Giant thriller

3:17pm Tuesday 1st April 2008

• Listen to Podcast

Elite League Play-Off Quarter Final
Saturday, March 29, 2008: Belfast Giants 3-5 Mobilx Newcastle Vipers
Sunday, March 30, 2008: Mobilx Newcastle Vipers 1-3 Belfast Giants Aggregate score: 6-6 (Vipers win 7-6 after penalty shots)

VIPERS won their way through to a Play-Off semi-final against Coventry Blaze at 1pm on Saturday with a hard-fought win over the Belfast Giants - but it took penalty shots to separate the sides.

After travelling to Dundalk for the first leg on Saturday, the Vipers held a 5-3 advantage returning to home ice on Sunday for a match which would not only see one side progress to finals weekend in Nottingham, but also the end of the career of either Belfast player-coach Ed Courteney or of Vipers stalwart Shaun Johnson.

But after seeing the Giants come back, strikes by Vipers captain David Long staff a defensive lynchpin Ben Storey secured the trip and a potential two more professional games for Johnson.

Belfast went into this tie having won nine of the last 10 meetings between these two teams on Irish soil. As for Newcastle, they picked up a win after four straight losses on the road last week away to league champions Coventry. In the end it was Newcastle who came out on top after opening up a three goal first period lead.

Having just killed off a penalty the Vipers opened the scoring as Storey was on hand to dispatch the puck past Stevie Lyle at 4.35. At 6.04 Carlyle Lewis of the Giants and Andre Payette of the Vipers got involved with each other in an altercation that saw both receiving minor penalties plus five minutes for fighting. This disruption in the play didn't stop Vipers going two in front with a second goal from Storey at 7.48.

The visitors increased their lead with a goal from Johnson at 15.42 to give them a three goal lead going into the second period.

The second period saw Giants out shoot the Vipers as they tried to get back into the game. But in the end both teams scored a goal apiece with Giants getting theirs 14 seconds from the end of the period. Colin Shields put the Vipers further in front with a goal at 28.26 and Peter Campbell got the home side on the board at 39.46. So after forty minutes of hockey the Vipers still held a three goal lead.

This was reduced to a two goal game early in the third as Shaun Sutter netted at 43.08 to give the home side some hope with most of the period remaining.

But at 45.12 Carlyle Lewis was binned for charging and within 17 seconds the Vipers had restored their three goal lead as Jeff Hutchins scored on the powerplay. The Giants top goal scorer Campbell got a second goal at 50.45. Try as they might they could not cut the deficit any further and the Vipers led by two going into Sunday night.

In a first period on Tyneside, the Vipers went one behind on the night, seeing their lead cut to a single goal, but also survived some scares and left the ice feeling very hard done to - and a key man down.

Inside the opening minute, a Roman Gavalier speculative shot from long range somehow crept behind Ryan MacDonald, almost undoing the good he had done with 46 saves the previous night.

A series of penalties were exchanged and the Vipers looked strong with the extra man, but failed to capitalise, Storey coming closest with a shot deflected wide.

But as the Vipers found themselves worst off from a triple penalty call from referee Nigel Boniface, Belfast's Campbell struck to fire home a Courteney pass from behind the net at 12.33.

Before the break, seconds after a blatant Trevor Johnson foul put Todd Jackson on the floor and went unpenalised, Derek Campbell was booted from the game on a charge list as long as your arm, Boniface the judge, jury and witness for the prosecution.

Despite this, a short-handed Vipers side could have been level by the break, but Burt Henderson was unfortunate to only turn a Jackson centre past the post.

Mark Dutiaume nearly levelled the aggregate when he hit the post early in the second, and then the Vipers came equally close when Jackson lifted the puck over Lyle, only to see it come to rest before crossing the line.

The Vipers did light the lamp on 27.04 and it was a final farewell to Newcastle for Shaun Johnson, playing his final game on Tyneside for the Vipers, his back-stick effort taking a deflection off a defensive skate and finding the roof of the net.

Belfast's Scott Cameron and David Longstaff both came close before the end of the middle period, but the scores were left with the Vipers holding a two-goal advantage at the start of the third - as it had been as the first puck of the night was dropped.

The opening goal of the final frame was a vital one, bringing Belfast to within a goal of Newcastle. But it was as controversial as it was key to the Giants' resurgence.

Carlyle Lewis deliberately knocked Henderson's stick from his grasp and across the ice, leaving the Viper to defend the Belfast attack empty-handed and he was found lacking as Sutter netted his second of the weekend to make it 2-1 Belfast on the night and 6-5 Vipers on aggregate.

Matters were made worse as Belfast levelled the overall tally at 6-6 with less than four minutes on the clock. This time, the man left red faced was MacDonald, who, instead of trying to hold Sutter's shot, chested it into the path of Cameron, who swatted the puck between goalie and post to leave the home crowd stunned.

Five minutes of four-on-four sudden death followed, but nothing could separate the sides, MacDonald making the most notable stop with his foot 12 seconds from the end.

So, penalty shots were required - a scenario with which the Vipers fans - who had been immense throughout the evening - are most familiar.

First blood went to the Vipers as MacDonald saved a Peter Campbell effort which was straight at him. Capitalising was Longstaff who took a touch to the side before firing past Lyle.

Belfast made no mistake with their second, Cameron rounding MacDonald, but likewise Storey was equally clinical.

When Ed Courteney's final action in British hockey was to fire straight at MacDonald - presumably aiming for the five hole, it was all over and the Vipers had booked their place in Nottingham.

With the Vipers and Coventry each having 100 per cent records on the other's ice this season, it seems a neutral venue will see one take the ultimate victory, a place in the play-off final on Sunday.

Editor's Choice