Giants into Cup Semi-Finals Finals with one-goal win

Photo: William Cherry

Belfast Giants booked their place in the Challenge Cup Semi-Finals with victory over Dundee Stars, cementing their place at the top of Group B in front of 5,955 fans at the SSE Arena.

The game started quickly as Belfast thought they had the lead at 1:12 through JJ Piccinich. However, the goal was washed out with the net out of position. An altercation involving Mack Stewart an Kameron Kielly saw the Stars come out with a two-minute powerplay, but they couldn't break the deadlock and the period ended without score.

Belfast thought they'd gone ahead in period two as well, only to see the goal called back for Elijiah Barriga tipping Cameron Pound's shot with a high stick.

The game, unusually, entered the third period scoreless. Eventually the deadlock was broken, and it went the way of the hosts. With 4:28 played in the third, a rolling puck broke to Ciaran Long who one-timed the puck through Jarrett Fiske to put the Giants ahead. The Stars pulled Fiske for the extra skater with 1:52 left but to no avail, and Belfast celebrated reaching the next stage of the Cup.

"We were really good. We were short benched so the boys really dug deep. We gave it all we had and we got the win in the end and that's all you can ask for," said Mack Stewart after the game. "It means a lot for the team to have the chance of winning the first trophy of the year so we'll just build on that now moving forward."