New Season
The hockey season is back, and you can follow it all with us right here on BIH.
Stats Centre
We are working on an archive of matches, stats and players from BIH in the past few years.
Giants thrash woeful Vipers
Photograph of the LBM Belfast Giants courtsey of Colin Lawson of Vipers Media: www.vipersmedia.smugmug.com.
LMB Belfast Giants 11 - 3 Mobilx Newcastle Vipers
Last Friday saw the LBM Belfast Giants take on a weak-sided Newcastle Vipers at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena. Coach Steve Thornton was feeling nerves before the game, as the full squad hadn’t been training together all week, due to injuries and sickness. Even up until Saturday morning, seven players were deemed unlikely to play in the evening’s game. Despite missing Shane Johnson, Graeme Walton, Pierre-Luc Faubert and Nathan Craze; the Giants seemed unaffected. The Vipers too played short of some players; Daniel Pye, Nathan Salem, Richie Lawson and Todd Griffith.
The Giants got off to an aggressive start with a dump, chase and hit strategy in the Vipers’ end. Within the first couple of minutes, the Giants had a couple of chances on goal, but nothing special. The Giants started first on the penalty kill with the game just over 2 minutes old, as Tim Cook went to the box for cross checking. This gave the Vipers a chance in the Giants’ zone, with Mark Rooneem having a couple of chances on net without any luck.
The game started to heat up around the 5 minute mark, as the Giants started registering chances. A close chance for Craig Peacock opened the barrage of shots on Kevin Reiter. It wasn’t until 7:17 that the Giants found the net past Reiter. A puck turned over in the Giants’ zone was knocked up ice by Steve Thornton, with Pat Bateman skating onto the banked pass. This left Bateman a breakaway chance, deking his way past Reiter to put the puck in the net for the first of the game.
The Giants were quick to get another opportunity off an excellent play, as Brandon Benedict fired a pass across the slot to Peacock skating in. Peacock fired the initial shot, which was deflected, giving way for 2 rebounds, ending in Colin Shields being hit in front of the net. This opened a powerplay chance for the Giants as Mark Gouett went to the box for interference.
The powerplay went unfruitful, although the Giants had a few chances. Less than 30 seconds after the powerplay ended, the Giants managed to net their second of the night at 10:50. A pass from the Giants zone from Peacock to Evan Cheverie on the left wing gave a great passing lane to Thornton in the slot as they entered the Vipers’ zone. With the netminder out of position, this left an easy tap in goal for Thornton.
Sean “The Sheriff” McMorrow was relatively quiet up to this point, apart from his exchange of views with Vipers’ coach Rob Wilson. He had a number of Vipers unhappy in front of the net as he sprayed ice in the face of Kevin Reiter in the Vipers’ net, but nobody dared challenge him to fisticuffs.
The Giants seemed to be on fire for the rest of the period, with Michael Jacobsen narrowly missing the net, with the puck going 5-hole and deflecting out off the post. The Giants then got the chance at another powerplay opportunity as Matus Petricko visited the box for hooking. The Giants took advantage of this opportunity and netted their third of the game past Kevin Reiter at 16:00. The goal came as Cook received a faceoff pass at the point from Cheverie. Cook rifled a slapshot, finding Reiter’s glove, as he knocked it back on the ice. This left space for Peacock to shoot the puck past Reiter, from the edge of the crease, as he lay on the ice.
Just as the Giants thought the game couldn’t be going any better, it got better. As Sean McMorrow paid his first visit of the night to the penalty box for cross checking, the Giants managed to pick up a shorthanded goal at 18:39. As Thornton tipped the puck over the blue line, Reiter skated out of the net, knocking the puck back. This left a chance for Benedict to skate onto the puck and he shot as the netminder repositioned himself in the net, leaving the Giants up 4-0 going into the break.
