The Stena Line Belfast Giants begin their Continental Cup Semi-Final group on Friday afternoon in Angers, France when they take on Neman Grodno from Belarus at 4pm local time, 3pm GMT. Friday night sees the hosts team, the Angers Ducs, clash with KH Sanok from Poland to complete the opening day’s action.
Friday morning saw some of the team take to the ice for a quick optional skate, led by Steve Thornton who is expecting his team to be well tested on Friday afternoon by Grodno, “They will be skilled, they’ll play with four lines, move the puck well, have a good powerplay and we’ll need to play smart. If we turn pucks over to them then we’ll be in trouble when they come at us.”
@love_belfast @BelfastPubs HK Neman Grodno Vs Giants Live updates during the games pic.twitter.com/ikoYc8kYJ7
— Rockies Belfast (@rockiesbelfast) November 21, 2014
The ice surface in Angers is smaller than what the Giants would be used to at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast – however Thornton isn’t using that as an excuse leading into Friday’s game, “I think that if you give anyone time and space on any ice surface they they’ll punish you. We’re quite a big team, though we’ll be rolling three lines and they’ll have four. It’ll come down to work ethic, special teams and goaltending.”
The top two teams from Group E will advance to the Continental Cup Super Final, hosted on 9th-11th January 2015 in a venue still to be determined and the Giants Head of Hockey Operations is remaining positive ahead of three games in three days for the Elite League champions, “I’m confident, we were confident from day one and we are one step closer to achieving our goal of competing in the super final.”
Friday afternoon’s game against Neman Grodno will face-off at 4pm local time, 3pm GMT. There is no live coverage of the game, however there will be LIVE updates on both the Giants Facebook and Twitter channels.
TWO Hours until the Giants face-off vs Neman Grodno in Angers, France! Full match preview with Steve Thornton online: http://t.co/NsUfoqSPVv
— Belfast Giants (@BelfastGiants) November 21, 2014
With face-off only hours away -Steve Thornton talks to @bbcsportni ahead of the Giants first Semi-Final Group game: http://t.co/ee9szzuvgl
— Belfast Giants (@BelfastGiants) November 21, 2014
HEAR from Colin Shields and Robby Sandrock ahead of today's Continental Cup game in Angers, France! http://t.co/7KZu0ew7c8
— Belfast Giants (@BelfastGiants) November 21, 2014
Year 1505. Wall #angers http://t.co/gJ250JlZA9
— Rockies Belfast (@rockiesbelfast) November 21, 2014
Angers town side street #angers #france http://t.co/S34BQYfsBz
— Rockies Belfast (@rockiesbelfast) November 21, 2014
@love_belfast @villeangers @BelfastGiants Many thanks to David Deshaies @les Ducs D angers Manager. pic.twitter.com/aang381DRO
— Rockies Belfast (@rockiesbelfast) November 21, 2014
The times for the games this weekend (our time)
Friday 3pm
Saturday 7pm
Sunday 2.30pm
At this moment in time there will only be one game available to watch both at home and in laverys and that is Saturday night game. The giants TV people have been working hard to show all three games but at this point in time they can only show Saturdays game.
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