Giants Open Season with Star-ing Victory in Dundee

First Period

After four wins from four and goals-a-plenty in pre-season, Adam Keefe’s side were under the cosh from a motivated home Dundee side. Tom McCollum was called into action on more than one occasion with the first of those an excellent close-range smother from Craig Garrigan.

Despite this home pressure, it was the visitors who got off the mark with their first competitive goal of the season on 04:04. This came on the breakaway with Jordan Kawaguchi producing a tidy finish from a narrow angle via the post after being fed by Josh Roach and Pierre-Olivier Morin. The British Columbian did superbly to steer home despite being hit hard by a Dundee defender.

This did not deter the hosts as they went on the attack again with McCollum stopping well from both Keanu Yamamoto and Steven MacDonald while Mark Cooper was sent to the bin for tripping on 09:35. Elijiah Barriga also served a two-minute penalty for too many men on the ice and, while the Giants rode out both penalties, McCollum was eventually beaten when Garrigan tipped home a Craig Moore shot from close range with just over 90 seconds of the first remaining.

Second Period

The Giants began the second period on the powerplay after Ben O’Connor had been sat on 19:34 in the first and they took advantage. Joe Cassetti was the man who finished off after just 54 seconds in the second period after good work from Grant Mismash and Elijiah Barriga. However, the see-saw nature of the game continued as the Stars equalised on 07:23 through home town hero Jonathan McBean who smashed home a slap shot leaving McCollum helpless.

Parity lasted just three minutes as Cassetti grabbed his second and Belfast’s third with a roofer after lovely work by Mark Cooper to assist him. Gabe Bast then became the third Giant to be sent to the box for a tug on Zach Tsekos who had just been denied one-on-one by the impressive McCollum.

Jordan Kawaguchi was not about to let his team-mate take all of the limelight and snaffled his second of the game as he was quickest to react to a Bast shot that took a nick off Ben Lake and Stars goalie Jarrett Fiske to double up the score at 4-2 at the end of the second.

Third Period

With 05:19 gone in the third period, Bast would visit the penalty box again for goalie interference but not only would the Giants kill the penalty but they added their fifth goal as captain Mark Cooper got involved with a short-handed finish from Ben Lake’s neat pass.

On 53:38, Cooper would score again, this time forcing home a rebound after Jarrett Fiske had saved from Barriga but those celebrations had barely died down when Jake Elmer pulled one back for the Stars to make it 6-3 in favour of the Giants with 06:07 remaining in the game.

Adam Keefe’s men did not let that faze them and rounded off the scoring with 04:12 remaining. It was Ciaran Long who got the final goal of a night for the attackers.

Next up

The Giants make the short trip from Dundee to Fife for tomorrow’s second Challenge Cup tie which begins at 5:15PM before welcoming the Stars to Belfast next Saturday (14) for the first home competitive game of the season. Puck drop is 7PM and you can get your tickets here.