The Giants got off to a good start in the second period, with 2 powerplay opportunities in the first few minutes. The Giants were unlucky not to find the net on the powerplay, but were quick to grab their fifth of the game as both teams returned to full strength at 26:43. A pass from Jeff Szwez to Mark Morrison left an open lane to Bateman at the blue line. This gave him the chance to skate into the zone, holding off a defenseman, to fire the puck top shelf past Kevin Reiter, getting his second of the night.
Shortly after, the Giants found themselves in penalty trouble again, with one after the other, leaving them shorthanded for 4 minutes. The Vipers showed no sign of advantage, as the play continued end-to-end for the duration of the penalties. The highlight being Ben Campbell’s breakaway, where Jacobsen caught up with him on the forecheck, managing to clear the puck.
The Giants got back on track, with an excellent play. Off the faceoff, the puck was played hard around the boards to McMorrow at the hash mark. A pass to Morrison on the red line left him 1-on-1 on net, with Reiter saving the shot.
It wasn’t long before the Vipers answered to the Giants’ 5 goals, at 36:54. With a delayed penalty call, the Vipers had the extra man. This left the play in front of the net. With an initial shot from Ran Marhle, three rebounds later, David Longstaff found the net past Stephen Murphy.
The Giants were quick to answer, at 39:16. As an initial shot was deflected in the Vipers’ zone, a pass behind the net from Phillips to Bateman left Peacock free in the slot. A pass from Bateman behind the net gave Peacock the goal – his second of the night.
Just before the end of the period, the Giants added another for good measure, at 39:56. Play in the zone left a pass from Shields to Cook. Cook then found Thornton across the slot, with an open side of the net, leaving an easy goal. This left the Giants at a 7-1 advantage going into the break.
The Giants opened the scoring again in the third period, with Morrison picking up his first of the season at 41:20. A pass from Cheverie to Bateman in the neutral zone left Bateman in the Vipers’ zone with a pass across the slot to Morrison as the netminder was out of position. This left an easy shot for Morrison to increase the lead to 8-1.
The Giants were again on the penalty kill, as Tom Walsh went to the box for delay of game. The Vipers’ advantage was unnoticed, with end to end play. Just after the penalty kill, the Giants managed to net their 9th and 10th goals within a minute. The 9th came at 48:58 as Sean McMorrow picked up his first home goal as a Giant. As the puck was cleared out of the Giants’ zone, Bateman picked it up on the left wing. As he skated into the Vipers’ zone, a pass across the front of the net found McMorrow, to net the puck. A traditional celebration of shooting down his glove at centre ice added an extra sparkle to the goal.
The 10th goal came just 51 seconds later, at 49:49, as a pass from Benedict in the corner to Cook at the point led to a saved slapshot. The deflected puck left a rebound opportunity for Cheverie who didn’t disappoint.
The Odyssey crowd were invited to a McMorrow spectacular, as Robbie Brown was supposedly kneed by Mike Berry. The prompted ‘The Sheriff’ to stand up for the rookie on the team, as he proceeded to teach Berry a lesson in the roughing department. This left the Giants shorthanded for the next 4 minutes.
The Giants didn’t stop until they hit their 11th goal at 52:04. A shot from the circle across the net from Walsh screened by Szwez deflected into the net to leave the score at 11-1.
The Vipers showed they weren’t willing to go out that easy, as they added two quick goals to finish up the game’s scoring. A shot fired from Longstaff deflected off Murphy’s pads to leave him out of position for Teacjma to tap into the open net at 52:58. The Vipers’ third goal came as Teacjma fired a shot straight past Murphy’s glove into the net at 53:35.
The game finished 11-3 in favour of the Giants, with Pat Bateman picking up the Giants’ man of the match with a 4 point game, and David Longstaff picking up the Vipers’.
We spoke to man of the match, Pat Bateman, after the game. He spoke of the game: “It was important to come out and play hard. Points don’t really mean a lot to me at this point in my career. It was good to see the other guys get some points tonight too.” He also commented on Sean McMorrow’s goal: “He owes me for that assist, but that celebration was unbelievable! A Teemu Selanne celebration!”
