Posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
It is hard to catch Giants Head Coach Steve Thornton smiling during the game, but after the 8-2 win on Friday night, he was grinning from ear to ear. “It feels good to get back into first place, but we know that we need a win on Saturday Night to stay there. I was very pleased with the overall team performance tonight, guys stepped up when we needed them to and even though we were a little short staffed, we played solid at both ends of the ice.”
When asked about the play of hat-trick hero Jeffrey Szwez, Thornton insisted that he was the biggest force in the league right now.
“I think Szwez was dominant tonight, and if he wants to be that player every night he can be. He has two great players to play with on his line in Shields and Benedict, and he is a big strong guy that just overpowers players in the corners and in front of the net. He was fun to watch on Friday and I think he is getting better as the season goes on.”
Thornton also tipped his hat to the play of some if his guys that won’t be in the headlines come Monday morning.
“The story of the night is Szwez and his hat trick, but we had alot of energy back in the line up with Mark Morrison coming back from injury. I also thought that Kevin Phillips had his best game of the season, and even scored a really nice goal. Graeme Walton is up front playing forward but looking more and more comfortable every game. He played very well, set up some nice scoring chances and threw some big hits. Those kinds of things are the little areas that set the flow of the game, and we had it from alot of guys tonight.”
Looking forward to Saturday Night, Thornton knows that the Vipers will be ready for the Giants.
“The Vipers are sneaky good. They have one of the best goalies in the league and they can definitely put the puck in the net. We need to concentrate on taking advantage of the chances we get and make sure that we stay out of the penalty box on Saturday. The Vipers come hard every shift, it is like they just keep crashing in on you all over the ice, they have great work ethic, but if we bring our best game and our great players step up and play the way they can, we can win this one and remain in top spot.
The Giants are currently one point ahead of the Coventry Blaze with the Blaze playing back to back games against the Nottingham Panthers this weekend.
“First place in this league changes nearly every weekend. No team is running away with the title this year, which is great for the fans and for the league as a whole. I would expect the league to be won on the last weekend of the season, which is why every point counts and it is games now that you do not want to let slip away because one or two points might be the difference in winning a title or being one of the also rans. We want the league this year and this team is capable of winning it. We just need to stay focused every game on the prize at the end of the season.”
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