Sport

Belfast Giants hoping back-to-back wins can be turning point for their eason

Belfast Giants play ice hockey against Manchester Storm in the SSE Arena
Belfast Giants’ Ara Nazarian celebrates scoring against the Manchester Storm during Saturday night’s EIHL game at the SSE Arena, Belfast Picture: William Cherry/Presseye

Could back-to-back wins for Giants be a turning point in the season?

What a difference a weekend has made for the Belfast Giants.

Two hard-fought wins over Manchester Storm in the weekend double-header in Belfast has changed the complexion of the Elite league and will give Adam Keefe’s men a much-needed confidence boost.

A tight 2-1 win on Friday night and a shootout win on Saturday may not have been the comprehensive victories they wanted, but the results provide some indication that the Giants may be set to continue on an upward trajectory.

The Giants have surged up the table and now sit in third place behind Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils albeit having played more games.

On Friday night, a crowd of over 6,200 saw the Giants edge past the Storm at the SSE Arena, with Charlie Curti scoring the winner for his side in the third period.

The hosts got off to a slow start and, despite having some chances, could not capitalise on their powerplay in the early exchanges.

With not much to separate the teams, the visitors looked marginally the more likely to score and the Giants were lucky to escape when a goal from the Storm was ruled out on review by the referee.It was a matter of time however, before Storm struck on the powerplay through Stephen Johnson who tapped in past Giant’s goalie Tyler Beskorowany who had been dragged out of position.

Adam Keefe’s side sparked into action and hit back in the dying moments of the second period, with Bobby MacIntyre scoring his first goal for the Giants to draw the sides level.

Belfast Giants’ Ara Nazarian scoring against the Manchester Storm during Saturday night’s EIHL game at the SSE Arena, Belfast. Picture: William Cherry/Presseye

With the game on a knife-edge going into the third period, it took ten minutes for the Giants to find a breakthrough, which they eventually did through Charlie Curti who rifled a shot into the top corner.

The Giants did well to grind out the last ten minutes and, although it was far from a perfect performance, head-coach Adam Keefe was happy to leave with two points and get ready to go again less than 24 hours later, same time, same place.

On Saturday, some of the same problems persisted but once again the Giants got the better of the Storm, this time in a penalty shootout.

The hosts got off to a perfect start, with Daniel Tedesco tapping in Mark Cooper’s assist at the back post.

The back and forth continued, with the goalies both pulling off impressive saves at either end.

However, the Giants could only hold on for so long before the Storm hit back through Tyler Hinman who was able to place a deflected shot into the top corner to level the game.

A dramatic third period followed, with the Storm’s Matt Murphy finishing over the shoulder of Beskorowany to take a brief lead, but the Giants responded almost immediately with Ara Nazarian poking one in at the other end to force the game into overtime.

With nothing to separate the sides at the end of overtime, Ben Lake and Matt McLeod scored in the shootout and Tyler Beskorowany shut the door as the Giants sealed the win and with it a four-point weekend.

Belfast Giants assistant coach George Awada praise his side’s resilience after the game on Saturday: “It was a battle the whole weekend and we knew it would be because last time we played Manchester they played very hard after we beat them in the first game.

“Credit to them they never quit which was good for us because it’s useful to come out on the other side of a battle like that.

“We dipped a bit in that game… but it was a good finish and Besko (Beskorowany) kept us in it throughout the game and was awesome in the shootout.”

All in all, a pleasing weekend for the Giants in terms of the results, but the problem with scoring goals persists.

Four goals were enough to win both games on this occasion along with a solid defence underpinned by Beskorowany.

There is still a lot to improve but there is a sense of cautious optimism as the men in teal take tentative steps in the right direction.

History may repeat itself, with the Giants having experienced a similar downturn in form and subsequent resurgence last season, before going on to achieve a historic treble. Could this be the weekend they look back on as the turning point?

Next up for the Giants is the second leg of the Challenge Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night against Coventry Blaze at the SSE Arena with the score tied at 1-1 after the first leg.