Belfast Giants’ Scott Conway has been in fine form this season being the Elite League’s top points scorer.
Having bagged himself 24 goals and 33 assists so far in the Elite League.
Score Projections
Elite Prospects recently added a feature where they give projections for players, Conway’s had him down for an 81-point season.
A massive 34 goals and 47 assists, Conway responded to this saying:
“I really haven’t been following it too much, I just do what I’m here to do and try score as many as I can and help my team.
“I haven’t looked into it too much, but that’s a cool stat that you said, but who knows.
“You could just lay a couple goose eggs on a couple of these games and then next thing you know, you’re struggling for that first spot.”
He credited the team around him for achieving these numbers, saying:
“I’ve just got to continue rolling with how I’m doing, my line-mates definitely help me with the success that I’ve had so far.
“We’ve been clicking pretty well with J.J. Piccinich and David Goodwin, we’ve got some good chemistry going so, hopefully we can continue to do what we keep doing.”
Not only is he the league’s top points scorer but also the Challenge Cup’s top for that area.
With six goals and six assists he sits atop the pile in a competition his side have reached the final of.
Challenge Cup Glory
A 2-1 victory over the Nottingham Panthers saw the Irish side into a final that they will host.
Conway is looking forward to the final, saying:
“We feel pretty good, Nottingham gave us a good game and they came out strong and we had to counter that.
“At the end of the day we got the win and we’re excited to play Cardiff here.”
With Cardiff Devils reaching the final courtesy of a 5-0 thumping of defending champions Sheffield Steelers.
The two sides are familiar opponents facing each other six times in the Elite League this season.
The Basingstoke born forward said of the prospect of facing them:
“Cardiff is a good team overall, but I think we need to play to our strengths, we’re a fast team, I think we’re probably the fastest in the league with Guildford close behind.
“I think we need to play to our strengths, which is speed and get pucks to the net, closing down the players as quick as possible on the defensive side of things.
“Get in front of Carruth as well, because he’s a big guy, he stops a lot of pucks and if he can’t see when the shots coming then it’s going to be difficult to save.”
Focus Remains on the League
Before they play the final the Giants face a three in three against Guildford Flames.
With the position of the two teams currently it looks a decent prospect for a few points for the Giants.
Conway isn’t overconfident though, saying:
“I look at it like it’s a three in three you win that first game you might take a couple bumps and bruises and next thing you know that game three is a different story.
“You’ve got to take it one game at a time, especially playing a fast team like them, they’re just going to wear us down quite a bit.
“Thankfully we got four lines now back in our line-up which is definitely a big help.”
For more Elite League analysis check out the latest Elite League Takeaways here.
With a large portion of the season still to play the Giants are still competing for the Elite League title too.
Sitting just two points behind top-spot Sheffield Steelers who have a game in hand over them the gap can be closed.
Speaking on this Conway said:
“We just got to keep chiselling away, we got that word in our locker room, it’s pretty set in stone that we have to keep chiselling every game.
“Obviously Sheffield’s looking at the standings every night seeing as we’re right on their tail.
“So, we just got to wait for them to slip up and if not we got five games versus them and three of them are at home.
“I’m pretty confident in our building, we’ve only lost twice all year in our rink so I think that’s definitely going to be a big task coming against those guys.”
A Home Ice Advantage
Nevertheless, the focus will remain for now on winning their league games and potentially the Challenge Cup.
With Belfast being the highest in the standings of the two teams they will host the game.
With the home ice advantage Conway is confident his side will prevail in the final, saying:
“I’m pretty confident that we’ll win, I’ve been following a little bit about our capacity of the rink and it’s pretty full already.
“So, it’s going to be pretty loud and that definitely helps when you get the fans on your side as well as playing in your own rink.”
Who do you think will win the Challenge Cup? Let us know on Twitter @BritIceHockey.
