FRANTIC FIRST SECURES SIXTH IN A ROW FOR GIANTS

First Period

The Giants began the game almost immediately on the back foot as Grant Mismash was sat down after just 46 seconds for hooking. However, Adam Keefe will have been delighted with his side’s resilience as they rode out the two minutes and then went on the attack. They then went on a powerplay of their own as Brandon Alderson was penalised for hooking on 06:23 and he was made to regret that by Jordan Kawaguchi with less than 30 seconds remaining on the penalty. The British Columbian forward tiptoed along the goal line and lifted the puck into the roof of the net for the opener (1-0)

It was soon two from two with the man advantage when, with Chase Gresock taking a seat, Mark Cooper was set up for a tap-in by the unselfish JJ Piccinich (2-0). It was proving to be largely one-way traffic towards Mat Robson’s goal and he produced a quite miraculous stop from a Bobo Carpenter effort and had his crossbar to thank when Jeff Baum’s rasper was tipped off it and over the net. However, that was merely a brief reprieve as Mike Lee was picked out by Mismash and his shot had just enough power to squeeze under Rob’s glove and trickle over the line. (3-0)

Second Period

While he wasn’t quite a bystander, Tom McCollum was certainly the lesser-troubled of the two goalies in the first. However, he was breached 90 seconds after the restart when Gresock showed good hockey fundamentals as he followed his own shot in and, after McCollum stopped it, was first there to sweep home the rebound. (3-1). Just 20 seconds later, the Giants went on their third powerplay of the night when David Clements drew the wrath of the officials for roughing but they couldn’t keep up the 100% record with the man advantage. This is despite the puck somehow staying out after a scramble where Scott Conway appeared to get the last touch on it.

Baum was clearly getting his eye in for long-range shots but Robson denied him and P.O Morin couldn’t force home the rebound while Piccinich was also denied. Despite heading into the final 20 minutes out-shooting the Blaze 48-16, the Giants couldn’t add to their goal tally as they were held scoreless in the second.

Third Period

The final period began like the other two with an early penalty. Gresock was having a busy evening and added a second penalty to his goal as he was penalised for holding. The Blaze would kill this penalty but the Giants were on top and Carpenter was trying his best to get on the scoreboard but was denied once again by Robson. Cameron Pound would then be the next to take a seat in the penalty box for interference that saw some punches traded between him and Grayson Constable.

Despite the man disadvantage, it was the hosts who were having more chances with Piccinich chipping wide before Carpenter ended up in the net but not the puck as he threw himself at a rebound when Robson parried Cooper’s shot high into the air. Kawaguchi and Conway were skating well and the latter teed up Cooper only for the captain to be denied a second by another marvellous Robson stop. At the other end, Michael Regush’s effort was tipped just wide by Alderson.

Ciaran Long rattled the bar before the Blaze dropped their goalie in favour of an extra skater with 02:30 to go. Carpenter would finally get his goal as a result as he broke away and slid the puck into the unguarded net via a desperate Blaze stick on 58:15. (4-1)

That put the icing on a sixth Giants win in a row and will fill them full of confidence going into the weekend double-header with the Fife Flyers. Saturday night’s action is at the Fife Ice Arena with a 7:15pm puck drop before Sunday sees the last home game before Christmas against Tom Coolen’s men. Puck drop at the SSE Arena is at 4pm and there are limited tickets available here.