The Giants bandwagon continues to roll on at an incredible rate, picking up two points after two points game in and game out.  With Manchester coming into town on Saturday night and with the current form the Giants are in you would expect 11 in a row to become 12, but before people scream SCUD at me writing that . . . I don’t believe this game can be taken as a foregone conclusions, not for one minute.  Not if form is anything to go by.  MORE »

Sitting looking at the box score of Wednesday nights game it suddenly occured to me why Dutes dropped the gloves and went after the Vipers.  It wasn’t a reaction to something someone said . . . He was on for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick after earlier scoring a goal and getting an assist.  Dutes picks up the first Gordie Howe of the season!

P.S.  For those unaware, a Gordie Howe hat trick is a Goal, an assist and a fight in a game.  Usually pretty rare.

The third period of last nights game was like a throw back to the Giants games of old.  Sure the crowd wasn’t big but they were as noisy as they have been in a while, especially watching a third period that brought goals and fights.  It’s been a long time since we seen a scrap in the Odyssey never mind a number of them in one game.   The Giants were in control of the game throughout most of the night and only gave up their only goal against late on with the Vipers netminder pulled.  How close Lyle came to the shutout will naturally frustrate him but he and his team-mates can take pride in extending the franshise record to 11-straight wins after beating the Vipers 3-1.  MORE »

Man, does Pope ever like to just tie up his opponent and hang on for dear life!!!

Round 1:

Round 2:

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.

Giants are in Sheffield tonight looking to tie a club record of nine straight wins in a row. Sheffield whose owner recently put all the players, management and staff on two-weeks notice for poor performances will be looking to respond with a strong showing so the Giants will have to be at their best to take the points.

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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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 »