Posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 12:31 am
In a man of the match performance George Awada netted twice as the LBM Belfast Giants defeated the Cardiff Devils at the Odyssey Arena. After a scoreless 1st period the Giants turned the screw and recorded at 4-1 home win.
Despite both team having 2 powerplay opportunities each in the first 20 minutes neither could break the deadlock with both Stephen Murphy and Stevie Lyle standing tall at opposite ends of the ice. It wasn’t until 23:20 Awada banged in his first latching onto a rebounded shot from Pat Bateman.
Evan Cheverie doubled the Giants lead at 28:26 rounding off a play that involved Michael Jacobsen and Tim Cook who each were credited with assists on the goal. As the game was re-started the devils mounted an attack down the right wing side with the speedy Jay Latiluppe catching Kevin Phillips flat footed. Phillips was drawn into an interference penalty and sat for 2 minutes giving the Devils yet another powerplay opportunity.
This time the Devils made the man advantage count as Matt Miller latched onto a pass coming through the slot and slapped the puck past Murphy as he slid from post to post making it a 2-1 game going into the 2nd intermission.
At 50:46 Steve Thornton found top marksman Colin Shields with a pass on the Devils blue line. Shields fired a wrister from the top of the circle under Lyle’s blocker and restored the Giants 2 goal lead. With Stephen Murphy turning shot after shot away the Giants were holding strong at the back and were looking good for the win.
George Awada made sure of the 2 points as he added his 2nd and the Giants 4th finishing off a tic-tac-toe play involving Brandon Benedict and Colin Shields, keeping the Giants on track as they continue their quest for the Elite League championship with a crunch game tomorrow night on the road to the Coventry Blaze.
Period Scores: 0-0, 2-1, 2-0
Penalty Mins: Bel 24 Car 10
Powerplay: Bel 0/4 Car – 1/6
Shots On: Stephen Murphy 34 – Stevie Lyle 35
Referee: Tom Darnell
© 2008 Belfast Giants Limited, unless otherwise stated. Imagery © Michael Cooper Photography.
