Giants vow to show fighting spirit
YOU tend to get the measure of a team after defeats rather than wins, and it was a defiant Belfast Giants side that emerged from the Home Credit Arena on Thursday night.
Having just been hit for six in a 6-1 Champions League humbling by Czech aces Bili Tygri Liberec, the Giants responded with resilience in their comments after the game.
Understandably, the focus had already shifted to tomorrow’s game against Augsburger Panther at the Curt-Frenzel-Stadion (4pm UK time) and, as such, the phrase ‘bounce back’ was prevalent in the post-game chatter.
“In the Champions League you’ve got to have a short memory,” said forward Liam Morgan.
“You can’t get too high or too low on the ups and downs and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to go in on Sunday and be ready for that game.”
Head coach Adam Keefe added: “We’ve got to let that go now. That game’s over, we didn’t get any points. We talked about getting some points from this road trip, so let’s go do that.”
The Giants will spend most of today in Liberec, practicing before travelling to Augsburg tonight for tomorrow’s game.
Having fallen to third in Group C, if the Giants are to keep their hopes of reaching the European knockouts alive, they need a result in Augsburg against a team that cruelly defeated them in overtime in last Saturday’s game at the SSE Arena.
But the Giants are now in a situation they haven’t been in before, and this is where the newlook roster will have to show a fresh side to their game.
So far, they’ve been able to ride the momentum of an excellent pre-season and two strong home results in the CHL. Now they have to prove they can respond to adversity in Augsburg.
“We’re going to learn how we are as a bounce back team. That’s our worst effort as a team so far, so going into Augsburg we’re going to see what we’re made of,” said centre Ben Lake.
“We have a group of guys in here who are up to the challenge. We’ll prove what we’re made of.” LEWIS Hamilton is braced for a hostile reception when he goes in search of a record sixth triumph at Ferrari’s home but the world champion has revealed the Italian supporters, who are likely to boo him, have pleaded that he joins their team.
Sitting in his Mercedes cockpit yesterday, Hamilton will have observed the solitary “Team LH” Union Jack which sat among the swathes of Ferrari flags adorning the pit straight as the carnival atmosphere builds ahead of tomorrow’s race.
British novices Lando Norris and George Russell will have been stunned by the manic, borindividual dering on farcical, greeting they received upon leaving the paddock on Thursday night. The former, who is yet to score a single point in Formula One, was mobbed like a rock star. He required three security guards to keep the selfie brigade at bay.
Yet, the fanatical Tifosi have been starved of success in recent times. Kimi Raikkonen was the last driver dressed in red to win a world championship, a dozen years ago. A Ferrari car has not won at Monza since 2010.
And while Charles Leclerc finally ended Ferrari’s winless run in Belgium last weekend, Sebastian Vettel, the man paid £36million each year to end their title drought, has not stood on the top step of a podium in more than a year.
In contrast, the all-conquering Hamilton is this year poised to close out his sixth world championship, moving to within one of Ferrari hero Michael Schumacher. He will usurp Schumacher as the Master of Monza with another triumph tomorrow after going behind enemy lines to win in four of his last five appearances at the Cathedral of Speed.
“I am lucky because I have a very good Italian following,” said Hamilton, 65 points clear of Valtteri Bottas in the championship standings.
“When I arrive at this race, a lot of Ferrari fans have asked me to go to Ferrari. I wasn’t expecting that.”
The 34-year-old Briton has one more year to run on his £40m-a-season Mercedes deal.