Ed Courtenay is set to announce his return to the Belfast Giants. In the previous blog I said how Ed was mulling a decision to return over, well he’s came to his decision and his decision will be back to Belfast for a second year.
The news will delight Giants fans as it will be the first time since Dave Whistle that they have had the same coach over multiple years. Ed who lead the Giants to league championship success will be back and hoping to build a team capiable of retaining the league title and gunning for the playoffs.
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Theo Fleury who announced he would be leaving Belfast at the end of the year appears set to move to Japan. The move will shock a lot of fans as it was believed the intended destination for Theo was back to North America and possibly a shot at the NHL. Japan will offer Theo more money than he would ever get in the Elite League but will also be a new challenge for the ex-NHL superstar who’s turning into quite the globetrotter.
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Second line centerman Colin Shields also looks set to leave the Giants, infact he looks set to leave these shores altogether as he takes his play to the Swiss leagues. Rumour has it that Shields had an agreement already in place when he joined the Giants to play for an unnamed Swiss team next season.

Talk in the hockey sections of the local media this Easter weekend is all about whether player coach Ed Courtenay will be back behind the Giants bench next September but as is clearly evident there’s a few important things standing in the way, but will Ed be able to turn down the challenge of retaining the Elite title and pushing for the playoff crown next year?

The major factor standing in the way of Ed coming back to the Giants again is family. Ed’s wife and kids live out in South Carolina and the lack of seeing his family may be a reason that Ed decides to return to the other side of the Atlantic this off season. Thanks to a favourable schedule this season there where enough breaks to allow Ed to return home to visit the wife and kids and the hope of a similar schedule is what we hope for to make Ed decide he can come back.

One thing that’s likely is if Ed does return it will not be as a player-coach, but the Giants need continuity behind the bench after 4 coaches in 4 years, and big Ed is the man that could bring that. Dave Whistle is the last and only man to have coached the Giants for multiple seasons and that ended in 2003 when he left for a short stint in Germany.

Since then Rob Stewart and Tony Hand have had seasons behind the bench before Ed’s arrival and there’s nothing the fans, and even management would like more than to see the same face year after year building upon each season. It’s the proven way to success.

So we say, bring back Ed, offer him the contract now and get him signing. The sooner we have our man behind the bench the more time he has to recruit a winning team… After all, he put together a league winning team in just one month. Currently there is 4.5 months before face-off in 06-07. The possibilities are exciting indeed.

Theo Fleury has won the websites three star contest for the 05-06 season. I ran the contest for personal interest sake throughout the season to generate a chart of the best preformers for the Giants over the course of the season and I kept the results on the website for all to see. In the style of NHL man-of-the-match awards I gave three star ratings to the Giants players for each game of the season. Home games were judged by personal viewings of games, while away games are judged by media reports of games and the feedback from travelling fans. First star earns a player five points, second star gets three points and third star receives one point.In the end Theo Fleury dominated the contest with 78 points in all, 23 ahead of second place George Awada who beat Mike Minard into third place by 6 points. At home Theo was also the most dominant with 46 points, almost double the points of second placed Mike Minard who scored 24. Awada was tied third here with player coach Ed Courtenay with 23 points. On the road it was the Captain who showed his worth when he tied Fleury for 32 points with Ed Courtenay on 26 and Minard and Huppe on 25.The contest will run again next year in some format, with members of the site likely getting the oportunity to vote for the three stars of the game if it proves to have enough interest.Below is a list of the top 6. Visit the main site for full results.

#—–NAME————–POS——TOT—-AWAY—-HOME
14—-Theo Fleury———C——-78——46——32
41—-George Awada——-RW——-55——23——32
34—-Mike Minard———G——-49——24——25
71—-Ed Courtenay——-RW——-49——23——26
39—-Curtis Huppe——-LW——-36——11——25
12—-Shawn Skiehar——LW——-34——25——-9

It’s been a roller-coaster season for the Giants, from the signing of Fleury and his 7 point debut game, to the struggling end to the season as the team crawled across the finishing line in first place in the league. From celebrating their second league championship in team history to a disappointing playoffs where for the third season in a row when games have been on the line and it’s came to the crunch the Giants have went hiding. But still, over the course of the season the Giants have been dominant on the score sheet and there have been some top class performances. Here’s our websites rating of each player this season.

