12 games, mirroring Colin Shields stats, but a quiet player on the ice has racked up 11 goals, 10 assists and has been named EIHL Player of the Week for two weeks running, Paul Deniset. Local Giant, Mark Morrison is out for the next 6-12 weeks with an injured Achilles, and with Thronton’s ban, the Giants will once again be two forwards down. The Giants face off against Sheffield Steelers on Saturday October 11 in another Challenge Cup qualifier in Belfast. Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com