Brilliant news folks. Big bad Coventry Blaze were stuffed 6-3 by Cardiff Devils in the first semi-final of the EIHL playoffs meaning that their dreams of a league and playoff double are over and meaning that if the Giants can beat Nottingham this evening it’ll be the first playoff final that doesn’t feature an English team. Wouldn’t that be nice?

So far it’s been a wonderful weekend of sport for a Giants and Liverpool fan. United lost to Chelsea, Spurs lost to Sunderland and Coventry are out of the playoffs. And that is a very nice set of welcome gifts upon my return to Belfast for my first visit in fifteen months and a nice consolation for not being able to make the playoff final weekend for the second time in a row now.

Following Saturday’s nightmare heartbreak of a last weekend failure to capture the league crown the Giants flew over the EIHL finishing line in second place just a point shy of winners Coventry and although they were catching fast down the stretch they just ran out of time.

Saturday’s game as you may have read from my live blog was hard to take. I have yet to formally congratulate the Blaze even though they deserved their title over the course of the season. Let’s face it, in a league like the EIHL were every team plays every other team the same number of times, the table never lies and After 56 games of slugging it out the team at the top is rightly the best team in the country.

The only kind of small solace the Giants can take is that they beat the Blaze in their own arena in the final game of the season to show to themselves that had Edinburgh held strong for 29 more seconds on Saturday night the Giants indeed would have been champions. Can you take solace in that? Writing it like that perhaps makes it hurt even more. 29 seconds away from the league title only to have it snatched away from you by the very team you were battling it out to the title with, but at another stadium in another city against another team you were banking on coming through on your behalf. When you are relying on other teams to do you favours you know you have generally left it too late.

Of course, it is equally fair to say that had the title still been on the line last night the Blaze might well have approached the game in a different manor. I didn’t see the game but I am fairly confident the Blaze players were in party mood while the Giants were out to send some kind of message, any kind of message, heading into the playoffs.

The Giants are in fine form so there is reason to believe they could yet taste silverware this season. In 2002/03 the Giants came within a whisker of the title only to lose it by a fraction to Sheffield and the Giants went on to win the playoffs.

In British Hockey the League title is what matters, especially when your playoff format is so short and in some ways a real lottery on who wins it, but to the players who have grown up in the game, the playoffs is what matters. Of course, as always, like any true supporter we will formally judge whether the league title or playoff championship holds more importance by which one we walk away with in our arms at the end of the season, if any.

This is it… All up for grabs now and needing just a little favour from our Scottish neighbours as well!

Yep, the Giants are at home tonight against Newcastle with a win required and hoping that Edinburgh can deliver the goods against Coventry and take the championship race down to the final day between the two teams slugging it out – in Coventry: Blaze v Giants.

I’ll be getting some text updates from the game tonight and trying to hunt down what is going on between Coventry and Edinburgh. It would be nice just to get the chance to win it off our own bat tomorrow night. If you get the chance and aren’t at the game, tune into Giants TV for the live feed from the Odyssey and if you can’t do that, then keep up to date here…

Tonight’s games that will effect the title race are as follows:
(All times by the British clock)

Belfast Giants v Edinburgh Capitals @ 5 p.m.
Coventry Blaze v Sheffield Steelers @ 6 p.m.
Cardiff Devils v Nottingham Panthers @ 6 p.m.

5:45 p.m. The Giants have finished the first period and lead 2-0 with two big goals by Jeff Szwez. One text I have gotten from the game tells me that this guy is by far the best player on the team. No surprise there, the guy is clutch.

5:49 p.m. Coventry and Nottingham are yet to get underway but as of right now the table looks as follows:

1 Belfast 54gp 71pts
2 Coventry 52gp 70pts
3 Nottingham 52gp 68pts

5:55 p.m. Second period underway again for the Giants and the other two games will be getting underway any moment now.

6:05 p.m. Coventry leading Sheffield 2-1 already after just a few minutes of action. No score in Cardiff.

6:17 p.m. Awada scores with four left in the second period to make it 3-0 Giants. Surely they don’t blow this game now? It’s the second goal tonight for the Giants on the PP and they are now 2-3 tonight with the man advantage – rare.