#1, Nathan Craze (G), = C+
Nathan came into the Giants team during the season to help out when first choice goalie Mike Minard went down injured and didn’t disappoint. He was soon offered a full-time contract with the team when Chris McGimpsey was released and played in 14 regular season games as well as 1 playoff. The team will push hard to secure the 19 year olds serviced as back-up for next season.

#1 Chris McGimpsey (G), = D-
Played all of 5 minutes at the end of one game that was already won. Bringing Craze in ahead of him when Minard got injured was the final straw and Chris soon moved on to play at a lower level where he would see more ice time.

#4 Shane Johnson (D), = B-
Shane missed a large portion of the early season through injury but when back he was his solid self. Back in defence after playing last season largely on the left wing Shane slotted in like he had never been out of the position. Although his points production was down his stability on the blue-line was as good as ever.

#6 Leigh Jamieson (D), = B-
The young kid gets better by the season. He’s just finished his third tour of duty with the Giants team and has finally got a league winners medal to show for it. Surely this will be the first of many for the young English star who spent time between defence and left wing this season. He brought he’s best play to the table in the playoffs where he had two multiple point games.

#7 Matt Reid (C), = B
A B- goes to matt for his time with the team. Although he only played in 7 games as a stop gap until the arrival of Fleury he impressed everyone. Many hoped the team could find a way to sign him permanently but the temporary signing had commitments back in the USA and had to move on. Nobody would be disappointed if he found a way onto next years team.

#10 Rob Stewart (D), = B-
We all thought we’d seen the last of Rob Stewart when he left the team under a cloud in 2004, but Mr. Belfast Giants could not resist the opportunity to play one more time for the Giants when he got the call to help out the boys when injury problems hit. His play was so good that he got offered a contract to the end of the season and ‘Golden Skates’ Rob Stewart was back where the fans felt he belonged - the Odyssey ice. He was solid, consistent and this booming slap shot was as powerful as ever. He may be up in age, but he’s shown he’s still got a season or two left in him yet.

#12 Shawn Skiehar (LW), = B+
One of the signings of the season by Ed Courtenay, Ski was brought in from the East Coast league and didn’t disappoint. He wasn’t expected to put up big points and he didn’t, but he was expected to add grit, toughness, leadership and two-way play to the Giants line-up and he did all that in abundance. He had 12 scraps in the year, a record by a Giants player, and rarely lost. His superb play in the playoffs and scoring crucial goals showed the grit this guy brings to the table.

#14 Theo Fleury (C), = A+
What more can be said about the little big man. His 7 points debut against Edinburgh, his standing in the middle of the Odyssey ice raising his hands to a packed Odyssey during a Giants time-out to get the crowd going against Basingstoke, or his skating the Odyssey ice with the league trophy in his hands. He dominated the league in points averaging over 2 per game and he racked up a huge amount of penalty minutes too. He hated the referees, he had his share of misconducts and run in’s with Coventry fans, but it all pales to insignificance when you seen the good he did on the ice. 81 points in 38 games, and 13 points in 7 playoff games proved how valuable he was during his short stay here.

#15 Steve O’Brien (D), = B-
Solid in defence and skilful going forward Steve was brought in to provide stability on the blue-line as well as offence to the D. He picked up a decent 20 points in 48 regular season games but generally flew under the radar, but that was no bad thing, it just proved how solid he was in front of our goal. Whether he’ll be back again depends how he can recovery from the terrible leg injury he picked up at the start of the playoff campaign. One thing was for sure, he was desperately missed in the playoffs.

