High fives all round as Giants climb off bottom spot in style

THE Belfast Giants produced a five-star performance to haul themselves off the bottom of the Elite League table.

Stuck to the foot of the table after three defeats in their opening four league games, the Giants got back to winning ways in some style with a convincing 5-1 victory over Milton Keynes Lightning — who they leapfrogged — and five goals scored by five different players.

Now the Giants will have to do it all over again against the same opponents tonight in order to make sure they don’t make a swift return to bottom spot.

Francis Beauvillier gave Adam Keefe’s men a first-period lead and even though Georgs Golovkovs levelled early in the second period, Kyle Baun ( right ) put the Giants back in front.

It was in the third period that the Giants really put their foot on the gas, as Jonathan Boxill, Patrick Dwyer and Blair Riley put the gloss on a performance that will have encouraged Keefe after recent below-par displays.

The Giants had tested Lightning goaltender Patrick Killeen a few times and also hit a post on a powerplay before they finally broke the deadlock four minutes before the end of the first period.

Riley found Paul Swindlehurst and his pass was straight to the stick of Beauvillier, who let rip.

The Giants had a couple more efforts saved by Killeen before a near miss in front of their own goal as Lightning pushed for an equaliser.

The leveller came at 24:43, a couple of minutes after the Gi- ants had successfully killed their first penalty of the game.

Eric Neiley gave the puck to Golovkovs and his shot through a crowd of bodies was past Giants goaltender Tyler Beskorowany before he even realised it.

Neiley’s next involvement was in a fight with Giants’ Guillaume Gelinas three minutes later after he took exception to some interference by Mark Garside. Gelinas got the better of his opponent before both headed off to the box.

When order was restored, Andreas Valdix went close for Lightning before Killeen saved his team again when the Giants almost hit on the break.

A bad line change saw Lightning hit with a penalty for having too many men on the ice and they were made to pay for that sloppiness when the Giants regained the lead at 36:32.

As a scramble broke out in front of the Lightning net, the puck found its way out to Baun and he sent it flying into the net.

The Giants took control of the game five minutes into the third period with three goals in just over as many minutes. Killeen did his job in making a big save from Colin Shields, but Boxill was on hand to send home the rebound at 45:36.

A penalty against Valdix seconds later put the Giants on a powerplay and after it became a five-on-three Dwyer made it 4-1 to the Giants at 47:29 after being set up by Dustin Johner.

It was almost 5-1 a minute later when Killeen was saved by his crossbar, but the Giants didn’t have long to wait for a nap hand, while Clay Anderson was still sitting out his penalty.

It was the experienced duo of David Rutherford and Riley who did the damage, the former supplying the latter to finish.

WALKING down those steps, walking into the foyer, you felt that sense of pride in where you’re from,” remembers Allen Clarke of the scene in the team’s Dublin hotel ahead of the 1999 European Cup final against Colomiers.

“There was definitely a tear in the eye. You could taste the atmosphere. Where we’re from, what Ulster, what Northern Ireland and what Ireland had been going through, you recognised there was an expectation for something special to happen.

“It didn’t feel like a weight on the shoulders, it was like an energy in the body. It made me feel as if I could have run all day. In my head, we were never going to lose that game.”

The last voice the players would hear before they left the changing room for the field that day belonged to reserve flanker Stuart Duncan.

“If we win today, for the rest of our lives we’ll be blood brothers,” he told them. “Nobody can do it for us. We are the 22 players who can go out there and create history. When we meet up in years to come, we’ll sit down and laugh and joke and remember this day as the one when we won the European Cup. Go out there and become a legend.”

Plenty of fans were still milling about outside the stadium or in the concourses when the warm-ups began, even if there were already more than enough to make Colomiers aware that they weren’t in friendly surroundings.

David Humphreys led his players around the touchline in what was to be one of their last acts before the biggest game in most of their lives. Like two cars in a game of chicken, it soon became clear that the teams were on a collision course.

As Ulster circled around, Colomiers were running through some last-minute setpiece practice. Something, or someone, had to give. As Ulster neared, Marc dal Maso stepped back as if he were preparing to throw into an imaginary lineout. A collision with Duncan knocked him sideways.

When the Frenchman turned to find the culprit, he homed in on the wholly innocent Stanley McDowell.

“Maybe I brushed him a bit on the way past,” says Duncan, his diplomatic delivery failing to mask the mischievous glint in his eye.

“It was the maddest warmup,” says Andy Ward. “I just remember thinking that we