The gloves finally came off after 4:57 of the third period.  Lewis had been trying to goad Shmyr into a fight all night and finally Shmyr was willing to dance.  Shmyr however didn’t seem interested in getting physical, opting to tie up Lewis for most of the fight leaving Lewis only a handful of chances to get punches in.  In the end nobody really won but Lewis did throw all the few punches that there were.

This afternoon the Giants confirmed they had signed forward Shawn Sutter to the team.  The Giants who have been struggling in front of goal have been desperate for some added help and hope it will come from Sutter.  Sutter who played for Sheffield last season and Nottingham the year before scored over thirty goals last season, something the Giants will look for a repeat of as Ed Courtenay’s team continue to suffer from their worst start to a season ever.

Ed has been threatening changes and finally we’re halfway to one happening.  Yesterday Todd Kelman announced that he would not be playing any further and with Roman Gavalier still out it allows Sutter to step straight in.  When Gavalier does get healthy I would expect one of the imports would be cut and that’ll come down to whome Ed thinks is under preforming.

From this Friday on players really are playing for their jobs.

Tomorrow night the Giants host the Newcastle vipers in their forth league game of the season.  They go into the game with an unusual looking record by their standards.  One win and three defeats.  It wont matter to the fans how the win comes as long as it comes and the Giants get their season back on track.  Ideally a game with few goals against would also instill some confidence into the defence.  The Giants will again start with Todd Kelman in defence as Roman Gavalier continues to nurse a knee injury.  MORE »

The past weekend was one to forget for the Giants.  Two huge defeats left them down near the bottom of the Elite League table.  On Saturday night it was a home game against Manchester Phoenix who came into the game looking for their first victory of the season but a fine display by ex-Giants player coach Tony Hand seen the Phoenix run out 6-3 winners.  The following night a team already low in confidence this early in the season went into an arena they have rarely came away with a result in and duely got beaten 6-2.  It leaves the Giants with one win and two defeats so far in the league and three defeats in all.  MORE »

Just when we thought we had moved into a season that would not include an original Giants player we were wrong.  Giant for the past seven season Todd Kelman will be stepping into the breach once more dear friends as news broke that Roman Gavalier has picked up a knee injury that will keep him out of the side for at least three weeks.  Todd thought he had retired but he should have known better.  You never retire from Belfast!  MORE »

With the Sheffield Steelers that is. Having played six months for them last season it seems the Steelers are about to turn to one of our ex-stars yet again to help them out of an injury hole. According to the Steelers website Shane is willing to join up with the Steelers.

Johnson Answers the Call [SheffieldSteelers.co.uk]

Devils 7, Giants 1 

After a tidy start to their league season on Saturday night in Belfast the Giants travelled to Cardiff to take a beating from the Devils in the Challenge Cup.  Sure it’s ‘only’ the challenge cup and who really cares about that but a beating like that is never good in any competition at any time of the season.  The 7-1 defeat in which by all accounts the Giants played awful in will test the resolve of the team early on as they will look to bounce back from it next weekend when they get back to league action.  The only heart to be taken from this is that back in the 01-02 season the Giants opened that year with a 9-3 defeat to the London Knights only to bounce back and win the league by February so here’s hoping.  MORE »

We didn’t have to wait long for the first tilt of the new season.  New boy Carlyle Lewis showing the fans what he will do for them this season against Adam Stefishen of Edinburgh.  The fight came at 15:40 of the third period of the game and came as a result of a slightly late hit by Stefishen on Lewis along the players bench. MORE »

Giants 2, Capitals 1 

One thing that is for certain, Edinburgh are a much better team this year and will no longer be the leagues whipping boys.  Giants hockey was back in action last night with the Giants managing a 2-1 win over their Scottish rivals.  Goals by Scott Cameron and Mark Dutiaume was enough to hold off a strong Edinburgh team who for the first time ever brought a real physical edge to their game and even gave a good scrap when Adam Stefishen dropped the gloves with our new resident tough boy Carlyle Lewis.  Lewis instantly won himself a new set of fans with a good performance in the fight.  MORE »

This summer may already feel like winter but it’s not quite hockey time yet, well actually now that the season is upon us it is indeed hockey time again.  With the season only a few weeks one day away and with obviously no blogging time left I guess it’s about time to try finish up the preview each of the teams with as much knowledge as I actually have of them anyway!  Next up it’s the Vipers: MORE »

It’s been a long summer, the weather has been pathetic and the Giants have made a smooth transition from one season to the next.  For the first time possibly ever there was no talk of teams coming in or dropping out of the league, no problem with trying to hire a coach or sign players in time for the season and so very little at times to talk about.  But it’s a good thing and plenty of new sponsors have came on boad along with seven new players to the Giants team.  Tonight the off season officially ends and the 8th season of Giants hockey gets underway.  MORE »

The Giants have made two changes to their season schedule.  The home game with the Hull Stingrays, scheduled for Thursday February 7, has been brought forward a week to Thursday January 31 and the meeting with the Sheffield Steelers, which had been due to take place on Saturday February 9, has been moved 24 hours to Friday February 8.

View the fixture list

There’s a good story in the Belfast Telegraph about Trevor Johnson’s hopes for the season and how he would like to bring a league title back to Belfast in the same fashion his childhood friend and ex-Giants star Chad Allan did back in 2002.  Allan who played one year in Belfast before moving on to Germany is remembered by a lot of Giants fans as one of our best ever players.  If Johnson can replicate his play we’ll be doing well.

This summer may already feel like winter but it’s not quite hockey time yet, well actually now that the season is upon us it is indeed hockey time again.  With the season only a few weeks one day away and with obviously no blogging time left I guess it’s about time to try finish up the preview each of the teams with as much knowledge as I actually have of them anyway!  Next up it’s the Phoenix:  MORE »

I’m a day or so late on this one but talk on the Steelers message board is suggesting that Michael Hicks will be returning to refereeing again this year after a leave of absence off the back of a poor start to last season.  It was through complaints of the Giants from early last season that seen Hicks given his break after he struggled to referee the zero-tolerance rules.  MORE »