The Stena Line Belfast Giants made it two wins from two to start their pre-season campaign as Joe Cassetti’s double helped Adam Keefe’s men to a 4-1 win over the Great Britain national team at the Vindico Arena in Cardiff.
Winger Cassetti both opened and closed the scoring in Wales, with Mark Cooper and Pierre-Olivier Morin striking in between, as the Giants backed up Saturday’s victory over the Cardiff Devils with another strong performance.
First period
A quick start for GB saw Mark Richardson flash an early shot wide from a great position, while the Giants saw their first effort fall to J.J. Piccinich but his sharp angle shot was batted away by the shoulder of Ben Bowns.
The middle third of the opening period belonged to the Giants and they did just about everything except score. Bowns once again saved when Morin set up Jordan Kawaguchi on a two-on-one breakaway, with a hooking penalty on Robert Dowd giving chances to Cassetti and Gabe Bast that couldn’t be put away.
Both sides had chances towards the end of the period, though, Cooper having two breakaways blanked by Bowns, while Johnny Curran hit the post on a breakaway of his own and a delay of game penalty on Bast put the hosts on a powerplay.
Second period
Belfast perhaps should have fallen behind on the holdover of Bast’s penalty as Dowd fed Brett Perlini but the GB star missed the gaping net, and instead, the visitors pulled ahead on their powerplay as Perlini sat for tripping and Piccinich fed Cassetti for the one-time finish (0-1).
Once again, the Giants would dominate the middle section of the second period and Ciaran Long couldn’t connect with Carter Hamill on an odd-man rush before Piccinich nearly grabbed another assist when he picked out Bast, but the defenceman’s shot was well saved by a resolute Bowns.
The Giants would double their lead before the second intermission as Mack Stewart continued his excellent pre-season by driving towards net and although his initial shot was saved, Cooper was following in to deposit the rebound at 31:19 (0-2).
Third period
An early tripping call on Ben Lake – playing for GB – put the Giants back on the powerplay but this time they couldn’t connect, and they were thankful that Jackson Whistle came up with a key save on Perlini when Morin was boxed for boarding.
The centre then made up for his penalty with the Giants’ third goal at 54:16 as Kawaguchi and Bobo Carpenter set up the centre, who wrapped around in front and beat Bowns in close (0-3).
Whistle continued his strong night with two stops on Robert Lachowicz and Ben O’Connor, but his shutout would be ended with 2:52 left as Joshua Waller finally got the national side a consolation goal, sniping home from the slot (1-3), only for Cassetti to add a fourth with 50 seconds remaining as a lucky bounce handed him an empty net tap-in (1-4).
Next up, the Stena Line Belfast Giants complete their pre-season schedule with a Canadian college double-header at The SSE Arena, Belfast next weekend, facing the Carleton University Ravens on Friday 30 August and the University of Alberta Golden Bears on Sunday 1 September, with the two colleges going head-to-head in the day between.
Tickets are on sale now and available to purchase here.
