Tuesday Thoughts: Cup Fever!

"There's no tomorrow, just today
Together we will follow, fly away
Never mind tomorrow, just today...
(leave it all behind)
Let's go for a ride..."
Shiny Toy Guns: "Rocketship"

It's time to give the Challenge Cup the attention it deserves, as it kicks off a week where only Friday will see a lack of EIHL action between now and next Monday. Manchester travel to Belfast with a four-three lead from the first leg, as you may remember from last Tuesday's post or the excellent match reports on the Manchester-based blogs. With the cup having to be won tomorrow night and raising the prospect of overtime and even penalties, it's got to be worth (even if you're a neutral) nipping on to the Giants Webcast site to see if they're broadcasting it from Dundonald...you can find all the info you need on there...

Meanwhile, while you're waiting for the game to start, here's all the info you need about the game itself...in a specially extended edition of the One Minute Preview...

Belfast Giants

GAMEPLAN
As has been the case all season, and is even more so with the Giants needing to win in regulation even to take the game into overtime, the Giants will be relying heavily on their forwards to take the game to Manchester early. With Stevie Lyle sometimes being a little shaky they can't rely on two quick goals followed by a rearguard action, particularly with Manchester's prolific forwards, so the instruction to the likes of Colin Shields and Paul Deniset will be "full-steam ahead into the zone, and get shots off as often as possible". With Jason Rushton taking care of any necessary rough-stuff and Malcolm MacMillan also fond of throwing a jab or two where the need arises, the Giants are a team who are far more comfortable when playing a fast, open game, and they'll be looking to charge forward every chance they get...no neutral-zone trapping here...

THREE STARS:

1. Paul Deniset (centre): Everyone knows about the 6'2, 170lb Manitoban by now, and everyone knows that as soon as the puck crosses the opposition blue-line, he becomes more threatening than an angry Rottweiler pointing a machine gun at your head. The true genius in Deniset's style of play is that everyone in the rink knows exactly what he's going to try to do (get himself a yard of space in the slot using his speed, and fire a quick and lethally-accurate shot home), but he's so good at what he does (37 goals this season say so, along with 46 assists) that at times, you still can't stop him doing it...Belfast will be hoping tonight is one of those times...

2. Bobby Robins (right wing): Where Deniset and Colin Shields are the razor-sharp rapiers in the Giants' armoury, Robins, for all his not-inconsiderable skill himself, is more like the battering-ram. He's become one of the most-feared power-forwards in the league despite having his season shortened by niggling injuries, and a return of 26 goals and 33 assists (behind only Deniset, Shields and Evan Cheverie in Giants scoring) means that his crash-and-bang style of play should be taken very seriously indeed-this bloke is so much more than just a blunt instrument-he's the one who makes the yard of space for Deniset and friends to get their shots off. When he's not powering through checks or defenders in front of the net to deflect shots home or pounce on rebounds himself, that is. He may be fairly big already at 6'1 and 220lbs, but when he's on his game, there are times when he looms twice as large in the minds of oppostion fans and players...

3. Mike Burgoyne (defence): Of course, as "Shark" Lavay said in "Any Given Sunday" after slicing an offensive players' car in half with a chainsaw just to make a point..."In football, you have the offense and the defense. You can't have one without the other. Respect will be paid."
Hockey is just the same, and in Burgoyne, standing 6'2 and 200lbs and with 16 goals and 38 assists already this season, there are few defencemen in the EIHL more worthy of being paid such respect. His willingness to jump into the play, his speed and fast hands mean that, along with Rod Sarich and Jon Weaver he is one of the premier offensive d-men in the league and often is the silent partner who allows Deniset and friends to put up the numbers, firing in big shots from the point as easily as supplying a defence-splitting pass. However, with David Beauregard (more on him shortly) facing him, we may see more of his defensive abilities required. That, too, is something at which the big Ontarian is also pretty handy when he needs to be...

And now, for their opponents:

Manchester Phoenix

GAMEPLAN
The Phoenix come into this game in the stronger position, carrying a one-goal lead from the first leg last Sunday in Altrincham. This was a lead earned by a first two periods praised by many as the best ever seen from a Phoenix team, in which they jumped to a 4-0 lead after 31 minutes before being pegged back in the third. Those at the game noted the speed and physicality with which the Phoenix played the game, harrying the Giants relentlessly and hitting everything that moved.
This is the way they need to play tonight. If the Giants are allowed time to set up and given enough time to pick a pass, they will happily zi[ through you all night. However, with the big and ugly Phoenix Bash Brothers (Kyle Bruce and Brett Clouthier) in their faces, they can be knocked off their game (and their skates on some occasions)-which then gives the skill players chance to play Belfast at their own game...a game which they can, and have, won once already...

