Ten times now the Giants players have been getting themselves ready for another hockey season. Ten times now the fans have been revving themselves up for professional hockey in Belfast with all the hopes and dreams that come with it …

When you say it like that …

It’s hard to believe where the years have gone on first glance at the words ‘Ten’ and ‘Years’, but the longer you sit and think about it the more the memories of a decade come flooding back into the conscience and the more you remember what has made this team a special one, if even only in the eyes of the faithful who follow it. But there have been so many good times, and plenty of bad that given a bit of time are all special to look back on and there is no reason to believe that the teams tenth season out on the ice won’t create more of the same.

Heading into a new season is always special regardless of the sport: Everyone is on a level footing, no points have been won, nobody has scored goals, conceded goals, taken dumb penalties and nobody has lost anything. All players are looked on favorably and everyone has some what of a chance at opening weekend of the season.

Beautiful eah? (The eah is compulsory in anything I now write since I’ve now been in Canada a full twelve months … Thankfully though I have not lost my accent one wee bit but no matter how hard I try at Blue Jay’s games the fans just don’t seem to grasp the beauty of the chant, “Yer Ma’s Yer Da”. I spent a lot of last year getting ripped off by the Maple Leafs and in the six games I attended I could have paid for half a Giants season ticket or sponsored George Awada’s jersey, so I will spend the majority of this year at the reasonably priced 09/10 Marlies just down the street instead, trying on my Giants-only-chants which might just rub off on them given that a few hundred of you will get a full weekend to practice them in front of any traveling support they might bring in Edinburgh before I see that team take to the ice).

I seem I’m rambling so if you’re still with me now I’ll continue with the Giants season preview. I believe I was saying how beautiful my love of the opening weekend of a sporting season was and how every fan from every team is that bit keener to get along, and then after a month or so for some teams that have won a few and lost a few and have eventually moved into comfortable mid-table obscurity, everyone goes home happily prepared for another season of nothingness. But not the Giants, right?

It does seem a bit ridiculous someone 3000 miles away writing a season preview on the Giants but I still consider them my team and thanks to the effort of some fans they have become easier to follow than ever before. Besides, there is always something special about the opening games of the season for the Giants and other Elite League teams: The turnover of players per team is so high that it doesn’t really matter were you live in the off season, you don’t really know the team that well until you get to a few games early and for that reason there is little point me turning this season preview into a ‘who is who’ in the 09/10 team. By October I’ll be left behind and will be looking on with interest as people decide who should be cut first, who was responsible for the 5-1 defeat and what is responsible for the curse on the Giants organisation that makes them the most injury prone team, season after season.

But until then I sit, like all but the few who have done their indepth research on all the new players and their favorite colours, looking at a list of names and a set of bog standard stats on hockeydb.com and wonder what they might do for the team, and it goes something like:

“Hmm, he’s 6’2, weighs 225lbs, racked up over a hundred penalty minutes five years in a row so he must be able to handle himself and I can expect him to drop the gloves in the second period of the first game,I better search him quickly on youtube” … “And this new guy is 5’9 and scored just under a point per game in the AHL three years back, had a cup of coffee in the NHL in 02/03 so he must be fast, solid on face-offs and a set-up man who will shine at Elite League level”.

And so it goes throughout June, July and August with regular checks of hockeydb showing that the stats still haven’t changed, until September when they hit the ice and the 6’2 player turtles the first fight and take a game misconduct for abuse of the official while the 5’8 player comes in slightly over weight, loses his first five faceoffs, passes up on passing the puck but grabs a hat trick and elevates himself to cult status. By Monday morning we’re talking jersey retirements for him and who should be brought in to replace Mr. 6’2.

But us Giants fans are generally lucky fans. The above certainly happens but we tend to be spoiled with some pretty good players who live up to the hockeydb billing and some players who we aren’t too sure about through the summer who prove what rubbish it is to base the potential of a player on a few statistics. Indeed, we have been spoiled, our team is rarely uncompetitive to the point were by Christmas we are wondering who we might be playing in the first home game the following year … Actually it has never come to that for Giants fans, the first season aside they have never finished lower than forth and while they often tend to come up a little short of the final-four weekend in that sorry excuse for a playoffs they do bring home some form of silverware to parade to us every few years or so.

For those reasons alone there should be a good crowd in the Odyssey arena for the first home game and a good traveling support for the first official game of the season tonight in Nottingham. Like all the nights before the first game in years past it is an exciting time and we head into another season with no reason to believe we won’t be somewhat competitive. It is the only time of the year that the percentage of fans with a positive outlook on things is so high, so get set to be entertained by all the joys and pains that come with the rigors of a 7-month hockey season. Even from 3000+ miles away, I’m pretty excited.

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By the way, I know the Giants don’t actually turn 10 until sometime in the summer of 2010 and the ten years from the first home game doesn’t occur until December 2010 (that’ll actually take place a month before Chelsea are able to buy another player again!!) but to hell with the facts, this is the 10th season they are heading into so why let a few technicalities get in the way of a good marketing opportunity. Enjoy.

On the subject: Season Preview | ALL SUBJECTS |

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