6:35 p.m. Craig Peacock makes it 4-0 Giants with just over a minute to go in the 2nd period but Sheffield are 4-1 down to Coventry after just one period so it looks like Coventry will retain their league lead tonight. The good news is that Nottingham are being beat 1-0 in Cardiff.

7:05 p.m. Having never had it so easy the Giants take the win, 4-0, outshooting the Capitals 59-16. Unfortunately though the Blaze are beating the Steelers 4-1 in the second though the Panthers are losing 1-0 to Cardiff.

7:13 p.m. League standings at the minute:

1 Coventry 53gp 72pts
2 Belfast 54gp 71pts
3 Nottingham 53gp 68pts

7:38 p.m. Cardiff now two up on Nottingham but no change in the score at Coventry.

9:09 p.m. Coventry now 5-2 up in the third, Nottingham still 2-0 down.

9:25 p.m. Coventry squeak it 5-4 in the end. Sheffield ran them close it seems but they got the two points that matters.

9:53 p.m. Cardiff beat Nottingham 3-0 and put them far enough behind that even if they win their game in hand they will still trail the Giants. They need Coventry to fall apart to have any chance and the Giants have got to feel good about finishing second now.

TABLE:

1 Coventry 53gp 72pts
2 Belfast 54gp 71pts
3 Nottingham 53gp 68pts

All the Giants can do is win their final two games to move to 75 points which would include beating Coventry and hope that they take no more than two points from their other two games.

With only a handful of games remaining the title fight really is on and all three teams are in action tonight. Below is a look at the top 3 with games played out of the 56 in all and points in total along with a look at their remaining games including tonight’s. Edinburgh look like they will have a big factor in the title hunt and if the Giants are to win, having already played a game more than the other two, they’ll require each of them to slip up once and for the Giants to beat Coventry in the final game of the season, in Coventry. No easy task but it’s all up for grabs…

1 Coventry – 52gp – 70pts
2 Belfast – 53gp – 69pts
3 Nottingham – 52gp – 68pts

Coventry games remaining:
14 Mar v Sheffield
18 Mar v Edinburgh
20 Mar @ Edinburgh
21 Mar v Belfast

Giants games remaining:
14 Mar v Edinburgh
20 Mar v Newcastle
21 Mar @ Coventry

Panthers games remaining:
14 Mar @ Cardiff
17 Mar v Edinburgh
20 Mar @ Sheffield
21 Mar @ Newcastle

It’s not looking good for the Giants now following a 3-2 defeat to Edinburgh were they split a two game series against the Capitals on the road. A game misconduct to Jeff Szwez put the Giants down a man and with Shane Johnson and Sean McMorrow already out, what must have been tired legs, could not come through with the victory. That isn’t to blame Szwez however, he’s a player that plays on the edge and sometimes you know he’ll go over it. Still, it’s a disappointing result.

Those that seen the game – that is both sets of fans – were extremely critical of the referee who botched a number of calls including one where a Edinburgh powerplay goal was ruled out when the referee realised he had given the Caps a two man advantage when it should have been a 5-on-4 powerplay.

It’s easy to be very critical of some referee’s at the Elite League level who sometimes seem a little out of their depth, but then the same could be said for some players. Of course fans have a right to vent their fury towards the referee after coughing up their hard earned money. It’s always worth remembering though that the EIHL hasn’t got a back log of people wanting to referee in it’s league and without some of these guys you mightn’t have a league. It’s unfortunate there isn’t more refereeing talent in which to be critical of, but that’s the league we’re in.

The title isn’t officially gone for the Giants yet but they are going to need Coventry to fall apart soon. Coventry haven’t taken massive advantage of the Giants defeats in the run-in to the title and the same could be said for the Giants, but while the gap isn’t too huge there is always a chance.

And if now? Well, there’s always the playoffs.

All season one of the things many believe has been standing between the Giants and potentially winning the league title is failing to beat the Coventry Blaze time and time again. It seems like for seasons now the Blaze team have been the team that the Giants just cannot solve and again this year the points lost to the Blaze were the points keeping them out of first place. But tonight the Giants took a first step to overcoming that hurdle and getting right into the title race by beating the Blaze 2-1 in the Odyssey arena putting them just three points back on the Blaze having played a game more. To prove how tough the Blaze have been to overcome over the years for the Giants this win was just their 16th against the Blaze in 53 games between the two rivals.