THREE STARS

1. Tony Hand (centre): The greatest British player ever is seemingly ageless, even at forty-one. He has ability that would shame many import centres, the eyes of a hawk and hands which are as creative as any artist or sculptor. With the kind of passing ability that can land a puck on a penny from the other side of the ice if you so desire, and no mean ability to score himself, he and his sniper partner David "Bullseye" Beauregard are possibly the most feared forward combination in the league. A combined total of 75 goals (56 for Beauregard alone) and 184 points should tell you why.

2. Lucas Burnett (wing): If you've seen Manchester at all this season, dear reader, you'll already know about the Production Line of Beauregard, Hand and Luke Fulghum or the talismanic power of Brett Clouthier, but the contribution of Burnett, the 6'1, 224lb British Columbian, may have passed you by, lost in the razzmatazz of flying fists and huge numbers. This is very unfair on the Rossland, BC native. Joining the Phoenix as an unheralded replacement for Grant Jacobsen, and with relatively little expected of him, he's become a huge part of one of the most prolific third lines in the league alongside Adam Walker and Clouthier. 14+24 in 49 games are numbers that many second-line power forwards would be pleased with, and are better than both his linemates. But what Burnett also brings is something of a physical edge-along with Kyle Bruce and Clouthier he provides the steel fist of the Phoenix attack-his goals will rarely be as pretty as, say, a Mulherin but they'll be the kind of grubby, messy goals that win games. Especially cup finals.

3. Josh Garbutt (defence): Captain Kenton Smith is the blue-eyed boy of Manchester's defence (and with good reason-he's central to everything the Phoenix do and, dare I say it, reminds me somewhat of Neal Martin) but, as with Beauregard, you already knew of him, dear reader. Alex Dunn provides the terrier of the Phoenix defence, going about his job with much sound and fury and providing the perfect complement of sandpaper to Smith's almost otherworldly smoothness. But there has been much fanfare around the both of them, and sometimes, it's the quiet ones who are the ones you really have to watch.
Enter Josh Garbutt. The 5'10, 205lbs Albertan native has impressed me immensely every time I've seen him in action-he goes about his job with almost superhuman focus, eschewing the flashy passes, end-to-end rushes and stick-handling exhibitions in favour of doing the job of keeping the puck away from his goalie-a task which he performs very well indeed. Particularly of note to me was his awareness-every time you thought an opposition forward had found space in front of the net, the Phoenix #13 would come seemingly from nowhere and dog his steps, occasionally curling his mouth in a snarl and delivering a big hit or well-placed cross-check in order to "encourage" the intruder to find somewhere else to stand. His tally of 33 assists, only two behind the more-heralded Smith, shows that even though he keeps things simple at both ends, sometimes this pays dividends for both him and the players he sets up. Other players on the Phoenix may get more recognition, but few are more committed to the cause...

That's the teams. Now for the result...

PREDICTION

I've said all season that this Manchester team can win a trophy. Now is the time for them to prove it. Half the job is already done, but with the Giants on home ice and the game now in do-or-die territory, both teams will not give an inch...The Giants look like the stronger team, they're higher in the league, and I said as far back as pre-season that they were a team built to win trophies like this.

And yet...and yet...

I hate to think I may be jinxing them, but I genuinely believe this game is Manchester's to lose. The Giants will run them close-very close, but in Beauregard they have a player born to score trophy-winning goals, and in Tony Hand and/or Bruce Mulherin, they have to means to get him the puck when he needs it, despite Belfast's best efforts. Couple that with the fact that Stephen Murphy in the Phoenix goal has shown this season that, where necessary, he can go to the mythical sporting realm of the "other place", in which players win games by themselves whatever the opposition throw at them, and this prediction somehow feels right...

*deep breath*

Manchester to win, possibly in overtime. Beauregard to score the winner.

Good luck to both teams and their fans...

And hang on. As the song says, it's gonna be a wild ride...