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Coventry go 'Blazing' ahead
Blog from Door 8 Personally I always knew that we were doomed to fall to the Blaze on Saturday evening, they were the ones to beat and we had fallen short whenever we had face them before. But we had to win! It was essential to get to the top of the league and to stay there but it was looking highly unlikely. The Blaze always scored scrappy goals and took advantage of power plays to score a goal, the theatrics that overshadowed their last visit here filled me with dread, the Giants fantastic win over the Vipers last week had the players and the fans on a high. So I arrived at the Odyssey with a sense of foreboding and a pocket full of change for my sheriff's badge, my 50/50 tickets, my programme and shirt of the back tickets. Grabbing a hot chocolate I pulled my sleeves over my freezing hands and settled down to watch the pre match skate. I felt nothing but contempt for the Blaze, last year these feelings were deflected onto the Vipers but they were now firmly back where they belonged. However I do rate some of the Blaze players, Jonathan Weaver is a classy player, he's always on the puck and doesn't play dirty, he's all about the hockey. Greg Chambers and long term Blaze players Dan Carlson and Adam Calder are a force to be reckoned with and it's always dangerous for the goal tender when they have the puck. Luke Fulghum, the ex Manchester Phoenix player is my favourite player on that team. I was seriously impressed with him last season and he put up a hell of a fight against the Giants in the Knock out Cup and Challenge Cup finals last year. The netminder Peter Hirsch is one of the best goalies in the league, and we should fear him, never seeming to have a bad day. Is Peter Hirsch Trevor Koenig in disguise? Perhaps not, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it given his display. Picking pucks out of the air effortlessly and blocking goal bound shots after being left open by his defence. His man of the match award was well deserved. There was a good crowd there on Saturday, a lot of Santa Clauses and the Christmas music gave a fun but tense atmosphere. We were down Wally and Faubert but we looked a lot stronger on paper and on the ice, without Watkins, Owen and Soderstrom and a roster bulked out with young Brit players, it was looking promising. The Giants seemed to own the puck in the first, working Peter Hirsch hard firing 21 shots at him, that he effortlessly picked out of the air. The Coventry defence faltered twice in the first leaving it open to a Giant to sneak the puck in but Hirsch was all over it refusing to let up. A more than dodgy penalty call on Thornton for 'check to the head' left the Giants over worked and struggling to overcome the loss of one of the strongest members of the team. The 2+10 penalty call on Thornton allowed the Blaze to steam ahead taking advantage of the powerplay. Shields and last week's man of the match Bateman were close to scoring but were denied by the seemingly unstoppable Hirsch. The first ended with no goals for either team, and people were getting frustrated, well lets just say that I had a sore head from all the predictable quiet shouts of abuse and I quote "You were lucky Hirsch" and "Smith where's your Coventry jersey" (can these people write some new material please? It seems every match that there is the same comments with different names inserted in the appropriate places.) The Sheriff landed himself in the penalty box with a hooking call and Calder capitalised on the power play putting a goal past Murphy at the 36 minute mark.. The disappointment hung in the air like a thick fog, this was raised by a beautiful goal from Bateman from Benedict and Chevy, all was not lost and the Giants were back on track for a win. Chambers and Robinson stamped out the hope that Bateman had ignited, killing the Giant's chances of winning and placing the score at 3-1. The second period ended with a grim realisation that we could not and would not beat Coventry, they had an upper hand from the start and had some mental control over Belfast. Kirstie McMurry's overly loud microphone only agitated me as the clock ticked down, hoping she would either lose her voice or someone would steal her microphone (being polite about things) the Giants returned to the ice ready for their last chance. Shields scored an absolutely beautiful goal from Szwez, Hirsch had no chance, he had no idea that Shieldsy was as accurate as he was. Chambers answered this with another goal bringing it to 4-2, he made sure that Belfast knew who was in charge and that he wasn't about to let his side lose a lead and go down this late in the game. All match the frustration was apparent from Szwez, he desperately wanted to score and his efforts were rewarded with a goal sealing the final score at 4-3 to the Blaze. It was gutting, but then again theres the Vipers at home on the 27th.....
0-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
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
