Before I head off to the land of the maple leaf for a few days shy of three weeks to get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup finals, I must post about the latest two signings by the team.  They are two everyone will be glad to hear of and I bet not one Giants fan will object to them.  MVP Roman Gavalier and alternate captain Mark Morrison have signed on for another year.  MORE »

An topic has popped up on the KingdomoftheGiants fansite message board reporting that Minard will not be back with the Giants next year.  The poster quoted Minard himself saying the following,

“In no way is this the fault of Ed or do I have any disappointment towards him. He is a class guy and the true heart and soul of the team. Not a lot of people realize how hard he works to put a great product on the ice. The organization is lucky to have him.”

Minard has definately showed his class to the end and reminded us again why he was such a popular player among the Giants fans but you can definately see where Ed’s decision has came from.  MORE »

Jason Ruff has been breaking all sorts of records this season and he set another one on Tuesday night at the Giants end of season awards dinner by becoming the first player in team history to win the MVP award for a second time.   He previously picked up the honour in 2003-2004 and has won it again this time out after another excellent season by the big powerforward.  Only last weekend Ruff became the first man to score 100 goals as a Giants player adding to his acheivment of become the teams all-time leading points scorer earlier in the year.

Many tipped Roman Gavalier as the man to beat for the MVP award but there wont be many arguments agaisnt Ruff who has again been a force on the ice for the Giants.  He may be slowing down a little with age but there is no doubting his leadership he brings to the team as well has the plus a point per game average he continues to score at.  Should he decide to come back next year, nobody will complain.

In other awards… MORE »

Tonight Todd Kelman will play his final game in the Odyssey arena.  After seven great seasons with the Giants Todd will be hanging up the skates in favour of taking over the teams General Managers position.  His Giants career however will not end for a few more games we hope as the Giants push for a playoff title, but tonights game is the final home game of the season and it’ll be an emotional one for Todd Kelman.

Tonights opponents Basingstoke finished up 7th in the league and will be looking to spring an upset on the Giants.  The second leg of the contest takes place tomorrow night in Basingstoke with the aggregate winner progressing to the final-four playoffs in Nottingham.

Heres to some good old time playoff hockey.  Get them playoff beards growing boys!!!

Not sure the details surrounding this and whether he was released or quit but backup goalie Kevin Kelly is no longer a Belfast Giant.  The first I noticed it was sitting in my seat on Saturday evening and noticing he was not the guy opening the door at the bench.  Seem’s he has been replaced with local Belfast boy Hugh Smyth.

Looks like Mike Minard is done for the year.  The goalie who helped lead the Giants to the league title last season has had his fair share of struggles this year and it started rumours throughout the fans that it could be down to a long standing injury.  The teams line is that the injury was picked up in Edinburgh on Sunday night but many will feel the injury is something that’s been lingering for a while now.  At the end of the day, you dont go from being one of the leagues best to letting in 5 and 6 goals a game.  Whether Mini will be back next year remains to be seen, but should he get healthy and fighting fit then few will argue against looking to re-signing him.  Cheers Mini!!

As for Mini’s replacement, that comes in the form of  Phillippe DeRouville who has just finished his season in Italy with his team being knocked out of the playoffs.  DeRouville played as a team-mate with Ed Courtenay in 2000-01 at the Ayr Scottish Eagles.  He was a 5th round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins and played three games in the show.  All being well he should ice tomorrow night in Manchester.

You’re welcome Phillippe, hopefully you can help us turn things around.  Now just to hurry up and get Huppe back on the ice.

BelfastGiants.com — The Coors Belfast Giants Head Coach Ed Courtenay announced today that he will be registering himself to play for the weekend’s two away matches against the Nottingham Panthers and Edinburgh Capitals. Courtenay is still deciding which player to deregister as there are a couple of players that are awaiting x-rays and medical clearance to play. A player, once de-registered, has to sit out 6 games which would give an injured player 3 weeks to rest and would have them back in the line-up for the home match on March 9th against the Newcastle Vipers. At that point whether Courtenay takes himself out of the line-up or decides to sit out a player remains to be seen. The recent dip in form for the Coors Giants had Courtenay threatening changes in the roster and with a couple of players nursing injuries he has taken this opportunity to possibly add an offensive spark that has been lacking as of late.

“Offensively we have been struggling as of late but besides the Coventry and Hull games, our form defensively has been fine,” said Courtenay, “I still have confidence in this team.”

“It will take me a couple of games to feel fit on the ice again but I have been training with the team most of the season in case something like this came up.”

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There has been hot rumours of late that the guy to be replaced would be Curtis Huppe who must be carrying an injury and who just a few days ago became a father for the first time to his Belfast wife.  It would be a real knock for an already struggling team to lose a guy like Curtis Huppe for six games, a guy who’s at least been able to put the puck in the net even during the goal slump of late.

More to follow…

The Giants fortunes have turned in recent games with three straight wins on the trot.  That’s mainly down to coach Ed Courtenay’s shaking up of the lines and threatening to release a player and hit the ice himself.  Thankfully for now he can remain behind the bench and thats down to the Giants’ impressive 12 goals in their last three games. 