#16 Marc Levers (C), = B
A great season for the young British centre, Marc spent time on all three lines over the course of the season and didn’t disappoint. He always played at 100% and certainly threw his body about like he was 5 inches taller and 40lbs heavier. He was one of few who showed up to play in the playoff semi-final against Newcastle but that wasn’t surprising from the guy who plays with such heart. As a Brit, the team will be desperate to re-sign him for next season, but he’ll be a popular choice. After all who wouldn’t want someone of his size who had the guts to drop the gloves with Graeme Belak.

#17 Jason Ruff (LW), = A+
One of Courtenay’s great coups of the off season was bringing Jason Ruff back to Belfast for a third time in six seasons and although he didn’t last the season he still left a telling mark. Regarded by many as the greatest player to have played for the Giants, he left for home early after a season ending injury in December. Still it wasn’t a coincidence that after he left the Giants play was never the same as their lead a-top of the EIHL dwindled to just a few points by the seasons end. If we’d had him in the playoffs, I’ve little doubt we’d have won that trophy as well. His point’s production may have been down on his previous spells here but his leadership was second to none.

#18 Colin Shields (C), = B-
Shileds was another great pickup by the Giants - a Scot, born and trained in the UK and so classed by the league as a British player. He came in and got off to a flying start for the Giants but struggled in the later games of the season before picking up his game again come playoff time. He averaged 1.5 points per game for most of the season and that only tailed off towards the end of the year. Given his status as a British player he’ll be one of the most popular players to sign this summer.

#20 Mark Morrison (RW), = C+
100% effort and heart every single game. That’s Mark Morrison for you. The Belfast boy played his best season for the Giants as he continues to improve with every season he plays. For such a tiny guy he throws himself into the corners and loves to battle for the puck down low. He may not win many physical battles but he certainly doesn’t shy away. Sure his role on the third line is to provide energy and a rest to the top lines for 30 seconds a shift but he does it perfectly and generally in the opposition zone.

#21 Graeme Walton (LW), = C+
Spent his first season off of defence and on the left wing for the Giants and even occasionally at centre. Walton showed how versatile he can be as a player and showed how good he can be going forward on the fore check. He doesn’t shy away from the hit and the hit proves more effective given his bigger frame than his home town line-mate. He picked up a concussion in practice late in the year but showed huge courage to play on through the playoffs with the head injury.

#28 Jason Bowen (D), = A-
The big man was superb for the Giants this year. He added the only physical element to a small defence and when he got forward he made the opposition defence pay. Regarded as one of if not the best body checkers in the Elite League, Bowsey had one of his best years as a Giants player. Reliable in defence and powerful when on the wing. He stepped his game up even higher come playoff time with 2 crucial goals. An absolute lock to be back in the team next year.

#34 Mike Minard (G), = B+
Mike had a great year between the pipes for the Giants. He was carrying a couple of injuries during different times of the year but still managed to play in 47 league and playoff games. He had a superb goals against and save percentage record and showed why he was one of the best goalies the Giants have had. A superb glove hand he often produced highlight reel saves, but his playoff form was patchy dropping him to a B+ on the rating, however he did get us to the final four where his poor performance in the semi-final was due to a muscle injury from practice that he played through. A consistent goalie and we’d love him back.

#39 Curtis Huppe (LW), = A-
One of the most natural goal scorers the Giants have ever had, Huppe was the best goal getter in the league. His one time shot is a different class and his ability to snipe goals out of nothing is crucial when the team are down and struggling. He picked up 29 goals in just 37 regular season games after missing a long period of time late in 05 due to injury. He was at his best on a line with Ed Courtenay and Theo Fleury as his set up men. In the playoffs his scoring form continued with 6 goals in 7 games two of which game in the semi-final game. His marriage to a local girl aids the cause that he’ll be back next year.

#41 George Awada (RW), = A
Captain George Awada showed exactly why he was given the ‘C’ on his chest this year. When the chips where down he was fighting to the end. If anyone recorded it, I’d put any money on that he skated more than anyone else on the team. He played tough through injury, demonstrated by his playoff performances while playing with broken fingers and he scored the most crucial goals at the most important of times - a sure fire reason why he mist be re-signed as captain again. His 55 points in 46 games on the second line away from all the assists of Theo showed what he was about.