Giants Outshine Stars to Progress in Challenge Cup

First Period

The game opened with chances for the visitors. First through captain Drydn Dow who forced a blocker save from Jackson Whistle before Benjamin Almquist was thwarted on the breakaway. However, in doing so, he was hooked from behind by a backtracking Gabe Bast and was awarded a penalty shot. The Minnesota native took the shot and was denied by Whistle.

This seemed to jolt the hosts into life and, after David Goodwin and Bo Hanson were denied by Emil Kruse, Jordan Kawaguchi got the better of the Stars goalie as he slid home at the back post after an inch-perfect pass from Mike Lee (1-0)

That got the crowd into proceedings and got the Giants’ tails up. After Bast was stopped straight in front, Lee went from provider to scorer with a rasping drive from the blue line to double the hosts’ lead on the powerplay (2-0)

The visitors did not simply roll over and came back into proceedings. After Matt Berry almost finished a wonderful solo effort and Dow was denied off the face off, Almquist got his goal albeit in fortuitous fashion. His effort ricocheted off a Giants skate to make it a one goal advantage for the hosts at the first intermission (2-1).

Second Period

The second period started with a bang for Adam Keefe’s men as they re-established their two goal lead and it was that man Kawaguchi again. He was digging hard at the net and, after Jake Gaudet’s shot was saved, he forced the puck home. (3-1)

Belfast kept plugging away but Kruse did well to deny Scott Conway, Ben Lake and Patrick Grasso in quick succession. Dundee then killed a penalty served by Griffin Luce for roughing with Bast again trying his best to get on the scoresheet.

Having ridden out that pressure, the Stars then had dangerous efforts of their own with Spencer Naas firing a warning shot before reducing the deficit to one again as he squeezed home from in front of the net after the puck squirted loose. The goal was confirmed by a video review and Marc LeFebvre’s men were right on the Giants’ coat tails as we entered the third. (3-2)

Third Period

The hosts were coming out of the traps quickly all night and the buzzer had barely sounded to begin the third when Kawaguchi struck again for his hat-trick just 18 seconds into the period. (4-2). That appeared to take some of the wind out of Dundee’s sails but, as they had done all evening, they continued to plug away and Berry ripped a shot over the bar before Marcus Eriksson came close to a fifth at the other end.

Whistle had to stay on his guard and denied Kameron Kielly twice in quick succession before Kruse vacated his net with two minutes left on the clock for the extra skater. That paid almost immediate dividends as Naas got his second and Dundee’s third (4-3).

This looked to be setting up a tense finish but with the Stars goalie staying on the bench as they hunted a leveller, Gaudet hammered home a long-range empty netter to seal the win and secure the Giants place in the Challenge Cup semi-finals. (5-3)

Up Next

This was game one of a four-game home stand with a double-header against Manchester Storm coming up next Friday and Saturday (14^th and 15^th). You can grab tickets for those games here.