Year ends on a high for Giants

 Photograph of LBM Belfast Giants Sean McMorrow courtsey of Mark Tredgold: www.tredders.com.

With both Coventry and Nottingham also in action, nothing short of a win was needed from the LBM Belfast Giants to keep pace at the top of the Elite League as they took on the Sheffield Steelers at the Odyssey Arena.

Despite a barrage of early pressure from the Steelers and an end to end first period it was the Giants who broke the deadlock, scoring with only seconds remaining on the clock. The Giants took full use of the man advantage when Steve Thornton won a draw in the offensive end and a point shot from Colin Shields found Evan Cheverie in front to tip the puck past Andrew Verner in the Steelers goal.

At 23:07 the Steelers got back on level terms with a powerplay goal of their own. Kevin Bolibruk netted on a feed from Randy Dagenais as Cheverie’s holding penalty was coming to an end and the Steelers looked to be getting things going once again.

29:26 and the Giants had their noses in front again. Steve Thornton carried the puck from neutral ice deep into the Steelers end, pulled off a few spin moves around the Steelers defence and found Tim Cook in the high slot who wristed the puck over Verners blocker side into the roof of the net. The Giants had a further 2 powerplay opportunities before the end of the period, but failed to get the puck under control in the Steelers end and went into the second intermission leading 2-1.

The third period seen the Giants come out hard and at 48:30 Brandon Benedict netted on the powerplay with the assist going to Colin Shields. Benedict then turned provider for Shields as the Giants broke out of their own end. Jacobsen started things off forcing a turnover and getting the puck to Benedict who sent Shields away down the right wing side. Shields stepped over the blue line and ripped a howitzer over Verners glove and gave the Giants a comfortable 4-1 lead.

With the game almost rounded off Benedict took exception to a hit from Robert Farmer and retaliated with a slash across Farmers legs. Farmer then attempted to spear Benedict and received a 2+2 penalty plus a 10 minute misconduct. Benedict also sat 2 minutes for the slash giving the Giants a powerplay for the remaining 1 minute 18 seconds.

With the crowd and Sean McMorrow calling out the Steelers players Jeff Legue dumped the puck on the Giants net. Stephen Murphy parried the rebound into the air and lost sight of the puck. Confusion between Murphy and Jacobsen seen the puck trickle over the goal line but it was too little too late as the Steelers were concerned as the Giants continue their pursuit of top spot with the win.

• EL
• PL
• NL1N
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• NL2N
• NL2S

• Challenge Cup Final dates confirmed
• Giants see off Devils to make final
• Murphy ready for Devils visit
• Giants sign Hoffman at the deadline
• Walton hits 500 Games

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