It’s been a seven year wait for the hundreds of Giants fans that take themselves to Nottingham year-in-year-out looking for their team to deliver the goods, but at long last and for the first time since 2003 the Belfast Giants can call themselves Elite League Playoff Champions again. I wasn’t there this year, but if 2003 taught me anything it is that when the Giants win this trophy the weekend becomes one of the biggest and best parties of the year and no doubt it was great times in Nottingham again last night and this morning plenty of sore heads. The Giants turned around a poor first two periods of play while throwing away a two goal lead to put in a fine effort in the third, a strong overtime and then a tight and tense shootout to win it. A playoff final should never ever be decided by the way of a shootout, but that’s how it is in Britain, and while I don’t agree with it, in this case, I’ll gladly deal with it and revel in the moment that my team are the Champions again, even though I never got to see them in person this year.

For the first time in playoff final history, the final was shown live on Sky Sports 2, which was ideal for those of us who couldn’t be in Nottingham and so for me personally the timing couldn’t have been better. So at 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon I cracked a cold beer, sat down on the recliner, and settled in for the game. The first two periods of the game had the Giants struggling badly, yet they somehow took a 2 goal lead during the second frame. The breakout passes from the Giants team were poor and the turnover rate very high and only Jeffrey Szwez and Brandon Benedict appeared to be really stepping up for the Giants team over the course of the entire game. Nobody else was playing badly, but other than the two mentioned players, the rest were drifting in and out of the game and Cardiff must have been wondering how they were behind after being the better team through the two periods? But then, just seconds after the Giants made it 2-0 through a tip-in by George Awada, with Brandon Benedict scoring a similar such goal not long before, the Devils struck with their first goal and only minutes later tied it up as the period came to a close. They fully deserved to be level with a period to play.

The third period seen the Giants start to finally play Hockey on a consistent basis as the Devils started to tire. The longer the period went on the more I felt the Giants were going to find a way to win it, but as it turned out the Giants had scored two goals while not playing so well, yet when they were putting together their best periods of play they couldn’t get the puck past their ex-goalie Stevie Lyle, who like Stephen Murphy at the other end, was putting up a fine display. Who would have thought back when the Giants won their last playoff crown in 2003 that seven years down the line when they next got to the final that two British goalies would be between the pipes? Who would have thought it would take seven years to get back? But that thought aside, the two British goalies were on their game.

Overtime brought more end to end Hockey as I hoped the Giants would win it before it went to the dreaded penalty shootout. Now of course, I’d rather the Giants win it in a shootout than lose it in overtime, but I wasn’t excited about the prospect of the game being won and lost in a glorified skills competition but as the ten minute overtime ticked down it was getting more and more clear that neither goalie was going to blow it for their team. The game was becoming a goalie duel and probably the only man on the ice that looked like he could swing the result was Jeffrey Szwez. He couldn’t though and the contest indeed headed for the penalties.

It was tough to watch, but through my hands I forced myself to watch what was happening on the TV screen. First up was Max Birbraer who missed and he was followed by Evan Cheverie who also failed to find the net. Wes Jarvis, Tom Walsh, Mark Smith and Jeffrey Szwez all went next and all missed. Szwez had come up big in the semi-final with two shootout goals but couldn’t repeat it tonight, so when it went into sudden death and Max Birbraer missed his shot, Evan Cheverie got to go again and this time had the winning shot on his stick. He came in, considered deaking for a split second but then before those of us watching could think what me might do he snapped a wrist shot, hard and high and right into the top right corner of the net. The crowd went wild, Cheverie wheeled away with his arms up and I jumped across my living room, but for a split second I had to tell myself that this goal had won it, regardless of the fact that I knew before he took the shot that scoring it would have won it. Cheverie himself seemed to take longer to realise. Celebrating like he’d just scored one of the three in the shootout, but not thee one, he eventually realised, threw down his gloves and sticks and jumped into the arms of the on rushing team that had come charging off the bench to join the celebrations.

The medals were presented to each player before the trophy presentation proper. Captain Colin Shields, the EIHL player of the year, came up, grabbed the trophy and then skated hard to the corner of the arena were the Giants fans were seated to raise it to be cheers. As he turned around he could be seen asking, “Where’s Johnny? Where’s Johnny?,” before notcing him, skating too him and handing him the trophy to next raise up. That was Shane Johnson, just finished his final Giants game and the final Hockey game of his long successful career. Shane, who has been with the Giants since the clubs first ever game was going out in fine style, a playoff champions and with the trophy above his head. Next in line was Mark Morrison, another player rumored to be leaving the club at the seasons end but who has given some great service to the club over the years. He may have been on the bench throughout this game, but when he’s been called on over the years to either play a gritty forechecking shift to give the top line players a breather, or even get into a scrap, he’s always answered the bell. Stephen Murphy took the trophy next – the best goalie in the Elite League this season and one the Giants must look to retain next season – and so the trophy went round each player who go their turn to raise it before the Giants fans.

Looking over the players standing on the ice waiting on their trophy the camera panned across Rob Stewart. A legend of the Belfast Giants but a quiet man of the organisation, Rob’s part in the Giants successes in recent seasons has been massivly underrated. While Steve Thornton has been a terriffic coach the past two years for the Giants having lead them to the Challenge Cup and Knockout cup last year and now the playoff title this season, he has also spent a fair amount of time taking shifts on the ice while Rob Stewart has been the man in the shirt and tie behind the bench, looking for things Thornton might miss while on the ice, and keeping things running well. Rob Stewart might have had a tough year as coach in his only season in charge of the Giants in 03/04 following their previous playoff victory, but most of the troubles that year were very much out of his hands, and this season he has really proved himself as a fine bench boss when the coach himself is adding to the performances on the ice. Rob Stewart, like the GM Todd Kelman and the outgoing champion Shane Johnson, has been with the organisation since the first season and it was great to see him become a champions yet again.

And now into the summer, another off season and the rumour mill will officially open. Following their 2003 playoff success the Giants had the most turbulant summer of them all when the team looked like it might fold for a while before just about scraping an organisation together and a set of players to enter the season but this time around the summer of 2010 promises to be one of more calm waters. While the likes of Awada, Johnson and Morrison may well move on and pass the torch to a new era of players, the Giants will not likely have finacial woes and Steve Thornton can go about retaining a solid core of this years team while recruiting some new faces that will help the Giants retain their competitive edge that has seen them win this playoff championship while hoping to go one point better in the league and win that as well.

Enjoy your summers and revel in the clubs success.

On the subject: Cardiff Devils, Final Four Weekend in Nottingham, George Awada, Giants win the playoffs, Jeff Szwez, Mark Morrison, Penalty Shootout, Playoff Final, Rob Stewart, Shane Johnson, Stephen Murphy, Stevie Lyle | ALL SUBJECTS |

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