While the fans of the EIHL are getting loaded up on booze in various watering holes across Nottingham city centre on the Friday night of the playoff weekend, the great and the good of the EIHL and those who were willing to shell out on a ticket, will be at a venue in the city to see who gets awarded what for their play this season at the EIHL awards dinner.

There are eight awards up for grabs and four Giants players have been nominated. Colin Shields is in for three awards with Colin Murphy up for two. Jeff Szwez and Tim Cook are in for one award each, so the Giants are well represented. Actually, there should be five Giants players in for awards but more on that at the bottom of this blog.

Here are the shortlists for each award:

Goalie of the Year
Peter Hirsch (Coventry), Stephen Murphy (Belfast), Cody Rudkowsky (Edinburgh).

Defenseman of the Year
Tim Cook (Belfast), Wes Jarvis (Cardiff), Jonathan Weaver (Coventry).

Forward of the Year
Greg Chambers (Coventry), Luke Fulghum (Coventry), Colin Shields (Belfast).

British Player of the Year
Stephen Murphy (Belfast), Colin Shields (Belfast), Jonathan Weaver (Coventry).

Newcomer of the Year
Owen Fussey (Edinburgh), Cameron Mann (Nottingham), Jeff Szwez (Belfast).

Elite League MVP
Greg Chambers (Coventry), Luke Fulghum (Coventry), Colin Shields (Belfast).

Coach of the Year
Doug Christiansen (Edinburgh), Corey Neilson (Nottingham), Paul Thompson (Coventry).

‘The Sean McMorrow’ fans Favorite*
Jade Galbraith (Nottingham), Luke Fulghum (Coventry), Colin Shields (Belfast).

Read More»

Todd Kelman, GM of the Giants, has spoke for the first time since news broke this weekend of an indictment from the United States out against team enforcer Sean McMorrow for trafficking drugs across the Canadian/US border between 2005 and not surprisingly the Giants are backing their player.

“We’re backing him 100 per cent until we find out otherwise,” said Kelman, who had yet to speak directly to McMorrow as of Sunday afternoon.

“He’s innocent until proven guilty in my eyes, and until I hear differently then I’ll back Sean. I know him well enough to know he’s an outstanding guy and has been great for us in the community.

“He’s been an outstanding individual and a great part of the team. I’m sure it’s been a shock to him as well, it came out of nowhere from our end.”

— Todd Kelman talking to Sky Sports

I’m glad to hear this and I hope McMorrow is able to clear his name sooner than later and get back to playing though at this late stage in the season, who knows if he’ll make it back in time for the playoffs or not?

Whether McMorrow has flown back to the States already or whether he is in communication with his lawyer from Northern Ireland is not known though Kelman did seem to hit that McMorrow was talking to his lawyer from Belfast.

Reports have suggested that Sean McMorrow has flown back to the States to try clear his name after news broke yesterday that he had a criminal indictment out against him, accusing him of trafficking drugs. McMorrow who activly interacts with his fans on Facebook, had the following message this morning:

Sean McMorrow is accused of nasty, untrue allegations – number one priority is to clear my family name – I am shocked and very upset about this…thanks to everyone for their support and patience for me to clear my name of this

No word as of yet from the Belfast Giants though I would assume they will stand beside him while he is still innocent until proven guilty. When or if we seen McMorrow again I would assume will come down to how quickly this process runs.

I wish him well and hope he does indeed clear his name. It just seems so strange that allegations from over five years ago have suddenly come out now.

I got a link to a news story coming out of Rochester, USA on the WHEC.com website today and after picking my jaw up off the floor I have decided to copy it here and let you make of it what you will. I will go back and read it a few more times and make sure my eyes are not playing some kind of crazy trick on me.

He was known as an enforcer during his time with the Rochester Amerks. Now, I-Team 10 has learned of a criminal indictment against Sean McMorrow, accusing him of trafficking drugs.

McMorrow was a popular player and active in the community during his four seasons with the Amerks but during that same time period, the FBI says he was bringing significant shipments of marijuana across the border from Canada.

Now there is a warrant for the arrest of Sean McMorrow.

This week, a federal grand jury handed up a two count indictment, accusing the former Amerk of peddling drugs he brought across the border.

McMorrow knew how to electrify the crowd. As an Amerk from 2002 to 2006, he never backed down from a fight. But I-Team 10 has obtained a federal indictment handed up this week in Rochester. It accuses the 28-year-old of conspiring with others to distribute marijuana.

Defense attorney Lawrence Kasperek said, “Our position is Sean is innocent of any charges regarding these circumstances. I don’t know what the nature of the government’s proof is yet. We just learned of the indictment ourselves.”

Federal authorities say he smuggled more than 100 kilograms or roughly 220 pounds of marijuana through customs from Canada.

