Well that was a fine way to say goodbye to the home fans after an long, up and down, injury riddled season — With the second trophy in a month. Prior to this season the Giants haven’t won more than one trophy in a season never mind two in a month but tonight the last glimpse the fans got of the 08-09 team were each of them skating around the Odyssey ice with the Knockout Cup above their head.

The Knockout cup usually comes last in the list of teams priorities going into a season and until this year the Giants tended not to even enter it, but this year under Steve Thornton the Giants appeared to give every trophy an equal level of importance as they went into the season with the hope of winning everything. Injuries soon put pay to their chances in the league but their great form in two-legged knockout games came to the fore over the season and they ended up in the final of both the Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup.

Both finals happened to be against Manchester Phoenix with the Giants winning both this month. One was in Manchester and this one in front of the home fans. It is the first time since the league winning season in 2006 that the team have been able to lift a trophy in front of the home fans. Some people might see it as over the top celebrating the win of the Knockout Cup like it was the League Championship, but you know, it was the last home game and this trophy has been quite the grind to win after all and it has been a good effort over the whole season.

Someone said on one of the message boards the other day that the Knockout Cup and Challenge Cup are actually tougher to win than the playoffs. When you think about it, with the playoffs in their current format, it is true. Sure the Playoffs carry the glory of being in the final four, being in Nottingham in front of the packed arena and coming right at the end of the seaosn, but in terms of what you have to do, both the regualar season cup competitions are tougher to get your hands on.

Winning both of them in the one season really is quite an achievement when you give it some thought.

Both are played over the entire balance of the season, they are played at different points factoring in different spells in form over the course of a long season as well as injuries to players throughout the year. The current playoff format, of which I have been critical in the past, lasts a week and will have you playing no more than four games to win it. The team who hits a hot streak of form over a week can and will win the playoffs. You know, you can win the playoffs without actually winning a game. Draw the two legged knockout round and win on a shootout and follow that with two shootout wins in the final four and you have the trophy.

The same could be said for the Knockout cup but because it is played over various stages of the season it gives it that extra challenge. As I said, winning both is a remarkable achievement.

So the Giants now take their cup form, but lack of regular season league form, into the playoffs. They will play Cardiff and a continuation of how they have been over throwing teams in two-leg competitions will take them into the final four in Nottingham. Get there and anything is possible.

Should this Giants team actually win the playoff and make it three cup competitions in one season it would turn a poor league season into a massive successful year overall.

On the subject: Knockout Cup, We win the K/O Cup | ALL SUBJECTS |

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