We also spoke to Sean McMorrow about his goal, “It was great! I’ve been waiting for this for a while now. It’s a lot of weight off my back.”
Asking the guys about the Giants’ new prospect, Robbie Brown, Bateman said: “Robbie is an up and coming player. He works hard in practice every day, and he’s on the bike before we even get to the rink, so he’s a hard worker.” McMorrow commented: “Robbie is a great kid. He’s learning so much every week. When I saw the dirty play tonight, I had to stand up for him. All the way through my career, from junior hockey, I was always taught to go after anyone who plays dirty with my teammates.”
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:00 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:00 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:00 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:00 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:15 | ||
v |
||
| 12th February 2012 00:00 | ||
6-2 |
||
| 5th February 2012 18:30 | ||
4-5 |
||
| 5th February 2012 18:00 | ||
2-4 |
||
| 5th February 2012 17:00 | ||
6-1 |
||
| 4th February 2012 19:30 | ||
4-1 |
||
| 4th February 2012 19:00 | ||
6-2 |
||
| 4th February 2012 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belfast Giants | 41 | 33 | 8 | 3 | 167 | 83 | 69 |
| 2 | Nottingham Panthers | 40 | 30 | 10 | 2 | 182 | 87 | 62 |
| 3 | Sheffield Steelers | 35 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 133 | 77 | 60 |
| 4 | Coventry Blaze | 40 | 25 | 15 | 1 | 153 | 113 | 51 |
| 5 | Cardiff Devils | 39 | 20 | 19 | 10 | 124 | 112 | 50 |
| 6 | Braehead Clan | 39 | 22 | 17 | 2 | 146 | 127 | 46 |
| 7 | Hull Stingrays | 41 | 11 | 30 | 4 | 107 | 165 | 26 |
| 8 | Edinburgh Capitals | 38 | 11 | 27 | 3 | 89 | 170 | 25 |
| 9 | Dundee Stars | 40 | 7 | 33 | 5 | 95 | 163 | 19 |
| 10 | Fife Flyers | 39 | 7 | 32 | 5 | 79 | 178 | 19 |
v |
||
| 8th February 2012 19:45 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 17:45 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 18:00 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 18:30 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:00 | ||
v |
||
| 11th February 2012 19:00 | ||
3-0 |
||
| 5th February 2012 18:30 | ||
4-2 |
||
| 5th February 2012 18:00 | ||
6-3 |
||
| 5th February 2012 17:30 | ||
6-8 |
||
| 5th February 2012 17:30 | ||
3-0 |
||
| 4th February 2012 19:30 | ||
1-3 |
||
| 4th February 2012 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford Flames | 38 | 26 | 12 | 3 | 172 | 111 | 55 |
| 2 | Manchester Phoenix | 39 | 24 | 15 | 3 | 145 | 123 | 51 |
| 3 | Slough Jets | 37 | 24 | 13 | 2 | 167 | 117 | 50 |
| 4 | Sheffield Steeldogs | 38 | 22 | 16 | 4 | 119 | 101 | 48 |
| 5 | Milton Keynes Lightning | 37 | 22 | 15 | 1 | 116 | 99 | 45 |
| 6 | Basingstoke Bison | 38 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 135 | 126 | 44 |
| 7 | Swindon Wildcats | 39 | 15 | 24 | 5 | 126 | 134 | 35 |
| 8 | Bracknell Bees | 37 | 13 | 24 | 8 | 107 | 142 | 34 |
| 9 | Peterborough Phantoms | 38 | 14 | 24 | 2 | 123 | 164 | 30 |
| 10 | Telford Tigers | 39 | 9 | 30 | 2 | 106 | 199 | 20 |
- No Elite League for Vipers in 2011/12
- Holland looking for back to back wins
- Effinger has no regrets
- Hartmanis wants wins for fans
- Longmuir looking to finish in style
