03 Nov 2024, 16:00 | Regular season | SSE Arena Belfast |
Belfast Giants | 1-0 | Dundee Stars |
Periods: Shots: | 0-0 (15-4) | 0-0 (17-8) | 1-0 (8-16) | Total: 40-28 |
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Referees: Dalton/Lukosevicius  |  Spectators: 5955 |
  |
Goals and assists
Belfast Giants booked their place in the Challenge Cup Semi-Finals
with victory over Dundee Stars, cementing their place at the top of
Group B in front of 5,955 fans at the SSE Arena.
The game started
quickly as Belfast thought they had the lead at 1:12 through JJ
Piccinich. However, the goal was washed out with the net out of
position. An altercation involving Mack Stewart an Kameron Kielly saw
the Stars come out with a two-minute powerplay, but they couldn't break
the deadlock and the period ended without score.
Belfast thought
they'd gone ahead in period two as well, only to see the goal called
back for Elijiah Barriga tipping Cameron Pound's shot with a high stick.
The
game, unusually, entered the third period scoreless. Eventually the
deadlock was broken, and it went the way of the hosts. With 4:28 played
in the third, a rolling puck broke to Ciaran Long who one-timed the puck
through Jarrett Fiske to put the Giants ahead. The Stars pulled Fiske
for the extra skater with 1:52 left but to no avail, and Belfast
celebrated reaching the next stage of the Cup.
"We were really
good. We were short benched so the boys really dug deep. We gave it all
we had and we got the win in the end and that's all you can ask for,"
said Mack Stewart after the game. "It means a lot for the team to have
the chance of winning the first trophy of the year so we'll just build
on that now moving forward."