The British Hockey team coached by Paul Thompson will head to the Division One World Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia next month with seven Giants players in the squad. The tournament takes place between 17 and 23 April and Britain will be in a group with Croatia, Korea, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. The tournament will be preceded by two warm-up games against the Netherlands on 10th and 11th April in Nottingham and Sheffield respectively.

The following are the Giants players who have made the cut: Stephen Murphy, Nathan Craze, Shane Johnson, Kevin Phillips, Graeme Walton, Craig Peacock and Colin Shields.

It’s a strong squad overall and one that must feel somewhat confident about picking up some wins and who knows, maybe even promotion.

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Nathan Craze picked up his first career EIHL shutout, his team-mates put four past the Edinburgh Capitals in Dundonald and the Giants roared back to the top of the league thanks to the Panthers blowing a late lead against Newcastle. It’s been quite a month for the Giants topped off by the signing of Jeff Szwez who added to his four points in his first two games by picking up a goal and two assists tonight. He was joined in the scoring by Craig Peacock and Tom Walsh who scored a brace. The Giants have now won seven game in-a-row out of the nine they have played this month and finally look like a team that could well challenge for major trophies this season.

Their position at the top of the league is not completely secure however, they may hold an equal games played lead over second and third placed Nottingham and Cardiff respectively, but Coventry in forth sit just three points back with four games in hand and even Newcastle down in fifth are just four points back with three in hand. You can even go as far as seventh to find a team that can still overtake the Giants if they were to play their next six games before the Giants iced again to level the Giants in games played. That team is Edinburgh though their consistency in the early going suggests they won’t make up the ground, especially after tonight’s defeat. If you haven’t seen me mention reigning champs, Sheffield, that would be because they are languishing down in sixth place with just eight points from twelve games. A crisis in Sheffield isn’t far away and last night Matsos threatened changes.

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With Thornton back as coach and with Shields and Lyle on two year contracts all the was left to set the off season in full motion was some new players. A few days ago, we finally got one. Craig Peacock a 20-year old forward from the EPL will be joining up. A highly talented young player, Peacock will be looking to shine with the Giants after a short spell at the EIHL level with Basingstoke last year.