Anyone with half a brain is surely not in favor of the current concept of the British playoff system. I haven’t had the chance to talk to any players about this though I hope that over the playoff weekend that maybe that chance will arise. Ok not the Giants players but there are four other teams there. It would be interesting to see what they thought but as for the fans, I have talked to them and almost the absolute majority does not like what they see.

For anyone not totally aware the British playoffs work in the following way: MORE »

Regular season that is.  Yep thats eight seasons down now and just a playoff run to go.  In them eight seasons the Giants have two league wins, three second places, a sixth place and now two forth place finishes.  The Giants wrapped up the last regular season with a win and in that hopefully the momentum they will need going into their playoff match up with Newcastle.

It has certainly been an up and down year for the Giants and not one I need to spend great time reminding everyone about.  From a terrible start that seen them in last place after the first month and needing a number of player changes to a sixteen game winning streek that seen them climb right the way to first place to a stuttering finish to the year that seen them slide back to forth.  With all them up and down’s nobody knows what to expect from the playoff run.  Which Giants team will show up.  That’s the question on ever Giants fans mind right now. MORE »

Let’s just go straight for the bone on this one. The Giants are playing their one and only (that’s a rant for another day) ‘home’ playoff game ‘away’ in Dundalk. Is this thanks to the Elite League or is this a mess up in scheduling by the Belfast Giants? Who cares? Either way the loyal fans of the Belfast Giants are being expected to travel 60-miles across the border to watch what in hockey is supposed to be the most important game of their season.

Yep, the Giants won’t be holding that big playoff game in a packed Odyssey but in the 1,500 seated Dundalk Ice Dome. The Giants have already played four regular season games in Dundalk this season and will now also play the final home game and their big playoff qualifier in Dundalk. MORE »

There’s strong rumours going around the Ed Courtenay is playing hurt. Rumours strong enough that it is pretty much common knowledge. He’s been sitting out of games, keeping himself on the bench and up until Thursday night not even taking a regular shift. The problem with this is that it is showing throughout the rest of the team. With Ed Courtenay playing hurt - The Belfast Giants play hurt.

You don’t need to have a keen eye to notice the kind of game Courtenay brings to the ice. He has the vision on the ice that most players in the league can only dream of and it feeds off on his line-mates. I’ve blogged about this a number of times over the season about Ed and his line mates - no matter who he has paired himself wth the player has got the goals and looked like one of the best in the league… MORE »

Is it just me or are the Giants fans eating some kind of mind bending drug that I am not yet aware of? I mean some of the things our GM Todd Kelman has had to respond to lately, to quell the panic, are quite ludicrous. I am seriously questioning the reasoning of the hockey knowledge among our fan base more and more by the day. Thankfully however, when I talk to fellow fans that I know, my faith is restored in our fans, so I therefore ask; who are these idiotic people, where are they hiding and who is feeding them?

“I received loads of emails, phone calls and written letters over the last few days on this subject. Some of them were in support of Ed, some were questioning his commitment, some were just rants that made no sense at all. I read and listened to them all, which is why I am writing this response.
–Todd Kelman, February 15, 2008

We win 16-games in a row and then after a few slip up’s people are seriously questioning the commitment of our coach just because he is leaving? Killer should not have to come out and appease the fan’s every other week when some people start to panic that something, anything, could be going wrong.

As Todd clearly said, and a lot of us already knew, Ed was going to be leaving at the end of the year. Does that mean that suddenly now that it’s become public knowledge that he’s going to bomb the season?

Ed Courtenay is a winner, he is a professional and he is a respected hockey player. He has put up huge numbers this season - potentially record breaking numbers - he has lead us from bottom of the league into respectability. He has made the right changes when we have been poor and not been afraid to let players go who have not been up to scratch.

If Ed Courtenay was not committed to the cause, whether he is leaving or not, would he not have just quit when the going got tough back in September? I feel the man is not going to be allowed to go quietly into the night unless he brings us the playoff championship back to the Odyssey.

Seriously, who finds it beneficial to rant to our General Manager like some have felt it necessary to do so?

‘Beware one and all, Ed Courtenay is really the anti-Giant and is leaving at the end of the season!! He is taking us all down with him. Jump ship while you can!! Todd, how can you let something like this happen?’

Man, have I just woke up in some alternative reality?

Calm down, don’t panic, talk to the sane - hear what they have to say - All is still well and Courtenay is still onboard, steering our ship.

As I said a few days ago and I will say again - Ed Courtenay has done us a favour. Unlike the year when Tony Hand decided to walk away - he kept the organisation hanging on, wondering and waiting before rejecting a contract and leaving us searching at the last minute for a coach to build a team in a month. (Thankfully that all worked out perfectly, but it could easily have been oh so different).

This time we have a General Manager who has all the time in the world to find the right replacement for a man who has been a great coach - and that is due in part to Ed being up front with the club from the start.

I just hope some others finally wake up and send Courtenay off with the credit he deserves.

“When the cow is down, the butchers are plenty”

I’m not sure who said that, but I heard it for the first time about another hockey team somewhere else in the world at some point during our 16-game winning streak and for some reason I instantly thought of the Giants fans. I remember saying to someone, “I dread the moment this streak ends, someone or something is going to be a fall guy . . . There will be hell to pay. In Belfast nobody is satisfied”. A good thing or a bad thing aside, it is the bare facts. MORE »

Ed Courtenay is scoring for fun right now and has just turend 40 years of age this week. He’s playing like a man almost half his age and but for the slower speed in his wheels you would certainly pass his play as that of a 25-year old. Courtenay has been the dominant points leader in the Giants team this season and anybody who has played on a line with him has scored for fun.

