Giants Defeated In Continental Shootout

The Stena Linexa0Belfastxa0Giantsxa0fell in the Continental Cup Final to Arlan Kokshetau after penalty shots at The SSE Arena. Down 2-0 with 13 minutes remaining, thexa0Giantsxa0produced a dramatic fightback to pull the Final into overtime and a shootout. Yevgeni Gasnikov scored the winning penalty shot to deliver Arlan’s first ever European title and leavexa0Belfastxa0hearts broken.

Despite defeat, thexa0Giantsxa0collect their first ever medal in European competition with a silver after a second place finish. Sunday’s earlier game saw GKS Katowice of Poland defeat Belarus’ HK Gomel 5-0 to secure the Bronze Medal.

Thexa0Giantsxa0picked up two awards with Tyler Beskorowany named netminder of the tournament and Darcy Murphy named forward of the tournament.

Despite earlyxa0Belfastxa0pressure, it was Arlan who would open the scoring in this Continental Cup decider when Sergei Yegorov deflected Alexander Nesterov’s shot from the blueline at 11:51.

Vadim Yermolayev doubled Arlan’s lead at 18:08 when his effort squeezed into thexa0Giantsxa0goal.

Belfastxa0found the going tough in the middle period with Arlan proving difficult to breakdown. Thexa0Giantsxa0outshot their opponents in the second period though Ivan Poloshkov was in fine form in goal.

Thexa0Giantsxa0took the initiative in the early stages of the final period and, at 47:44, the hosts got their reward when Chris Higgins pounced on the rebound following Kyle Baun’s effort.

Thexa0Giantsxa0piled on the pressure and Dustin Johner scored a dramatic equaliser at 48:58 to send the 5,000+ crowd wild inxa0Belfast.

The hosts impressively killed off a late 5-on-3 Arlan powerplay to drag the final into overtime

Thexa0Giantsxa0were yet again called to penalty kill duty in overtime and Tyler Beskorwany as well as thexa0Belfastxa0defence stood firm to deny Arlan.

Into the shootout and despite Dustin Johner’s equaliser after Yevgeni Gasnikov’s strike, the Kazakstan side took victory when Gasnikov netted in sudden death.

Stena Linexa0Belfastxa0Giantsxa02-3 Arlan Kokshetau (Kazakstan)xa0After Penalty Shots

#34 Tyler Beskorowany

Thexa0Giantsxa0return to domestic action next weekend with a double header in Cardiff on Saturday and Sunday. Next at home for thexa0Giantsxa0is back-to-back games inxa0Belfastxa0against the Fife Flyers on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th January.

Tickets are available from the Arena Box Office in person or by calling (028) 9073 9074 as well as online from:

xa0ticketmaster.ie.