Adam Keefe furious as defending champions Belfast Giants blow four-goal lead to crash out of Challenge Cup with Coventry Blaze defeat

The Giants, who have won five Challenge Cup crowns in total, including the past two seasons, looked to be on their way to securing serene progression as Henrik Eriksson’s brace and further goals from Ara Nazarian and Quinn Preston put them 4-0 up in the early stages of the third period.

However, in a manic 15-minute spell for the hosts, Coventry fought back and brought the tie to overtime and then a shootout where J.D Dudek was the only player that scored from 10 shots as Blaze booked their semi-final spot alongside Sheffield Steelers, Glasgow Clan and Guildford Flames.

Keefe’s men had came into this second-leg on the back of a winning weekend double over Manchester Storm, but the 39-year-old was furious with events that unfolded after his team put themselves in such a positive position.

"For 45 minutes I thought it was great, we switched off for 15 minutes and it cost us a hockey game,” he told EIHL’s YouTube channel. "We've talked a lot this year about giving teams life and not switching off and that's what happened.

"We cheat the game and things like that can happen. It happened tonight and I'd love to say it'll be a learning lesson, but we're in the middle of December here so it's a tough one to take.

"We had one of best games in the last seven weeks for 45 minutes and then we got ahead of ourselves, the game fell apart and credit to Coventry for never quitting. They kept coming, it gave them belief, they never looked back and we're out of the Challenge Cup."

The Giants will host Fife Flyers in the Elite League on Friday evening before travelling to the same opposition the following day.

Keefe’s side currently sit fifth in the table having collected 21 points from 19 matches while Fife occupy bottom spot after winning five of 20 games to date.