Even the young Leigh Jamieson has 10 goals so far this season. Normally a third line player with the Giants, Jamo can credit his most productive season yet to playing on a line with Ed Courtenay and Pete Campbell. Just take a look at Scott Cameron. He was scoring over a point per game along with Ryan smith on Courtenay’s line until Ed split the line up, sent Smith packing, and put Cameron on a line with Awada and Lewis. Cameron has struggled in front of goal since then, though that’s not to take away from the fine work he has still put in - he is continuing to have a terriffic year. MORE »

An article I put together for KotG

When I talk to people who are not to knowledgeable about hockey, but knowledgeable about sports in general and the topic of hockey comes up it usually doesn’t take long before they bring up the subject of fighting in the sport. Nearly always they cannot buy into the fact that this can and should exist in a sport. Usually of a football background (as I originally was) they can’t understand the argument for standing off and having a toe-to-toe bout. I always mention how the fight actually ‘keeps the game clean’ but it generally falls on deaf ears unless you actually have a game handy to show them with a few fights that perfectly explain the need for a good fight.

On Saturday night that game took place.

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An article I put together for KotG

These past few days five years ago, the Belfast Giants went on their one and only competitive trip into mainland Europe. For those of us that were there the memories will last a lifetime and the weekend still ranks as one of the greatest moments in the teams’ history. Fewer events have captured the imagination of Belfast Giants fans than that Continental Cup run of 2002-2003 and never again since have we seen such a quality team wear the red, white, teal and Finn McCool crest of the Giants jersey.

As this weekend marks the closest weekend to that trip exactly five years ago, I found it only fitting to look back through the haze of Giants memories to that weekend - The pinnacle weekend of our organisation.

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Ed Courtenay in just over a month will turn 40 years of age. He’ll be the oldest player to ever have iced for the Giants but the player-coach will break a few more records if his current form continues.

Through 35 games so far (including four challenge cup games) big Ed has 18 goals and 46 assists for 64 points. Should that form continue Ed will play the full compliment of 58 regular season games. On current pace over the next 23 games you can expect to see Ed potentially score 12 goals and add 30 assists for another 42 points. So in all after 58 regular season games are done Ed Courtenay on current pace will have 30 goals and 76 assists for 106 points. Should Ed put in a 100+ point season he would become the first player in Elite League history and in Giants history to have a 100 point season and thats before the playoffs even begin. 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 »

Tonight is the last home game before Christmas and the league leading Blaze come into our barn for a tilt that last time out between the two teams in Coventry shockingly had the Giants winning AND shutting out their opponent. The Giants form has been inconsistent of late, I guess that goes for the season but they’ve slowly been climbing the standings and enter the festive season with the chance of closing the gap even more on the top teams.

It’s probably unrealistic to expect the Giants to win the league this year but they will make the playoff knockout stage and so have a season long run to prepare for it and to push for the final four and possibly the final trophy of the 07-08 season. Now that would cap off the season nicely. MORE »

I was reading an article from ESPN.com by John Buccigross were he decides to blog on a game between the Leafs and the Red Wings from 1971. At the end of his blog he said the following:

“I was 5 when this game was played, I can understand why, even then, I felt that hockey was a great sport on television. The game was fast, up and down. The players had a ghostly mystique in black-and-white as most of them were stone-faced and expressionless. You had no idea what they were thinking or what they were like. You just knew they were doing something very difficult and dangerous, and the talent and courage they showed was mesmerizing”.

Yes how times change. It’s not black and white anymore, they aren’t so expressionless and we probably know too much about what they are thinking and what they are like, but the later part of the quote most definitely still stands. They are still doing something very difficult and dangerous, and the talent and courage they show is still mesmerizing.

Thinking about it, in a way the entire quote (except for the reference to the age) sums up what got me into hockey in the first place - Watching an NHL game on TV in the late 90’s and for British Hockey watching the Giants second ever home game against Bracknell back in December 2000. I can see - even now - why hockey was a great sport on television and in person. The game was indeed fast, up and down and like something I had never seen before, be it the top NHL game or the relatively lowly (in world hockey terms) ISL game. I didn’t know a single player so they did indeed have a ghostly mystique, even in colour, and they all looked the same to me under their helmets. I had no idea what they were like - who was tough who was skilled? But even at first glance on TV or in the Odyssey I knew they were doing something very difficult and dangerous, and the talent and courage they showed was mesmerizing.

As Buccigross finished up:

“The game grabbed you by the arm and never let you go.”

I love hockey.

With all the chopping and changing in the last week or so you would be forgiven for not having a clue what our actual current roster is or at least how many import players were now on our books. I didn’t know the exact number before making a count and it turns out it’s twelve. The league limit is ten but with three of our imports currently sidelined by injury we’re actually only icing nine imports.

Of course with Kelman ready to step out of the line-up the minute one of the injured three becomes available again it means just one player is likely to be cut come a healthy Giants squad. It’s raised questions about who that player may be and so it’s worth taking a look and doing a little speculating. MORE »

I’ve took part in a debate article over on the Kingdom of the Giants website about whether Jason Ruff was the greatest Giant ever or just one of the greats.  Debating for him being the greatest was myself and debating against him being the greatest was Patrick Smyth.  To view the article click here and to debate the points made log into the KotG forum.