They meet again on two more occasions, both on the road and these games could well prove vital to the outcome of the championship. Winning both these games could indeed vault the Giants into first place but if beating the Blaze at all was the first hurdle, then beating them on the road in their own barn is the next one and it is bigger still.

The Giants took a first period lead in the contest through man-of-the-match Jeff Szwez who put in a real team effort all night long and was a big factor in the Giants win and would also go on to assist on the Giants game winner. Coventry tied it up mid-way through the contest though on the power play and it was late in the second when the Giants grabbed the all important and decisive goal through Pat Bateman that would stand as the game winner. Into the final five minutes and the Giants decided to shut up shop and sit back trying to hold onto the lead, striking fear into the Odyssey crowd. What was a risky move paid off though and the Blaze could not take advantage as the Giants took the huge victory.

Tomorrow night the Giants are in Nottingham for a game against the third place Panthers who tonight lost a big one to rivals Sheffield, a result which definitely played into the hands of the Giants. Here’s hoping our boys to continue this form.

In my last blog I wrote off the Giants title hopes following news that they had been stuffed by their title rivals the Coventry Blaze 7-1 and felt that after blowing the must win game, they now relied on a lot of luck from other teams in which to win the title because the Giants had only three more games against the Blaze directly. But then I started updating the league table on the site here and noticed that the game at the top is not as bad as I first thought it ought to be now.

The Giants currently sit four points back on the Blaze but having played two games more and with Nottingham wedged in between them having played two more times than the Giants. So yes the Giants will look for the Blaze to drop points, but in theory beating them in the three remaining games can still salvage the season. Of course there are a few things against that.

1. They haven’t beat the Blaze all season so exciting three wins on the trots seems like a big ask, though in hockey, never rule anything out.

2. The Giants need to go almost perfect the rest of the way if they are expecting the Blaze to do likewise (not withstanding the three head-to-head games), though there is every chance the Blaze will hit a few hurdles along the way.

But think about it, there is still 24 league games to be played which means there is a lot of wins and defeats to come and also injuries, for both teams. So I was a little hasty in my anger at reading the awful result against our title rivals to call the title race over. There is still lots to be played, the Giants just need to find a way to sort out their form against the team they want to beat to the title.

Tonight’s game in Coventry was almost at the ‘must win’ stage. Coventry have had their way with the Giants this year and unless it was stopped quickly the gap would be too big to overcome. Well now that gap looks a little to big to overcome following a 7-1 thrashing by their biggest rivals for the title. That almost ‘must win game’ became a beating and it leaves the Giants in a big hole heading into the run in through January, February and March. Getting beaten 1-0 or 2-1 you can take, a close game that the team gave a good effort in, but 7-1 and going 0-for-9 on the powerplay just isn’t good enough.

The Coventry Blaze really are the bogey team for the Giants. The two clubs have played on 52 occasions now over the span of seven seasons and the Giants have won just fifteen times.

The two sides meet three more times this season and even if the Giants were to upset the form kart and grab all the points they would still be relying on the Blaze to drop points to various other teams and right now, the way things have been going this season it seems unlike the Blaze will drop many points at all and unlikely the Giants will drop few more.

It was the biggest two games of the year for the Giants, a home-and-home against their biggest rivals for the Elite League title, the Coventry Blaze. Two wins here would go a long way to erasing the games in hand the Blaze have over the Giants that if won would put them in a comfortable position atop of the table. Unfortunately for the Giants they could do no better than coming away with just one point to their name after losing the away game of the two in overtime. It’s a big blow, but it isn’t even Christmas yet and with plenty of games still to be played, including quite a few against the Blaze themselves the Giants have to remain positive, though the Blaze are now the big favorites to win the title if they weren’t before.

Both games were close but the telling factor might well have been the injuries to key personnel, namely the Giants coach Steve Thornton who missed the games and couldn’t even make the trip to the away fixture because of his injuries. The short bench was never going to help, especially against a team like the Blaze and so these game came at the worst possible time. The Giants will now lick their wounds over the Christmas period and look to get back on track heading through the festive season and into the new year.