Giants won their tenth straight game tonight in Cardiff to break a club winning streak record. The win puts the Giants in a strong second place in the league and baring down on the Coventry Blaze. The game also had a few firsts with Lewis Christie getting his first career point and Leigh Jamieson his first career hat trick. There was two fights in the game, both involving Carlyle Lewis and Brent Pope. An unusual combatant, Pope and Lewis appeared to be at each other thoughout the night.

Playing on a line with Ed Courtenay, Jamieson did what everyone who has played with Courtenay this season does - score goals. The Giants were in control on the scoreboard from the start and never looked back taking a 3-1 lead into the first break and a 6-1 lead into the second break.

The Giants now have two days off before a home clash with the physical Newcastle Vipers who wont want to face the Giants in their current form.

The Giants have tied the club record set between 3rd December 2005 and 7th January 2006 of nine wins in a row with a 6-1 hammering of the Sheffield Steelers. The Giants current streak of nine wins in a row runs from the 16th December 2007 until tonight. Fingers crossed that the record will be broke tomorrow night against Cardiff. The Giants got a hat trick from Peter Campbell who also added two assists on a five point night, while Mark Morrison scored for the second straight game. The defeat to Sheffield adds pressure to an entire team currenly playing on two weeks notice from their owner after a run of poor form.

Giants hit Cardiff tomorrow night before returning to the Odyssey for a game against Newcastle on Wednesday.

It was not the best 11-goal game you will ever see, in fact it was distinctly average but the Giants got the job done once an 11-man Bison line-up tired. It’s become a sign of the times of UK hockey of late when certain teams are icing 11-12 man rosters at times and cannot afford to fill spots if players go down injured. It certainly takes away from the spectacle of what normally makes a 7-4 win great, especially when you come from 2-0 down which the Giants did on Thursday night.

The Bison line-up and the sign of the times of the league was something the Giants could do nothing about however, they had to get the job done and baring the blip at the start they eventually took control as Ed Courtenay put in another top performance along with Trevor Johnson who arguably had his best game in a Giants jersey.

Trevor Johnson added a goal and two assists to spark the Giants come back and put them on the front food - they never looked back.

The win moves the surging Giants into second place in the Elite League with a road trip this weekend. A win on Saturday night against Sheffield would give the Giants 9-wins in a row, tying a club record. For a team that was once sitting last place and losing every game they played it has been quite a turn around.

Towards the end of the game with the Giants comfortable they pulled Stevie Lyle and gave young Adam Cree his first run out in the Odyssey. The young netminder looked nervous at times dropping two goals on his first four shots, one a wrist shot from behind the blue-line. He did settle in however in the final minutes and the Giants took the vital win.

This kind of victory shows just how far the Giants have come this season.

It’s been one of the most fascinating seasons to watch as a Giants fan that I can remember. In contrast to the many seasons were we win game in game out and push for either first or second in the league title race then find a way to collapse in the playoffs (except that one great year in 2003), the Giants have had so much adversity to deal with.

Starting the season in such poor form, getting hammered night in night out, making player changes and finally going into a winning run that has pulled them up to mid-table going into the stretch drive which with the right kind of results could still see them get into the top three in the league. Last night was one of them games that a league winning team has. They don’t play well, in fact they are poor throughout most of it yet still find a way to pick up the points. Them kind of games are especially key at home. MORE »

It’s been ten days since my last post and back then I previewed the Giants Christmas games talking about how their form has been over the Christmas period in years gone by. True to form the Giants have been successful winning five of five so far over the Christmas period with one more game to go on the 5th against Nottingham. It means it’ll be another winning Christmas for the Giants who in their five wins so far have turned over Coventry, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Cardiff twice. It’s moved the Giants up into the top half of the table going into the second half of the season. MORE »

Normally when I look at the fixtures and see a road game in Coventry I mark that down as one I expect them to lose, afterall the Giants never beat Coventry nevermind in Coventry and after a defeat on Friday night I fully believe this would be a losing weekend to forgot. Then the Giants gave me a kick in the ass, reminding me to show more faith more often as they rolled into the Coventry Sky Dome and took all two points with a 2-0 shutout to boot. It was a major result against the runaway league leaders that will install a confidence into the Giants players that anyone and everyone is beatable.

British netminder Stevie Lyle was the hero of the night and deserves the praise he’s been getting so far this year. Is it to early to take a leaf out of the NHL teams books and try lock this guy up for next year already?

Boy, I love beating Coventry.

Them games hurt. Your in the game, it’s tied, it’s heading for OT and possibly a shootout and a solid point is up for grabs when . . . Wham . . . Nottingham score with thirty seconds to go and all the points are lost and a home defeat is inflicted.

While the game may be remembered by the fans more for the Giants mascott the Gorilla being attacked by an idiotic over weight Nottingham fan in the crowd, much to the horror of a group of 8-10 year olds looking on. The Gorilla suffered minor injuries including the loss of his head while the perpatrator who clearly had issues with being able to handle his drink was escorted out of the arena.

I’ll not comment much on a disapointing result on the ice either but while Nottingham fans were concentrating on the Gorilla their players were stealing the show on the ice . . . As Shane Johnson pinched into the play on the final minute the Panthers hit the Giants on a 2 on 1 break and made them pay. It left me wondering was it not the sensible thing to sit back, play out the final minute and guarantee yourselves a point before going for the extra one in OT? I guess not and we ended up with nothing.

