. . . But they go down fighting.

I was overly critical of this team after periods one and two last night in Dundalk but with a third period effort to get back into the tie I decided to hold back on serious criticism until I seen how they performed over the next two periods.  Well ‘heard’ how they performed is what I should have said.  As it turns out the Giants performed well and did themselves proud in an effort to fight back into the tie.

Had this team been a top of the table team all season long I still would have been seriously disappointed but it has been such an up and down season with many downs and plenty of highs and a conclusion that when summing everything up that we were just a middle of the road team and not quite good enough to get it done.  With all that in mind I’m not overly angry that we failed to squeak into the playoffs past a physical and well-drilled Vipers side.  MORE »

What is it with computers and technology failing you when you need it the most?  I pay a high monthly fee for this dammed laptop and when I want to get a game report out all I want is for the bloody thing to work.  Thankyou Toshiba and the internet - The game report that I spent about 30 minutes angerly putting together frooze up on me and I failed to get it online.

So without further ado I let you know that I wont be producing one.  I have not go the time nor the patience to go through that again!  That is probably a good thing however.  I didn’t want to go too indepth about my true feelings last night when afterall it was only ‘half-time’ in the series and thanks to a good third period after two terrible periods the Giants have gave themselves some hope for tomorrow night.

I will touch on a few things that stood out for me however.  MORE »

After two defeats in a row the Giants are looking to get back on track in time for the playoffs starting tonight against second place league finishers Sheffield. With Dave Matsos behind the bench for Sheffield - the man the Giants are aparantely targeting for their new coach next season it’ll be a great chance for the Giants players to put themselves in the shop window for Matsos should he end up in Belfast. If anything else it’ll be just good to see the Giants try to find some form. MORE »

So as it turns out this was the final Giants game of the year in the Odyssey Arena. Unfortunately the Giants could not send the biggest crowd of the year - a sellout crowd - home with the victory. The Nottingham Panthers took the win. With the league long gone this game was a squabble over playoff match-up positioning and with every opponent set to be a tough one if you’d offered me the two points or the two fight wins, I think on this occassions I’d take the fights!! Thankfully Lewis and Moran did the job with their fists and at least sent the fans home with something to talk about.

What is it with the Giants and not playing well in front of a big crowd.

Still, it was nice to see such a huge crowd to end another season of hockey in Belfast.

For a bit in the first period I had this worry that it was going to be like Thursday. Well maybe not qute as bad but the Vipers came out, typically with a physical brand of hockey and seemed to have an edge on the Giants. They even score the first goal of the game to silence the Giants crowd after a scoreless first. However the Giants this time stuck to their game plan, hit the Vipers back and gradually worked their way back into the game.

It was probably the second largest crowd of the season so far. Probably only a few hundred seats shy of a sell-out crowd. It was great to see and the crowd were entertained to a good game of hockey. Ok so it wasn’t the most slick and skilled game you’ve ever seen but they never are against a rugged Newcastle. To beat Newcastle on the scoreboard you must first beat them in the back alleys. They always bring a physical game and if you aren’t prepared to match it then you’ve no chance. MORE »

The Giants sunk to their worst defeat of the season on Thursday night when they took a 6-1 hammering by the Sheffield Steelers. The team looked like a squad that has lost all confidence since their 16-game winning streak was snapped about a month ago. MORE »

It was one of them games that didn’t really matter other than pride and keeping some kind of momentum going. Unfortunately the Giants came away with neither dropping the road game 5-1 against the Panthers. Mark Morrison got the Giants only game in what appeared to be a night off for everyone. The Giants will now regroup as they come home for two games this coming week on Thursday and Saturday night.

The fight for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place is still alive and it will dictate who plays who come the playoffs. The Giants will need to keep an eye on that though I dont believe there will be any easy oposition and in a two-leg knockout series even a poor team can beat a good team. Thats what takes away from the playoffs for me but thats another argument for another time.

The Giants found their winning grove this weekend on the road with two victories over Basingstoke on Saturday and Manchester on Sunday. It will hopefully tone down the fears of some that the team were on the verge of a collapse with news finally breaking of Ed Courtenay leaving the team at the end of the season. As I believed this has not effected performances and the team proved it this weekend. Ed Courtenay called out some of his players in the press last week and it appears also to have done the trick.

Players like George Awada who have struggled in front of goal all season came good with a pair of goals on Sunday night to add to the one he scored on Saturday. That will please the fans to see their captain stepping it up on the score sheet as the playoff roll round.

The Giants will remain on the road next weekend with a Saturday night game in Nottingham before returning home for three home games.

Not much to say about that one. Better off forgetting about it. The Giants were poor and the Steelers wanted it more. Should I go into detail? I’m not so sure I could be bothered but maybe when running this website it’s kind of a responsibility! With the league clearly out of sight before the game began I think some players are taking their foot off the pedal with a long stretch of games coming up before the playoffs.

The other belief, and the more realistic one, is that some guys are playing hurt - and I think it’s showing. The defeat last Saturday to Coventry has got to be a major blow and has taken the wind out of their sails. A big 16 game push to get in contention only to blow it over one weekend. MORE »

The Giants lost their winning streak in brutal circumstances last night to the Coventry Blaze in front of a sell-out crowd in the Odyssey. It was sickening to witness and a harsh way for the dream to all but come to an end but nobody will be upset with the Giants performance on the night. The Giants conceded the final goal in overtime from a point shot that netminder Stevie Lyle would like to have back.

