Today’s game against the Nottingham Panthers was no ordinary league game. Well it was, but there was an extra to it for the Belfast Giants — today’s game was the 500th in the history of the club — and although a 1000th game will really be cause for celebration, I didn’t want to wait until some time in 2017 to write about it. Forget about the pathetic score, this is a moment many people never thought they would see. MORE »
Now that was one to get the fans off their seats. The Giants have been well known over the years for their third period come backs and last night they did it again. Putting the fans into a panic before lifting them up with a come from behind victory. The win was against title rivals Nottingham which also helped their cause it moved the team up a place above the Panthers into 3rd. MORE »
I didn’t see it, I didn’t even hear it, but that is what I would call a hockey game. The goal tending might well have been shocking but the forwards were on their game for both sides as the teams scored goals for fun right up until the dying minutes when the Giants from Bobby Robins grabbed the eventual winner. The game had it all, power play goals, two short handed goals for the Panthers, four goals in three minutes, three goals in two minutes and a huge come-back effort from Nottingham. But the Giants who really needed the win, got the win and get right back into the title race. MORE »
I haven’t wrote to much lately but then again the Giants haven’t played much lately. Following their terrible defeat to Hull the Giants had two games last weekend re-scheduled due to international games and so have had to wait until this weekend to try and put things to rights. Tonight they are in Nottingham for the first time this season as they look to get back to winning ways. Whether the two week break will be a good or bad thing for the team remains to be seen but we’ve only a few hours to wait to find out.
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 »
So after a terrible start to the year and a 16-game winning streak that pulled them from bottom to top, the Giants have gone back into free fall of late. A new losing streak has seen the boys slide down to forth place thanks to a huge Panthers win against the Bison last night. The Giants are now set to finish outside the top two places in the league for only the third time in their eight year history. The last time they finished forth was under Rob Stewart back in 2003-2004 - The first year of the Elite League - and Stewart duly lost his job. MORE »
So as it turns out this was the final Giants game of the year in the Odyssey Arena. Unfortunately the Giants could not send the biggest crowd of the year - a sellout crowd - home with the victory. The Nottingham Panthers took the win. With the league long gone this game was a squabble over playoff match-up positioning and with every opponent set to be a tough one if you’d offered me the two points or the two fight wins, I think on this occassions I’d take the fights!! Thankfully Lewis and Moran did the job with their fists and at least sent the fans home with something to talk about.
What is it with the Giants and not playing well in front of a big crowd.
Still, it was nice to see such a huge crowd to end another season of hockey in Belfast.
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.
Watch Carlyle Lewis give Ryan Shmyr a bit of a beating. Shmyr got the take down maybe but Lewis did all the damage. Big win for a guy on real fighting form and really protecting his team-mates.
The Giants have just beat the Panthers 6-2 tonight giving them their 13th win in a row, continuing the record, and almost as impressive, 34 goals in just 6 games. That’s an average of 5.67 goals per game over that span for a team who in the first half of the season were averaging just over two per game. Another incredible feat is that the scoring over the past two games - twelve goals in all - has come without the help of Ed Courtenay on either goals or assists. Remarkable considering the amount of helpers Ed has had this season, but proving the depth of the Giants team. Ed Courtenay who took a heavy hit last night used himself sparingly throughout the game leaving it to Captain George Awada to pick up a hat trick and to become the Giants all-time leading goal-scorer.
Awada who has struggled in front of goal this season may well have got the spark he needed to kick-start his season on picking up the hat-trick and the scoring record. It’s his first three goal game of the season and third of his Giants career.
The game also included another fight. By all accounts from the game, Ryan Shymr of the Panthers was trying to intimidate an already banged up Ed Courtenay. Carlyle Lewis didn’t appreciate it and dropped the gloves with Shmyr and give him a good hiding. It’s Lewis’ fifth fight in four games and the third in row done in the name of protecting his coach.
The win keeps the Giants in second place and keeps the pressure on the Coventry Blaze.
This kind of victory shows just how far the Giants have come this season.
It’s been one of the most fascinating seasons to watch as a Giants fan that I can remember. In contrast to the many seasons were we win game in game out and push for either first or second in the league title race then find a way to collapse in the playoffs (except that one great year in 2003), the Giants have had so much adversity to deal with.
Starting the season in such poor form, getting hammered night in night out, making player changes and finally going into a winning run that has pulled them up to mid-table going into the stretch drive which with the right kind of results could still see them get into the top three in the league. Last night was one of them games that a league winning team has. They don’t play well, in fact they are poor throughout most of it yet still find a way to pick up the points. Them kind of games are especially key at home. MORE »
Them games hurt. Your in the game, it’s tied, it’s heading for OT and possibly a shootout and a solid point is up for grabs when . . . Wham . . . Nottingham score with thirty seconds to go and all the points are lost and a home defeat is inflicted.
While the game may be remembered by the fans more for the Giants mascott the Gorilla being attacked by an idiotic over weight Nottingham fan in the crowd, much to the horror of a group of 8-10 year olds looking on. The Gorilla suffered minor injuries including the loss of his head while the perpatrator who clearly had issues with being able to handle his drink was escorted out of the arena.
I’ll not comment much on a disapointing result on the ice either but while Nottingham fans were concentrating on the Gorilla their players were stealing the show on the ice . . . As Shane Johnson pinched into the play on the final minute the Panthers hit the Giants on a 2 on 1 break and made them pay. It left me wondering was it not the sensible thing to sit back, play out the final minute and guarantee yourselves a point before going for the extra one in OT? I guess not and we ended up with nothing.
It’s the first home game I’ve gotten to in almost a month. It feels like a brand new season for me. Not seeing the team play for so long has felt like a mini off season. Tonight rivals Nottingham come into town and with a win the Giants can propel themselves up above the Panthers in the Elite League standings.
The Giants and Panthers have had some heated battles over the years though with Carlyle Lewis still out with a leg injury it’s unlikely to be as physical as in previous years though you never can tell. I just hope the Panthers don’t try taking liberties with our team missing the muscle from Carlyle.
It’s pretty clear I don’t like the Panthers at all and after such a poor start to the season it would be pretty sweet to now climb above them in the table.
The gloves finally came off after 4:57 of the third period. Lewis had been trying to goad Shmyr into a fight all night and finally Shmyr was willing to dance. Shmyr however didn’t seem interested in getting physical, opting to tie up Lewis for most of the fight leaving Lewis only a handful of chances to get punches in. In the end nobody really won but Lewis did throw all the few punches that there were.