Shaun Sutter hit two goals on Saturday night and the seasons first hat trick on Sunday night to total five goals and help the Giants on their way to back to back wins over the weekend. It keeps the Giants in touch with the top teams as the season revival continues. The weekend also seen the long awaited return to the ice of Roman Gavalier - shaved head and all. He’s added a bit of much needed depth to the Giants defensive corps allowing Todd Kelman to go back to were he feels he belongs - In his suit, up high looking down on the action like a true G.M. Joining him in the ‘box’ up in the rafters was Trevor Johnson . . . Still not completely healthy.

Anyway, a strong, comfortable performance against Hull followed up by a shoot-out win against the Bison was just what this surging Giants team required. The lines finally seem to be gelling and everyone settling into their roles. The top line of Lewis - Campbell - Courtenay looks a threat every shift with Ed’s play making abilities, Campbell’s sniping and Lewis’ physical approach. Lewis’ ability to plant himself in front of the opposing goalie on the power play is also something we haven’t seen since the departure of ‘goalie screening expert’ Paxton Schulte back in 2004. The ‘checking line’ for what of a better word of Awada - Cameron - Sutter have been outstanding. Not to mention Sutters goals, Cameron brings an exceptional amount of skill and speed to the line and with Awada and Sutter on his wings willing to spend the entire game fighting for the pucks in the corners and around the opposing goal. Then we have the ‘energy line’ for what of a perfect word to give energy and allow the import boys a breather on the bench. Jamieson - Moran - Morrison have been in great form and have an uncanny ability to keep the puck in the opposition zone for prolonged amounts of time at times.

The Giants get the week off of action until this Friday when they face the Blaze in what really will be a bench mark game - A game that will really let them know where exactly they stand in their hopes of turning the season around.

Unfortunately I won’t be at it so no doubt I’ll miss a classic.

It was a meaningless Challenge cup game for some and in the end I guess it kind of was because the 1-1 tie on the final buzzer meant both teams were eliminated from group qualification. But for the Giants team it meant a heck of a lot more. A 1-1 tie against the runaway league leaders with 5 star players out injured sent a message throughout the league that the once bottom of the league and struggling Giants were back. It was a boost of moral to both the players and the fans as the Giants icing just twelve skaters took the game to the Blaze. MORE »

It’s been a while coming, much longer than most of us would have liked but the boo birds have finally been put to rest thanks to an upturn in form by the Belfast Giants. With the player changes appearing to click the Giants put in by far their most impressive preformance of the season at a sold out Dundalk Ice Dome. The atmosphere was electric and it times it helped carry an at times tired Giants team who were extremely short benched through the game. Icing without four key players the Giants were soon down five men when star player Mark Dutiaume picked up an injury. It didn’t stop the Giants who played with two forward lines for the majority of the night from pressing on and picking up the much needed win. MORE »

Well this weekend has been a long time coming. I’ve been as far away from the Giants as possible all week while player changes have been made and the team got its new look and spent parts of the weekend logging on to check the scores and how we got along. Imagine my surprise when yesterday I logged on to see we had won our second game of the weekend to put together two back to back wins for the first time this season. It has moved us well clear of the foot of the table, up to 7th in fact and only a couple of points back of likes of the Nottingham Panthers. MORE »

Phoenix 6, Giants 1

So the hope of starting a winning streak by getting back-to-back wins for the first time this season have been dashed in a big way with the Phoenix beating the Giants 6-1. As noted in the title, at least we ended the weekend +1 in the scoring charts! Eitherway the Giants are still a long way from being back on the right track and if we foolishly thought 24 hours ago that the two-week notice’s handed out earlier in the week were possibly going to be withdrawn, we can be reassured that surely they are still in place.

More to follow . . .

Stingrays 1, Giants 7

No the headline is not a joke, I only logged onto ih-update midway through the third period and had to refresh twice as well as check I had the correct game before believing what I was reading. The Giants were leading 5-0 and went on to win 7-1 in their best performance I would imagine of the season. All that with a very short bench on ‘D’ with Gavalier AND Trevor Johnson both out of the line-up with injuries. This was the Hull team that the Giants could not score against just last weekend in Dundalk. The Giants put seven past them tonight with DeRouville only falling less than a minute shy of picking up his second shutout of the season. For all the critisism that’s came his way this season he’s certainly been keeping them out of late. MORE »

Giants 0, Stingrays 2

Take note of the title. The Giants fans went on a road trip yesterday evening to catch their teams home game against Hull Stingrays. It was the first time the Giants have played a home game outside the Odyssey Arena since it has been opened. Remember the first half of the 2000-2001 season the Giants played home games on the road while the Odyssey was built. The trip to Dundalk did not change the Giants fortunes however as the defeats continued. This time the Giants sank to a new low, getting shut out by a team that from pre-season we really thought we should have beat. MORE »

Giants 1, Devils 2

To many times throughout the years when the team has not been playing well we’ve heard about threats to make changes.  Most of the time the players buckle down and sort out their game turning things around.  That is until this season.  A struggling Giants team came into this game on a winning streak of one game after a six game losing streak.  It was one of the worst displays the fans at the Odyssey arena have had to put up with and it yet again had Ed coming out with axe threats.  Clearly however these threats are not working and it’s time to put up or shut up with regards to changes.  MORE »