The Giants sunk to their worst defeat of the season on Thursday night when they took a 6-1 hammering by the Sheffield Steelers. The team looked like a squad that has lost all confidence since their 16-game winning streak was snapped about a month ago. Read More»

Take a look at the Powerplay rankings in the Elite Leauge to this point in the season. For those who thought our PP was bad it’ll make interesting reading and for those that thought it was good it will still make interesting reading. I didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as 23.6% but then again thats what you get with a set-up man like Ed Courtenay and guys who are willing to screen the goalie like Carlyle Lewis and Shaun Sutter.

            PL  OPP  GF  GA   Pct
Belfast     51  229  54   4  23.6
Coventry    53  301  67   2  22.3
Sheffield   56  265  53   2  20.0
Basingstoke 54  220  41   6  18.6
Nottingham  55  325  59   8  18.2
Newcastle   53  257  45   8  17.5
Edinburgh   54  302  51  14  16.9
Manchester  52  276  44   6  15.9
Cardiff     54  279  44  10  15.8
Hull        54  333  26   5   7.8

Info obtained from THF via KotG

It was one of them games that didn’t really matter other than pride and keeping some kind of momentum going. Unfortunately the Giants came away with neither dropping the road game 5-1 against the Panthers. Mark Morrison got the Giants only game in what appeared to be a night off for everyone. The Giants will now regroup as they come home for two games this coming week on Thursday and Saturday night.

The fight for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place is still alive and it will dictate who plays who come the playoffs. The Giants will need to keep an eye on that though I dont believe there will be any easy oposition and in a two-leg knockout series even a poor team can beat a good team. Thats what takes away from the playoffs for me but thats another argument for another time.

The Giants found their winning grove this weekend on the road with two victories over Basingstoke on Saturday and Manchester on Sunday. It will hopefully tone down the fears of some that the team were on the verge of a collapse with news finally breaking of Ed Courtenay leaving the team at the end of the season. As I believed this has not effected performances and the team proved it this weekend. Ed Courtenay called out some of his players in the press last week and it appears also to have done the trick.

Players like George Awada who have struggled in front of goal all season came good with a pair of goals on Sunday night to add to the one he scored on Saturday. That will please the fans to see their captain stepping it up on the score sheet as the playoff roll round.

The Giants will remain on the road next weekend with a Saturday night game in Nottingham before returning home for three home games.

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.