Belfast ​Giants' Challenge Cup delight over Fife Flyers

Speaking after the match, Giants head coach Adam Keefe said: “We had talked about having a big start to the game and that came early through ‘Goody' (David Goodwin).

"We used our crowd to our advantage.

“The home support is hugely important.

"The fans were so loud tonight and they really helped to lift the team.

"It feels so good to be able to reward the fans at the end of the night with this cup win.

“We have great characters in the room who have been working hard on the penalty kill.

“They put their bodies on the line every game.

"So I wasn't too concerned with having to kill two penalties tonight, I was confident that we would be able to kill them when we had to.”

Keefe is hopeful that there won't be any hangover from the cup win going into this weekend's crucial league matches against the Coventry Blaze.

He explained: “There is always worry that might happen after a cup win like tonight.

"We will do our best over the next few days to get everybody ready for this weekend's games.

"But to be honest, this is only the start of it.”

While the Flyers saw an opening shot bounce off Tyler Beskorowany's pipes, Belfast took the lead with less than four minutes gone in the game when captain David Goodwin slammed the puck past Shane Owen at 3.25.

Further goals for the Giants came courtesy of a shorthanded goal from Donovan Neuls, Steve Owre, Matt McLeod, Ben Lake with another shorthanded goal, Ciaran Long, Mark Cooper, Grant Cooper and David Gilbert.

Meanwhile, the Flyers' goals came courtesy of Jonas Emmerdahl, Janne Kivilahti and Janne Laakkonen.

Goodwin said: “It felt great to get that go-ahead goal and help get us the lead...we knew that we needed to come out and have a good first period.

"So it was an excellent start.”