BELFAST GIANTS 7 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 1
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars were heavily beaten in Belfast last night as the Giants jumped on them from the start and opened up a four-goal lead in the first period.
By Kris Smith
The Stars arrived in Belfast with hopes of arresting their losing run of form but quickly became snowed under by a barrage of goals as former Dundee forward, Elijiah Barriga turned home the opener just 93 seconds into the match and in the seventh minute, Gabe Bast would react fastest to a falling puck and smacked home a second for the Giants.
The home team would then go on the powerplay as Dundonian defender, Kris Inglis was boxed for a tripping foul and that allowed Mark Cooper to tuck home a third as he cut across Richard Sabol’s crease inside eighth minutes but the bleeding did not stop there as another tripping penalty against Cole MacDonald resulted in a second powerplay goal for Adam Keefe’s men.
Pierre-Olivier Morin was next to add his name to the scoresheet as he fired past Sabol and that brought an end to the Slovakian keeper’s night after less than nine minutes of play, as he was replaced by Jarrett Fiske between the pipes.
Marc LeFebvre also called a timeout after Belfast netted their fourth goal to reorganise his side and they would respond by getting off the mark in the 12th minute as Jake Elmer took possession of the puck on the Giants blueline and fired a shot straight between the legs of Jackson Whistle, cutting the lead to 4-1.
Dundee then had an opportunity to claw another goal back as they then had their first man advantage of the night with Belfast’s Bo Hanson boxed for interference but instead it was the Northern Irish side who found the back of the net, as J.J. Piccinich blocked a shot and broke down the ice.
Piccinich was clean through on goal and slotted past Fiske to take extend the lead to 5-1 with a shorthanded goal inside 15 minutes but the Stars would finally stop the bleeding and made it to the first intermission.
Now four goals behind, the Taysiders came out in the second period and found their feet, playing out what would be a steady but scoreless middle session and in the third period as they tried to mount a comeback, Whistle would repel any attacks on the Belfast goal.
Cameron Pound then bagged the killer goal for the Giants as he made it 6-1 from close range in the 48th minute and that then saw tensions began to flare as shortly after the restart, Dundee’s Philippe Sanche almost came to blows with Kyle Osterberg and that saw the pair sent to the sin bin for roughing.
Ben Lake then rounded off the scoring for the evening at 7-1 as he picked out the bottom corner of the Dundee net from the left flank on 56 minutes and that also prompted the Giants into a goaltending change as 37-year-old, Irish goalie Andrew Dickson was subbed in for Whistle and he played out the final four minutes of the game before picking up Belfast’s ‘Man of the Match’ Award.
A dismal night for Dundee can be put behind them as they have only two days to regroup for this weekend’s games away to Coventry Blaze on Saturday, before a visit from Cardiff Devils on Sunday.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #98 Jake Elmer
Belfast: #35 Andrew Dickson
Goals
1st:
1-0 Elijiah Barriga (Bobo Carpenter, Pierre-Olivier Morin) 01:33
2-0 Gabe Bast (Ciaran Long, Kyle Osterberg) 06:15
3-0 Mark Cooper (Elijiah Barriga) 07:56 PPG
4-0 Pierre-Olivier Morin (Bobo Carpenter, Mike Lee) 08:42 PPG
4-1 Jake Elmer (Jonathan McBean, Kyle Pouncy) 11:38
5-1 J.J. Piccinich (Unassisted) 14:30 SHG
2nd:
3rd:
6-1 Cameron Pound (Kyle Osterberg, Mike Lee) 47:29
7-1 Ben Lake (Karl Boudrais) 56:02
All images: William Cherry/Presseye.
