Last year I done a season preview of each team but to be honest I just don’t have the time right now as well as the knowledge of each team. It has been such a busy summer that I have only really been able to follow the Giants progress and if other teams is anything like the Giants, their line-up’s will have changed so much that any honest assessment would be useless until I had seen them all play. Teams who finished bottom last year could well be near the top this time out and vise-versa. That is the beauty of ice hockey though. The standings are never easy to predict and especially with the Elite League where the majority of teams are on one-year contracts teams can change so much between seasons. So the following is just a flash guide to the season with just a little bit on each team and what you MIGHT expect to see from them. Of course in 7-months time you could read back on this and see it as nothing more than rambling gibberish. MORE »

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.

For those unlucky not to have got to the game last night there’s a few clips up on Youtube.  Take a look:

Carlyle Lewis vs Brett Cloutier (Look for Carlyle’s great right hook at the 39 second mark).

Mark Morrison vs Luke Stauffacher (Rock ‘em Sock ‘em, stand back and Throw ‘em fighting here).

When the season is said and done and the fans are looking to kill time in the off-season talking about the best of the year gone past, I would imagine there will be little debate on the game of the year.  Last night’s game against Manchester will get the award.

The Giants beat the Phoenix 6-2 but not only did the game include goals and fast end-to-end play, it included two fights, some true hockey retribution, a penalty shot and the best atmosphere of the season.  My faith was restored in the need for an enforcer in hockey and anyone who tells me that fight’s do not have a place in the game . . . I will point them in the direction of this game.

In the second period of the match-up Ed Courtenay was rammed into the boards pretty hard by Phoenix tough-guy Brett Cloutier.  Being the player-coach and top scorer of the team, this did not sit well with Giants proverbial ‘police-man’ Carlyle who moments later took a run and flattened Phoenix player-coach and ex-Giants coach Tony Hand.  It sparked a pushing match and on the ensuing face-off the two tough guys came together to produce an excellent toe-to-toe scrap.  It’s the way hockey should be and credit to the referee for letting the two guys duke it out.  The fight cleaned the game up and ended any possibility for further dirty play and the referee knew it.

The fighting wasn’t done however, as the game attempted to re-start the two smallest guys on the ice - not to be out-done by the two biggest - dropped the gloves and helmets and went at it.  The Giants Mark Morrison leaving the Phoenix’s Stauffacher bloodied and needing treatment.  It all took place with only a few minutes left in the period and so the referee called the period early to let the Zamboni clean up the blood of Stauffacher.

When the game re-started fifteen minutes later there was no more penalties - A clean game of end to end hockey ensued.

The Giants who lead 3-1 going into the final framed turned up the gas scoring three more to take a victory by a margin that the Phoenix did not deserve to lose by.  The Phoenix had kept the game tight throughout with the first half of the match still tied at one.  The Phoenix missed a penalty shot with a great save by Stevie Lyle.  It sent the crowd wild and the Giants fed off the momentum scoring a few moments later to take the game by the scruff.

The Giants head into Nottingham tomorrow night, likely tired and maybe even a little beat up.  Ed Courtenay looked a little shaky after his hit from Cloutier.  He didn’t take a shift the rest of the second period but did come out to play in the third.

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 »

It’s been a while coming, much longer than most of us would have liked but the boo birds have finally been put to rest thanks to an upturn in form by the Belfast Giants. With the player changes appearing to click the Giants put in by far their most impressive preformance of the season at a sold out Dundalk Ice Dome. The atmosphere was electric and it times it helped carry an at times tired Giants team who were extremely short benched through the game. Icing without four key players the Giants were soon down five men when star player Mark Dutiaume picked up an injury. It didn’t stop the Giants who played with two forward lines for the majority of the night from pressing on and picking up the much needed win. MORE »

Phoenix 6, Giants 1

So the hope of starting a winning streak by getting back-to-back wins for the first time this season have been dashed in a big way with the Phoenix beating the Giants 6-1. As noted in the title, at least we ended the weekend +1 in the scoring charts! Eitherway the Giants are still a long way from being back on the right track and if we foolishly thought 24 hours ago that the two-week notice’s handed out earlier in the week were possibly going to be withdrawn, we can be reassured that surely they are still in place.

More to follow . . .

.. Of the entire season! Have we ever slumped so bad? Answer: No! Still, with a win last night the Giants have a chance to get onto somewhat of a roll. Let’s check up on things so far . . . MORE »

The past weekend was one to forget for the Giants.  Two huge defeats left them down near the bottom of the Elite League table.  On Saturday night it was a home game against Manchester Phoenix who came into the game looking for their first victory of the season but a fine display by ex-Giants player coach Tony Hand seen the Phoenix run out 6-3 winners.  The following night a team already low in confidence this early in the season went into an arena they have rarely came away with a result in and duely got beaten 6-2.  It leaves the Giants with one win and two defeats so far in the league and three defeats in all.  MORE »

This summer may already feel like winter but it’s not quite hockey time yet, well actually now that the season is upon us it is indeed hockey time again.  With the season only a few weeks one day away and with obviously no blogging time left I guess it’s about time to try finish up the preview each of the teams with as much knowledge as I actually have of them anyway!  Next up it’s the Phoenix:  MORE »