The Giants look set to make a major announcment regarding two players signing on for 06-07. One is the re-signing of star goalie Mike Minard for a second season and the other is his brother Chris Minard.

Chris who currently plays in the ECHL for the Alaska Aces has also had a spell this season in the AHL with the Albany River Rats. The signing would be a major coup for the Giants and also see the brothers playing together for the first times in their professional careers. In all 33 ECHL games this season Chris has put together 26 goals, 16 assists for 42 points and 38 penalty minutes. In the AHL he managed an impressive, 7 goals, 12 assists for 19 points in 37 games with 26 penalty minutes.

Mike Minard was voted to the leagues second all-star team last year and back-stopped the Giants all the way to the playoff semi-finals. He had a 27-12 record with a 2.17 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in the regular season and a 3-2 record with a 2.50 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in the playoffs.

Stay tuned for more.

Ed Courtenay is set to announce his return to the Belfast Giants. In the previous blog I said how Ed was mulling a decision to return over, well he’s came to his decision and his decision will be back to Belfast for a second year.
The news will delight Giants fans as it will be the first time since Dave Whistle that they have had the same coach over multiple years. Ed who lead the Giants to league championship success will be back and hoping to build a team capiable of retaining the league title and gunning for the playoffs.
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Theo Fleury who announced he would be leaving Belfast at the end of the year appears set to move to Japan. The move will shock a lot of fans as it was believed the intended destination for Theo was back to North America and possibly a shot at the NHL. Japan will offer Theo more money than he would ever get in the Elite League but will also be a new challenge for the ex-NHL superstar who’s turning into quite the globetrotter.
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Second line centerman Colin Shields also looks set to leave the Giants, infact he looks set to leave these shores altogether as he takes his play to the Swiss leagues. Rumour has it that Shields had an agreement already in place when he joined the Giants to play for an unnamed Swiss team next season.

Talk in the hockey sections of the local media this Easter weekend is all about whether player coach Ed Courtenay will be back behind the Giants bench next September but as is clearly evident there’s a few important things standing in the way, but will Ed be able to turn down the challenge of retaining the Elite title and pushing for the playoff crown next year?

The major factor standing in the way of Ed coming back to the Giants again is family. Ed’s wife and kids live out in South Carolina and the lack of seeing his family may be a reason that Ed decides to return to the other side of the Atlantic this off season. Thanks to a favourable schedule this season there where enough breaks to allow Ed to return home to visit the wife and kids and the hope of a similar schedule is what we hope for to make Ed decide he can come back.

One thing that’s likely is if Ed does return it will not be as a player-coach, but the Giants need continuity behind the bench after 4 coaches in 4 years, and big Ed is the man that could bring that. Dave Whistle is the last and only man to have coached the Giants for multiple seasons and that ended in 2003 when he left for a short stint in Germany.

Since then Rob Stewart and Tony Hand have had seasons behind the bench before Ed’s arrival and there’s nothing the fans, and even management would like more than to see the same face year after year building upon each season. It’s the proven way to success.

So we say, bring back Ed, offer him the contract now and get him signing. The sooner we have our man behind the bench the more time he has to recruit a winning team… After all, he put together a league winning team in just one month. Currently there is 4.5 months before face-off in 06-07. The possibilities are exciting indeed.