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Last Wednesday night saw the Newcastle Vipers take on the Edinburgh Capitals in the Challenge Cup, although 'take on' might be a little too generous a term.  'Take apart' is more appropriate, with the Tyneside team tearing the Capitals apart mercilessly, notching up a 9-0 win over their fellow league newcomers.  Leading the way for the Vipers was player-coach Rob Wilson, who opened the scoring after two minutes.  Matus Petricko and Jonathan Weaver followed up to put the score at 3-0 by the end of the first, with Vipers goalie Trevor Koenig barely challenged by five shots from the Capitals whilst his opposite number Martin Kucera faced eighteen from the Newcastle side. The second period was much like the first, with Weaver finding the net again before Andre Payette opened his account and Shaun Johnson put the biscuit in the basket to make it 6-0.  At the start of the third period Payette scored again to put the scoreline at 7-0, and Trevor Koenig took his cue to switch with Mark Lee, who preserved a clean sheet and kept the team shut-out for the game.  A pair of goals from Jan Krajicek sealed the deal, ending the game 9-0 to the Vipers.

Vipers player-coach Rob Wilson was pleased with the win, and the position it left the team in. "Going into Wednesday night's game we looked at our chances of progressing to the Challenge Cup semi finals in three parts.  We needed to win on Wednesday against Edinburgh, beat them again in Edinburgh and then get something from our game in Nottingham.  We got the first part on Wednesday night and that was important to us." said Coach Wilson. "It was good to score some goals as well.  We had to change our lines around due to injuries, but everyone worked hard and played well.  The link-up between Petricko, Weaver and Beveridge worked well."

Thursday night saw the Nottingham Panthers pay a visit to Northern Ireland to take on Belfast in league competition, and a powerplay marker for Rob Stewart opened the scoring for the Giants.  Matt Reid put the game at 2-0 when he netted a shorthander a minute later, but the Panthers regrouped and piled on the pressure, with Matt Myers pulling one back before the break.  Calle Carlsson found an equaliser early in the second, but late in the period Ed Courtenay put the home team back in the lead.  Curtis Huppe rounded off the Giants' scoring, but late markers from Dan Welsh and former Phoenixer Jeff Sebastian levelled the scores.  The overtime period wasn't enough to break the deadlock despite Nottingham's best efforts, and the game ended a 4-4 draw.

Newcastle were back in action on Saturday night with a trip down to Cardiff to take on the Devils.  Shaun Johnson continued his scoring streak with the opening goal for the Vipers, and that was enough to take the game into the first interval at 0-1.  Pavel Gomenyuk netted for the Vipers' second after the break, and going into the third period Shaun Johnson netted his second of the night to take the lead to 0-3.  A consolation marker from Jonathan Phillips broke the shut-out, the game ending 1-3.

London Racers were at home to the Coventry Blaze on Saturday night in Challenge Cup action, and an opener from Joel Poirier for the Blaze set the tone for the evening.  Evan Cheverie extended the lead after eleven minutes and Poirier netted again to extend the score to 0-2.  Nathan Rempel and Dennis Maxwell pulled two back for the home team, but the win was sealed by Andreas Moborg, the game ending at 2-4.  Jason Norrie and Jeff Hutchins were both ejected for fighting.

Basingstoke Bison hosted the Nottingham Panthers in the league on Saturday, with the visitors taking an early lead through Curt Bowen.  Dan Tessier made it 0-2 before the break, but Jim Shepherd pulled on back for the Bison at the start of the second.  Ryan O'Keefe tied up the game early in the third, only for Tessier to net again for the lead and for Jerry Galway to put the tie back in place, the game ending 3-3 after overtime.

A tight overtime thriller in Belfast saw the Giants get the best of Sheffield in a high scoring game. Nathan Craze was between the pipes for Belfast, standing in for the injured Chris McGimpsey and Mike Minard.  Dan Ceman opened the scoring for Sheffield early in the first period, finding the net after three minutes.  Jason Ruff put the Giants back on level pegging after seven minutes and the scoreline stayed that way until after the first interval, when Ruff doubled his score tally only for Martin Masa to equalise.  Matt Reid put the Giants back in front on the powerplay at the halfway point, and Warren Tait found the net for the visitors to re-tie the score at three goals apiece.  Ruff found the net for his hat-trick and Todd Kelman netted to put the scoreline at 5-3 going into the second interval.  Andrew Luciuk brought one back for the Steelers early in the third,  and Martin Masa tied the scoreline at 5-5.  Mark Morrison put the home team up ay 6-5 only for Luciuk to find the net again and take the game to overtime.  Leigh Jamieson broke the deadlock in the overtime period, taking the extra point for the Giants.

Sunday's fixtures saw Belfast Giants take a trip to the City of Lace to go up against the Nottingham Panthers.  Joe Cardarelli opened the scoring with a marker for the Panthers but it was to prove their only goal of the night.  Marc Levers tied up the game before the first interval, and then a brace of powerplay goals through Rob Stewart and Jason Ruff put the game out of reach of the home team, with ex-Phoenixer George Awada adding insult to injury, settling the scoreline at 1-4.

Newcastle's successful streak continued with a hosting of the Bison on Sunday, and a 27 shot shut-out being notched up by Vipers netminder Trevor Koenig.  Matus Petricko opened his account with a goal after only 55 seconds of play and then added a second halfway through the first period.  That was the end of the scoring but not of the action, with Andre Payette and Michael Wales receiving their marching orders for a scuffle just after the halfway point of the game, and Basingstoke's Ryan O'Keefe being ejected for a third-man-in penalty.  After the game, Eric Beaudoin announced that he is leaving the Vipers to take up a position at Jokerit.

London's Saturday night home loss to Coventry was reversed on Sunday with a road trip to the Skydome, in which the Racers came out victorious.  Coventry's Russell Cowley found the net first inside of three minutes, only for Duncan Dalmao to draw the game level a minute later.  A stalemate set in right through until Graham Belak was ejected for a game misconduct and ex Phoenix forward Jason Hewitt found the net on the powerplay to take the game and the points back to the capital.  Final score 1-2 to the Racers.

Edinburgh's midweek embarassment against the Vipers only strengthened their resolve going into a home game against Cardiff Devils on Sunday, but despite racking up an impressive goal tally they still found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreline.  Edinburgh took the lead after only 7 seconds (scorer not listed) but Louis Goulet notched up a shorthanded marker to bring the scoreline level before Ed Patterson and Regan Darby forged a two goal lead for the Devils.  Edinburgh rallied and drew back to 3-3 before Gerad Adams restored the lead, a lead extended by Vezio Sacratini and then Brad Voth.  With a little over ten minutes to go in the third, Frederik Oduya picked up a game misconduct for headbutting a Devils player, and Goulet found the net on the powerplay.  Edinburgh came back with two more goals before Ed Patterson sealed the deal, the game ending Capitals 5 Devils 8.

by Richard Allan