Sitting at the game against Hull on Saturday I wanted to see who was the form players statistically and who had been struggling in front of goal lately and this is what I’ve come up with.

Of course, statistics (especially when I’m only factoring in goals and assists) are not everything, and a player not racking up the points is not always a player playing poor, but this gives you an idea as to who’s on form in front of goal and who’s been slumping.

HOT:

Mark Dutiaume: With 17 points in 10 games Mark is the hottest player over this span.  He’s also got a 3 game point streak going with 6 points in them 3 games.

Curtis Huppe: Points in 9 of the last 10 games Huppe also has goals in each of his last four games for five in all.

Jason Ruff: 15 points in his last 10 games theres only three in which he’s failed to score giving him 6 multi-point games.

Jeff Hutchins: 10 points in 10 games but betters Ruff in that he’s only failed to score in two of them last ten.

COLD:

Gareth Martin: Very limited ice time has Gareth Martin without a single point all season so far.

Roman Gavalier: One assist for just one point in his last 12 games for the defensive defenseman.  Understandable as his general play has been superb.

Todd Kelman: Started off the first few months of the season averaging a point per game from the blue line.  Has cooled off of late with just two points (0+2) in his last 13.

George Awada:  Only one goal in his last ten games for the captain, however George is getting the helpers - he’s got seven of them in the last ten.

Mark Morrison has been given the ‘A’ on his chest according to reports by Nigel Ringland on the radio this morning.  I’m not yet sure who between Kelmand and Skiehar has lost their Alternate captain status to Mo-Train but will find out ASAP. I’d imagine it may be Kelman as he is retiring this year to take up the GM post and has already started training for the position while playing out the season. 

Mo is a local Belfast boy and joined the Giants in 2004 at the formation of the Elite League and has played in each season since.  He has played in 187 games scoring 12 goals and adding 11 assists.  He is 9th all-time in games played for the Giants and 3rd among active players.  Mo is one of the heart and sole players of the Giants team and has improved by the year.  He may only get third line minutes and be the smallest guy on the ice but nobody puts as much effort into the game night in and night out as Mo.  He certainly deserves the ‘A’.  This season he has 3 goals in 15 games so far.

Jason Ruff goes into Newcastle tonight needing just two points to tie the Giant all-time points scoring lead currently held by Curtis Huppe.  Ruffles currently sits on 185 points thanks to 72 goals and 113 assists in 139 games.  Curtis Huppe who reached the 187 number in 219 games left the Giants at the end of the 04-05 season to join Nottingham after 4 seasons in Belfast.  Tonights game against Newcastle faces off at 6.30pm.

All-Time player Stats

It’s been revealed that the final spot in the Giants roster has been won by Gareth Martin.  After holding open tryouts before the start of the season Ed couldn’t settle on either Gareth or Davy Morrison to take the final forward spot in the team.  He gave each a two game tryout and the chance to train with the team for the past two weeks and today he made his choice.   Gareth played with the Giants team in 03-04 in the new look Elite League but was not re-signed when Tony Hand came in the following season.  Martin is expected to play 3rd line right wing this weekend against Newcastle.

Gareth Martin and Davy Morrison, brother of local Giants star Mark Morrison, impressed at the local tryouts last week enough to be invited to train with the team this season with one of them being awarded the final spot in the roster.  Well it seems that Ed can still not decide between the two and so has invited both to play two games each to start the season before making his final choice.  It will also give the fans a chance to see both players and no doubt that will fuel a good debate on which one should be kept on for the season.

The open tryouts for local players took place tonight with reports that three players have been invited to come practice with the team in the coming week with one of the three earning a roster spot with the team for the forthcoming season.

It’s the end of an era.

It’s one of them days you hope never comes along but you know will eventually arrive.  Yesterday, Jason Bowen, one of the last remaining original Giants players called it a day on his career.

It was a career that spanned from the junior leagues in Western Canada all the way up to the NHL via a first round draft pick with Philadelphia and eventually all the way here to Belfast where he played for 5 of the past 6 seasons.

He leaves only Todd Kelman now as the last remaining Giant from their first season back in 2000.

In the five of six seasons Bowsey played in Belfast (missing just one season in 02-03) the big man played 261 games for the team (good for 4th all-time), scoring 30 goals and 50 assists while picking up 627 penalty minutes (good for 2nd all-time).  It’s not the numbers however that he will be remembered for but more the big hits, the big games, and the entertainment value he brought to the game..  It’s what made him a fan favourite.

MORE »

Rumours are doing the rounds in Belfast that Shane Johnson will not be returning to the team this coming season. Johnny who has been with the Giants since day one away back in 2000 may well have fallen out of favour of Ed who is looking to reshake the defence and give it a new look. Shane Johnson has completed 6 seasons with the Giants to date and is second all time in games played behind Todd Kelman who recently signed on for a 7th season in teal.