Challenge Cup: Keefe hails Giants resilience after winning opener against Fife
- Published
Colby McAuley attempts to beat Fife netminder Shane Owen in Saturday night's game
Belfast Giants coach Adam Keefe praised his team after Scott Conway hit an overtime winner against Fife Flyers in the opening game of the season.
Reece Cochrane put the Scots in front in the Challenge Cup encounter at the SSE Arena and Chad Butler levelled before Conway clinched a 2-1 win.
"I liked the way we stuck together," said Keefe.
"It was a little stressful towards the end but resilience is a very nice trait to have."
He added: "There were probably a few moments when I thought we would never score.
"After the first period I thought we found our legs a little bit more and we controlled the game. It took a full 60 minutes and then a little bit more but we got the job done.
"Butcher's patience to finish his chance was great to see and that will give him confidence."
Celebration time for Scott Conway after scoring the winner against Fife
For most of the game it looked like a first-period goal from Cochrane would be decisive as a combination of poor finishing, great goaltending from Shane Owen and on occasions pure bad luck, including a quick official's whistle that cost Conway a goal, would cost the Giants.
However, a late delay of game penalty gave the Giants powerplay one last chance and Conway's perfect feed to Butcher with 2:09 to go allowed one of the new signings to take his time and finally beat Owen with his side's 56th effort on target.
It sent the game to overtime and 48 seconds in Conway ripped a one-timer from the top of the slot past Owen on a delayed penalty call against the Flyers to secure the victory.
Fife coach Todd Dutiaume wasn't happy with the officials following the narrow defeat.
"I don't count ourselves as unlucky, I'm infuriated actually," he said.
"The fact is we didn't have a powerplay in the entire game and there were plenty that could have been called.
"It changed the outcome and guys got frustrated. I'm pretty proud of my group - against the team tipped to win the league they left it all out there."
The two sides meet again on Sunday in Kirkcaldy.