Captain Mark Cooper led by example as his hat-trick helped the Stena Line Belfast Giants pick up the two points in their opening Elite League game of the season as they cruised to a 7-3 win over the Manchester Storm at Planet Ice Altrincham.
The winger made his a treble to go with goals from Scott Conway, Bobo Carpenter, Mike Lee and Elijiah Barriga as Adam Keefe’s men began their League campaign in perfect fashion ahead of a meeting with the Sheffield Steelers on Sunday.
First period
The Giants got off to a rapid start as they went ahead just 1:45 into the game as J.J. Piccinich set up Conway for the finish on the doorstep (0-1) and then Cooper doubled the lead at 4:51 on the powerplay, C.J. Garcia taking an interference call and the captain poking in the rebound at the crease (0-2).
The lead then became three at 7:45 as Jordan Kawaguchi set Carpenter into the zone and the centre picked the top corner from the left circle (0-3), before the goal scorer was called for checking to the head, giving the Storm their first powerplay and Gabe Bast being thrown out of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct, with the Giants unable to connect on a hooking minor against Alexis D’Aoust after the killed off Carpenter’s penalty.
It was the Storm who finished the period off the stronger and after Tyler Hinam nearly wrapped the puck into the net, a cross-checking call on Jeff Baum put the home side on the powerplay from which they got their opening goal as Alex Robert set up D’Aoust for the left circle finish at 19:29 (1-3).
Second period
It was another quick start to the period but this time from both teams, the Giants restoring their three-goal lead at 22:25 when Lee got his first goal for the club, firing home off the crossbar almost directly from a face-off (1-4) but that advantage lasted just 13 seconds as Jake Durflinger tipped in Zach Sullivan’s shot at 22:38 (2-4).
Aside from those two goals, it was a period that was played at a lightning pace but featured few clear-cut scoring chances, with the two that did come falling on the backhand to Ben Lake at one end and Ryan Hughes at the other, but Evan Weninger and Jackson Whistle were equal to them respectively.
The period would end with a pair of penalties, the Giants having to kill off a short penalty on Piccinich that was ended when D’Aoust also headed to the box, both for slashing.
Third period
Once more a quick start to the period saw the Giants pull away as they grabbed two quick goals after the restart, some tic-tac-toe hockey seeing Piccinich and Conway combine to give Barriga his goal from in front at 41:25 (2-5), then Cooper doubled his personal tally when he led the rush up the ice and sniped home from the left circle at 43:20 (2-6).
Whistle continued a strong performance in nets as he denied Gianluca Esteves in a one-on-one and then Ciaran Long’s dished pass was just put wide by Barriga before the Giants failed to score on an Ehrhardt slashing call, but the Storm did make it a three-goal game again at 52:10 when Owen Griffiths managed to find the back of the net (3-6).
But Belfast would finish with a flourish and, although they couldn’t score on a Ryan Hughes roughing penalty despite Ehrhardt clearing a chance off the line, when Cameron Pound was called for tripping it allowed Cooper to wrap up his hat-trick shorthanded as he fired into the empty net with Weninger pulled for the extra skater with 1:49 remaining (3-7).
Next up
Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants take on the Cardiff Devils at their home of the SSE Arena on Saturday October 5. Tickets available here.
