LBM Belfast Giants Get First Win at The Odyssey

Posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

It was the battle that everyone was waiting to see, and they only had to wait 15 seconds on Saturday Night. The two toughest players in the Elite League, the Devils’ Brad Voth and our very own Sean McMorrow gave the crowd at the Odyssey Arena what they were waiting for when the two big men dropped the gloves on the first shift and it didn’t last long. McMorrow handled Voth with ease, knocking him down with one punch and raising his arms to the Odyssey crowd to show who the toughest player in the league truly is.

A fight can lift the energy in a game and that is exactly what McMorrow did for his team. With the crowd excited, the Giants took a commanding 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Shane Johnson at 5:07 into the game followed by Craig Peacock at 10:53 and Michael Jacobsen at 16:46. The Giants looked to be cruising into the first intermission with complete control of the game, but with just under a minute remaining, Wes Jarvis pulled one back for the Devils to make it 3-1 after the first.

The momentum shifted to the Devils for the second period as Matt Miller scored to make it 3-2 at 23:55 followed by Brad Voth at 36:02 to tie the game at 3 goals a piece. The momentum was killed less than a minute later when Pat Bateman scored for the Giants to make it 4-3 with less than three minutes remaining in the second period.

Despite a hard fought third period, both goaltenders stood tall until Colin Shields gave the Giants the insurance goal they needed with 8 minutes remaining in the game to seal the victory. The 5-3 win gave Stephen Murphy the first win in the battle of the British Number One goalie spot as he got the win over his counterpart and former Giant turned Devil Stevie Lyle. Murphy stopped 27 of 31 shots where Lyle stopped 25 of 30 shots he faced.

After the game Steve Thornton was happy with the win, but not completely satisfied with the overall team performance.

“We came out flying in the first and looked like we were going to keep it going and bury the Devils early. Instead we made it difficult on ourselves and let them back into the game in the second period. We need to get that winning attitude that makes great teams want to win every game and when they are winning by a goal or two, they want to win by five or six. Still it’s coming together and we looked much stronger up front tonight, which is a big positive.”

GIANTS 5 DEVILS 3
Period Scores: 3-1, 1-2, 1-0
Penalty Mins: Bel 37 – Car 17
Powerplay: Bel 1/5 – Car 3/5
Shots On: Stephen Murphy 31 – Stevie Lyle 30
Referee: Michael Hicks