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Capitals and Vipers weekend
Blog from door 19
The Capitals and Vipers weekend were must win matches in order to keep the League title dream alive. Doug Christiansen was looking to make his mark in the pages of Belfast Giants History as a title winning coach. Big things were expected of Christiansen this season; he got a cash strapped Edinburgh Capitals team to fifth in the league last season and all that was going through my mind when he was hired to replace Thornton was: Wow what can this guy do with a bigger budget? The answer to that was this year's stellar squad, a squad that is made up of some of the most determined players in the league, a squad that is hungry for success and it would be an injustice if they left the season empty handed.
The squad for team GB was announced this week as well with six members of the Giants being recognized for their hard work. Peaks, Walton, Garside, Shields, Murph and Craze proudly representing Belfast's talent. Also congratulations to Murph for being nominated for goaltender of the year and British player of the year, and Gleed being nominated for defenseman of the year. Must say I'm baffled at the 'Entertainer of the year' category with yawn Kyle Bruce, yawn Guy 'cheap shot' Lepine and yawn Craig Weller in the running; won't be on the edge of my seat to see who gets that yawn honor.
I went to the Odyssey on the Friday night of the Caps game as a Giants fan and as a hockey fan; I wore my game worn Robinson goalie jersey and Pete wore his game worn Connolly jersey as a tribute to the team that may be no more. It was sad and strange to think that everybody's favourite other team might not be back to the Odyssey. The score didn't matter; everybody knew that the Giants were going to win; and win big, but the Caps squad were gritty and put up a good fight. No big surprises on the night, the Giants won, the Caps fought back and scored 2 goals, there were very little penalties, it was a classy game. If the Caps fold or drop down a level it'll be sad not having them in Belfast, it'll be sad not having one of my favourite players; ex-Belfast legend Jeff Hutchins gracing the Odyssey ice. There was no raucous applause at the Giant's goals just polite applause, the Caps at the end of the match were given a respectful send off, two points were in the bag and another two were guaranteed on Saturday against the Vipers.
I'd like to give a special mention to the Giants man of the match; Gareth Roberts. While last year I was a big mark for Steve Thornton as a coach; over the two seasons that he was coach he did the biz; he brought three cups to Belfast and brought some awesome players from overseas. My only criticism would be the lack of nurturing home grown players; Morrison was benched for the majority of the season as was Walton. Christiansen, however is a whole other story, he believed last year, at the Capitals, in the development of the British players like Mark Garside.
This season he has developed and played the home grown players on regular shifts; Graeme Walton is twice the player he was last year, it would have been interesting to see how Morrison would have developed under the direction of Christiansen. This year players have been moved 'up the ranks' from the junior development programme; Gareth Roberts, Jordan Scott Brown and Scott Bickerstaff have all donned the Aer Lingus shirts. Gareth Roberts this season has grafted, threw some big hits and searched for the illusive goal. He was finally rewarded with his first career goal as a Giant and the title of Man of the Match. Its interesting to think that if Christiansen was coach last season he may have been able to develop Roby Brown and he could be playing regular shifts along side Walton this season.
On Saturday we hit the Odyssey with the knowledge that a) this game would be a home win and b) that it wouldn't be as much of a cake walk that the Caps game was. Dangerous Danny and his boys were in town and it was also sad to think that they were in financial trouble and once again it could be their last visit to the Odyssey. The Vipers to me were a love hate team, I had only been going to the Giants for a little while when I witnessed the Vipers goon team led by Donkey Payette. But this season they were captained by Paul Sample and they fought their way to some gritty victories with very little players and for that they deserved respect. The Vipers didn't get many shots at Craze, but the fifteen shots they did get were all denied, kudos for Craze getting his 2nd shutout of the season.
With those two wins in the bag the league title was coming down to the wire, Giants fans were keeping a close eye on Sheffield's and Cardiff's results; with one point in it the league was still all up in the air. There were however other pressing matters at hand in the form of the Panthers with a two goal lead in the Challenge Cup final. I had been getting texts all day asking was I nervous? The simple answer was 'no' the Giants had comfortably beat the Panthers before and I knew they could do it again... and I was right...well kind of. We got to the Odyssey and got to our seats, not our usual seats, but further along the row over the dirty Panthers' tunnel. The good feeling that I had about the match went away when I realised that Darnell was referee, maybe he wouldn't be that bad. Maybe he'd call the match down the middle. Maybe for once the referee will take total control of the match and the best team on the night will win, not down to cheap shots and intimidation, but down to skill and determination. Then again if that happened I'd move to Nottingham and start a Corey Neilson fan club; none of the above were likely to happen or actually did happen on the night.
The referee was the difference maker, with even K-wall in on the uncalled penalty list blatantly holding Craig Peacock as he was screening him. The Giants won on the night but lost on aggregate, the Giants wanted it badly and the Panthers got a scrappy win. Their 'saviour' Neilson being given accolades rather than abuse from the Panthers fans. The terrible season was all but forgotten with this win, the call for him getting his P45 an echo of the past. Neilson saved his job, making sure that he was on the ice for around forty minutes and could be seen as instrumental in the Panthers winning the Cup, (and losing 2-1)even though he is an awful coach and was a semi alright player back in the day. Retire or get fired, do Nottingham a favour, or if he's still player/coach next year it'll do the rest of the league a favour by keeping Nottingham well and truly away from the top of the league table for the 55th year in a row....
It was heartbreaking but with the league and playoffs in quick succession it was all eyes on score updates. We were one point behind Sheffield and Cardiff who were tied with first place. I had a feeling that Nottingham would get a revenge defeat in the hands of the Giants and I wasn't wrong. With a 6-2 win there was a glimmer of hope, until it was apparent that Cardiff and Sheffield had both won their respective matches as well. It was going to come down to the wire and with Cardiff playing Edinburgh it was clear that the league leaders for the majority of the season would lift the cup. Sunday night proved to be no surprise with the Steelers gaining the league title with he greater number of regulation wins over the Devils. It was close and an exciting end to the season. Bring on the playoffs.
BGFL
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
