In an interview with SkySports.com Todd Kelman has talked about the year that Theo Fleury came to play in Belfast, how he acted like an obcessed fan rather than a regular team-mate and how Theo would tell them all stories and get them going in games. This is the first part in a two part interview and is well worth the read.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been adding a new section to the site: Some of the most memorable games in team history. The section is a little short right now but it is a work in progress and in good time I hope to have added details on some of the best games in the history of the team. Unfortunately the only memorable games that will be added will be ones in which I can track down the scoring summaries for, but there are plenty out there I have yet to add and will be put more to the list by the weeks and months. If you have any suggestions of games or box-scores for some classic games then drop me an e-mail and I’ll gladly add them to the list.

Enjoy…

The Belfast Giants most memorable games

Following tonight’s thumping of the Panthers the Giants have now had nine, yep just nine, shutouts away from home (37 in total) in their history and Stephen Murphy has two of them, both back-to-back. That’s 22% of all away game shutouts in the ten year history of our club. 4-0 was the score in game two of the home and home series with the Panthers to give the Giants all four point and an aggregate score of 10-3. Nottingham who were top of the table going into the weekend now find themselves in second with a three way tie for first place on points with the Giants and Blaze on 26 points. The problem for the Panthers after this disaster weekend is that they have played 22 games compared to the Giants 19 and Blaze’s 16.

Games in hand are only good if you win them but the Giants and Blaze are certainly throwing down a message to the Panthers that they will have to pick it up or risk falling behind. For the Giants the weekend couldn’t have went off better. Four points clawed back on Nottingham and holding pace with Coventry.

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Considering some of the great players the Giants have had take to the ice over the years it might come as a surprise to some to hear that Colin Shields currently sits 8th in the all-time Giants points scoring list. But thats the facts and off the back of an outstanding season so far this year he only looks set to climb the charts further. Shields has currently scored 36 points from 23 points and with 39 guaranteed games in the league and challenge cup to go before the end of the regular season and with Shields currently averaging 1.57 points per game it would be fair to assume that if he stays healthy Shields will score a further 61 points. Should he do so that would move him to 242 points putting him just 3 points shy of Jason Ruff. With a couple of playoff games likely it wouldn’t be unrealistic to think Colin could well move into second all-time in points scored for the Giants.

The all-time leader is George Awada on 297 points but he is done for the year with no guarantees whether he will be back in 2010/11 or not. Colin Shields may have flown under the radar a little in his first season with the Giants thanks to Theo Fleury, Ed Courtenay and Jason Ruff all being in the line-up but he has continually put up the points and has now emerged as not only one of the Giants best players but one of their best leaders.

Below is a look at the top 10 points scorers in Giants History:

NO.  PLAYER            POS     GP     G     A   Pts   PIM   P/GP
----------------------------------------------------------------
41   George Awada      RW     307   137   160   297   508   0.97
17   Jason Ruff        LW     193   100   145   245   366   1.27
44   Todd Kelman       D      417    73   141   214   496   0.51
 4   Shane Johnson     D      463    54   140   194   682   0.42
22   Curtis Bowen      C/LW   219    84   103   187   365   0.85
72   Ed Courtenay      RW     124    58   129   187   176   1.51
27   Paxton Schulte    LW     233    81   101   182   975   0.78
18   Colin Shields     C      132    67   114   181    56   1.37
11   Colin Ward        RW     233    84    93   177   172   0.76
39   Curtis Huppe      LW     144    86    87   173   162   1.20

Game one of the home and home series with the Nottingham Panthers is done and it is advantage Belfast heading to Nottingham tomorrow night. The Giants downed one of their biggest contenders for the league title 6-3 tonight in front of a loud Belfast crowd that got to see a high scoring physical game of hockey – a throwback to the Giants – Panthers games of old that will no doubt have stirred the memories of many. The Giants got two goals from Brits Craig Peacock and Colin Shields while skilled/tough guy Jeff Szwez was ejected from the game for cross-checking and fighting.

Szwez was cross-checked by Panther Corey Neilson as part of a ploy by the Panthers to wind Szwez up. It worked and Szwez retaliated by cross-checking Neilsen in what some are saying was the neck region. It put Neilsen down and coming to his rescue was Cameroon Mann who was quickly pummeled earning Szwez the ejection. Some will be concerned about Szwez’s discipline given the fact other teams are starting to target the Giants most dangerous player, but the Giants still won the game so it didn’t hurt them and the only one hurting in the morning might well be Neilson, and I sure hope that is the case.

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