Still, the PR work was a winner. A sell-out crowd for the first time in years will have had everyone on the edge of their seat. A terrific atmosphere and an end to end hockey game that really could have went eitherway. If not for draws not existing in this sport, I would have said the game deserved to end in a tie. MORE »

Last night the Giants finally got to were the players and their fans want to be, on top of the Elite League. It was far from a classic game but then who on earth cares. The Giants got the 3-1 win against Hull and propelled themselves to the upper echelons of British hockey. According to word at the game the Giants become the first team to have owned every single position in the league table at one stage or another. The good news about that kind of statement is that the direction of the team has been the right one.

It puts them one point ahead of the Blaze, the first time they’ve been knocked off the top spot for nearly the entire season, but leaves the Blaze with four games in hand. The Blaze come into Belfast tomorrow night and a win for Belfast there would put the Giants three points clean, even with that four extra games played.

Make no mistake about it, now owning the top-spot will be a big psychological edge going into the battle with the Blaze. The Blaze have lost their last two games and so with the Giants now on top they will feel even more added pressure to win their four games in hand.

Great work Giants on the finest turn around in the history of British Hockey.

Back over the border with all two points . . . A little late with the blog but here none the less . . . MORE »

The Giants have just beat the Panthers 6-2 tonight giving them their 13th win in a row, continuing the record, and almost as impressive, 34 goals in just 6 games.  That’s an average of 5.67 goals per game over that span for a team who in the first half of the season were averaging just over two per game.  Another incredible feat is that the scoring over the past two games - twelve goals in all - has come without the help of Ed Courtenay on either goals or assists.  Remarkable considering the amount of helpers Ed has had this season, but proving the depth of the Giants team.  Ed Courtenay who took a heavy hit last night used himself sparingly throughout the game leaving it to Captain George Awada to pick up a hat trick and to become the Giants all-time leading goal-scorer.

Awada who has struggled in front of goal this season may well have got the spark he needed to kick-start his season on picking up the hat-trick and the scoring record.  It’s his first three goal game of the season and third of his Giants career.

The game also included another fight.  By all accounts from the game, Ryan Shymr of the Panthers was trying to intimidate an already banged up Ed Courtenay.  Carlyle Lewis didn’t appreciate it and dropped the gloves with Shmyr and give him a good hiding.  It’s Lewis’ fifth fight in four games and the third in row done in the name of protecting his coach.

The win keeps the Giants in second place and keeps the pressure on the Coventry Blaze.

When the season is said and done and the fans are looking to kill time in the off-season talking about the best of the year gone past, I would imagine there will be little debate on the game of the year.  Last night’s game against Manchester will get the award.

The Giants beat the Phoenix 6-2 but not only did the game include goals and fast end-to-end play, it included two fights, some true hockey retribution, a penalty shot and the best atmosphere of the season.  My faith was restored in the need for an enforcer in hockey and anyone who tells me that fight’s do not have a place in the game . . . I will point them in the direction of this game.

In the second period of the match-up Ed Courtenay was rammed into the boards pretty hard by Phoenix tough-guy Brett Cloutier.  Being the player-coach and top scorer of the team, this did not sit well with Giants proverbial ‘police-man’ Carlyle who moments later took a run and flattened Phoenix player-coach and ex-Giants coach Tony Hand.  It sparked a pushing match and on the ensuing face-off the two tough guys came together to produce an excellent toe-to-toe scrap.  It’s the way hockey should be and credit to the referee for letting the two guys duke it out.  The fight cleaned the game up and ended any possibility for further dirty play and the referee knew it.

The fighting wasn’t done however, as the game attempted to re-start the two smallest guys on the ice - not to be out-done by the two biggest - dropped the gloves and helmets and went at it.  The Giants Mark Morrison leaving the Phoenix’s Stauffacher bloodied and needing treatment.  It all took place with only a few minutes left in the period and so the referee called the period early to let the Zamboni clean up the blood of Stauffacher.

When the game re-started fifteen minutes later there was no more penalties - A clean game of end to end hockey ensued.

The Giants who lead 3-1 going into the final framed turned up the gas scoring three more to take a victory by a margin that the Phoenix did not deserve to lose by.  The Phoenix had kept the game tight throughout with the first half of the match still tied at one.  The Phoenix missed a penalty shot with a great save by Stevie Lyle.  It sent the crowd wild and the Giants fed off the momentum scoring a few moments later to take the game by the scruff.

The Giants head into Nottingham tomorrow night, likely tired and maybe even a little beat up.  Ed Courtenay looked a little shaky after his hit from Cloutier.  He didn’t take a shift the rest of the second period but did come out to play in the third.

The third period of last nights game was like a throw back to the Giants games of old.  Sure the crowd wasn’t big but they were as noisy as they have been in a while, especially watching a third period that brought goals and fights.  It’s been a long time since we seen a scrap in the Odyssey never mind a number of them in one game.   The Giants were in control of the game throughout most of the night and only gave up their only goal against late on with the Vipers netminder pulled.  How close Lyle came to the shutout will naturally frustrate him but he and his team-mates can take pride in extending the franshise record to 11-straight wins after beating the Vipers 3-1.  MORE »