Let’s just go straight for the bone on this one. The Giants are playing their one and only (that’s a rant for another day) ‘home’ playoff game ‘away’ in Dundalk. Is this thanks to the Elite League or is this a mess up in scheduling by the Belfast Giants? Who cares? Either way the loyal fans of the Belfast Giants are being expected to travel 60-miles across the border to watch what in hockey is supposed to be the most important game of their season.

Yep, the Giants won’t be holding that big playoff game in a packed Odyssey but in the 1,500 seated Dundalk Ice Dome. The Giants have already played four regular season games in Dundalk this season and will now also play the final home game and their big playoff qualifier in Dundalk.

We were sold the idea of Dundalk at the beginning of the season and I accepted the reasons for it. It was about the business side of the game and I could live with four trips down there and if I’m perfectly honest the three so far have been a success. The fans filled the building and the atmosphere was great.

But and this is the problem. This is the playoffs and this is our last home game of the season (and potentially last if things don’t go well) with this team. It’s a game the fans need to be behind the Giants and it’s a game that should be in Belfast. I do believe we were told by the Giants brass at times throughout the year that the playoff game would be in the Odyssey.

According to the Giants management the Elite League would not let them play it on their desired date (1st April) and that it had to be played on the weekend. With the Odyssey already booked up the Giants were left without choice. Believe what you want but what if Dundalk wasn’t available or even worse had never existed. Would the league have been prepared to bend then?

Yes, the Giants are not all to blame here. The league has refused to budge to accommodate one of its ‘arena’ teams that the league should fully understand is always battling to gain availability. I think the league has realised the Giants had an out with Dundalk and therefore refused to meet them halfway like they have done in previous years.

And so with that, I wrap this up and prepare to head up to the Odyssey Arena tonight, maybe for the last time and certainly for the last time this season. Our home games end on March 7th against the Nottingham Panthers and only this morning were we made aware that this was to be our final and maybe my last night watching the Giants in the Odyssey as a season ticket holder. And I’m not even thinking about the possibility that we could end up moving down there.

Category: Stories » Dundalk |

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