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Mr McMorrow looking for a birthday present
Blog from Door 8
Okay, so I had a week off work and only one hockey match, so after I cleaned my house from top to bottom, folded all my laundry and sorted out my student finances for my new semester and then I was able to relax on the drive to fortress Dundonald. As a late birthday present for Mr McMorrow I'm sure everyone had their fingers crossed that Voth would down his gloves and step up, prove that he was worthy of the title of Devil's Enforcer. But in the pre match skate there was the noticeable absence of the Sheriff and also the unpredictable force that is Pat Bateman! This was not a good omen!
The familiar upbeat atmosphere and that big, bloody drum got the crowd going, we had to win this one! That was our trophy and we had to hold onto it no matter what! Again clutching my shirt tickets and 50-50 tickets I sat and waited for the lights to go down and the zamboni to do it's business. I must also comment that I think the music at the Giants is sublime (on the most part except for that Lady GaGa rubbish) but the punk rock versions of Mrs Robinson and Build Me Up Buttercup are choice tunes! So the situation at hand was the Giants had to win by four goals or score three to force the Devils into overtime, and God knows that is no easy task- even at Dundonald.
With McMorrow and Bateman sitting out and Thornton playing there was an atmosphere of 'Old Time Hockey' going down in Belfast. There were a good lot of Devils fans there which also added to the atmosphere, the tension in the rink was palpable, I mean we had no player that could conceivably take on Voth and not be injured in the process. The only good omen was when the Ref stepped onto the ice (or so I thought) Darnell is notoriously harsh with the Devils, which could only work in our favour. The teams hit the ice and the stands erupted the Giants needed to know that they had a great deal of support as did the Devils. I have to admit as well that the Devils fans last night were in fine voice and cheered their team brilliantly, they did the Devils proud!
After two minutes Miller made his attack and scored for the Devils, the four goal lead seemed insurmountable and the crowd upped their volume and increased the pressure. There was a 5 on three after Voth and Smith were put in the penalty box, the highly defensive Devils killed the penalty and put the pressure on the Giants forcing Murphy to pull off a massive save after a breakaway given by Awada.
Szwez did his best to make sure that the Devils knew who was boss and not to mess with his boys. The Devils however were unmovable and unshaken. The Giants put the pressure on peppering Lyle with shots forcing him to make save after save, one finally finding its target after eleven minutes, Benny putting the home side on the score board. The shock event of the evening came at 17 minutes. Brandon Benedict dropped to the ice, personally I didn't see it but from all accounts he was (accidentally) butt ended by Wes Jarvis. After speaking to the man himself, an old injury was aggravated and his jaw was broken in two places. The unknowing observer would just think that Benny was injured, and would get up and continue playing, when he raised his head the blood was shocking. Skating off the ice he left a dripping trail of blood, he had a standing ovation, but that looks to be Benny out for the foreseeable future.
There was no penalty called, I was fuming, as was the rest of the crowd, whether or not it was accidental, it was a blood injury, at least a 2+2 for accidental high sticking should have been called, but unfortunately I wasn't reffing and Darnell saw nothing. The fact that Benny had the puck, and the ref should have been watching where the puck was is baffling to say the least. At the end of the first the score was 1-1 but 3-6 on aggregate.
Peacock, our very talented young prospect netted our second goal at 28 minutes which was a huge boost to the morale of the team. Ensuing was a plethora of penalties, and in less than five minutes from the last Belfast goal there was another from the Points machine that is Evan Cheverie, quickly followed by a goal by Birbraer from Voth, desperately holding onto their two goal lead. The Giants were treated to a 5 on 3 power play, a bench minor for too many men on the ice and a hooking call for Miller allowed them to apply the pressure, although the period ended 3-2 to the Giants. (the Devils leading by two goals in aggregate)
The third period started with a lot of penalties being ignored, most noteworthy was a 'holding the stick' not called on Birbraer, who seemed medically attached to Walsh's stick. Walsh holding his hands up so it could be clearly seen that he was no longer in control of his stick. Darnell could see it, a blind guy could've seen it but it wasn't called, and in an uncharacteristic fashion Walsh bumped roughly into Birbraer and pled innocence. It was funny, I had to laugh, he also got a cheer from me, "Yeooo Tommy! Go On!" I thought it was only a good thing that every member of the team was feeling the pressure and that they were hungry for the win.
Birbraer went on to score a short handed goal giving the Devils back their three goal lead. The announcement of the ballot winners afforded me a little bit of excitement, my husband won the shirt off the back. So we headed down towards the Fanzone desk to collect our prize. Thornton skated off in pain as we made our way towards the penalty box, again another player injured in an unnecessarily rough game, with the absence of our tough guys to keep the rough play to a minimum. With five minutes to go Shieldsy netted two goals for the Giants and the score stood at 5-3 and then I almost cried when after a time out Murph was pulled. The extra man advantage couldn't allow us to draw even on aggregate. The final score was 8-7 and the Giants had lost the match. The league and play offs are our chances at silverware. The Giants deserve it! Lets do it! Wins all the Way! Lets Go Giants Lets Go!
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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