“It was several trips across the border over that time period from 2003 to April 2005. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Harvey would not provide details of how the investigation came about or why the charges are being brought now, five years later. He did, however, say that it does not appear McMorrow was trafficking the drugs while travelling across the border with the Amerks. “I have no information that he, in any way, utilized his position as an Amerk to engage in this type of activity. As far as I know, it was separate.”

I-Team 10 contacted the Amerks this afternoon. The front office declined comment as McMorrow played here under different ownership.

But don’t expect McMorrow to appear in federal court right away. He’s currently playing hockey in Belfast, Northern Ireland and may have to be extradited in order to answer to the charges.

Harvey said, “We have to go through a process of trying to locate Mr. McMorrow specifically. Yea, there is an arrest warrant for him and we will pursue that with due speed.”

McMorrow was twice named amerce man of the year in 2003 and 2006, for his service to the community. On his bio page with the Belfast Fiants, he says “I take pride in being a good role model for the kids that come to see us play.”

Kasperek said, “He’s known for his commitment to young people. He’s been a, frankly, liaison for a number of hockey teams he’s belonged to and he’s always acted in the best interest of the children.”

These criminal charges seem to contradict his community good-guy image.

Harvey said, “Well, I don’t know what would be out of character for Mr. McMorrow, I just know what the allegations are in the indictment.”

Currently there is no scheduled court date for McMorrow to appear. His attorney did say they will be in communication with the U.S. Attorney’s office to try to arrange for his appearance.

If convicted, McMorrow could face up to 40 years in prison.

Click here to read the indictment.

Sean McMorrow? Really?

Well all I can say and all I will say is that while this is of course no conviction of guilt, it will be interesting to see how the Giants go forward with it. I suspect they will have to take McMorrow out of the line-up for the time being until he decides what his next step is. It’s unfortunate on many levels this news, but even on the most basic level for Giants fans it’s a shame as McMorrow has been a fan favorite for the Giants this season with his many fights and entertaining style of play. McMorrow has also unofficially been the Giants community rep this season making numerous public appearances and has, in his short spell, gave a lot back and is in the process of arranging an inline skating school for young people and recently said he planned to stay on in Belfast this summer and run a Hockey school. All that though is the least of his worries now and while I don’t know him personally and I certainly cannot condone what he is alleged to have done, as a Giants fan, I can only wish him the best going forward.

The Giants took on the Steelers this weekend in two games that turned into two high scoring classics. In one the Giants, in front of their home crowd, had to come from behind to take a big win before going to Sheffield and beating the Steelers again by a single goal, 6-5. It was perfect hockey full of end to end goals, good atmosphere and lots of fighting. I just wish I could have been there – I didn’t even get to see the webcast.

Aside from all the goals flying into the net – which I can’t really talk much about having not been there and having not seen footage of, the games were billed as a chance to find out who is the EIHL’s heavyweight champions when it comes to the fighting side of the game.

Sean McMorrow took on Mike Sgroi in Belfast and won, and then a night later in Sheffield he beat him again which seemed to infuriate Sgroi as he chased McMorrow down after the fight was broken up like a nutcase, continuing the fight and getting beaten further. He then went after McMorrow again after they came out of the box, and yes, you can guess the outcome.

The night of fighting was rounded out when lightweights Tim Cook and Robert Farmer went at it with the Giants completing the clean sweep in the fights over the two games, and a little later on the clean sweep in the results also.

Here is a look at the fight video’s: Read More»

I got the recent edition of the Elite Stats Weekly e-mail into my inbox this evening which is packed full of information on teams and players across the Elite League. I had a skim through and even used some of the numbers to help me get the site back up-to-date but also seen some interesting statistics that I had a closer look at.

Colin Shields is leading the Elite League in points scoring with 81 in total, five ahead of Jade Galbraith (the leagues primary set-up man with 57 assists in 49 games) of Nottingham and nine up on Greg Chambers of Coventry. Shields is on a torrid pace and if he keeps up the current rate of scoring he should finish the regular season having played 64 games and scoring 45 goals and 101 points, smashing any previous Giants records for goals and points in a season. He is second in goal scoring with 36 to Coventry’s Luke Fulghum who sits on 40 goals.

Jeff Szwez is another Giants player leading a category with six short handed goals, one ahead of Jeff Legue of Sheffield. David Clarke of Nottingham leads the league in powerplay goals with 14. Evan Cheverie is Mr. Clutch for the Giants with five game winning goals – Adam Calder leads with eight.

Then there is the physical side of the game with penalty minutes and Sean McMorrow of the Giants leads that category also with a massive 344 in total, 40 ahead of Brad Voth of Cardiff who sits on 314. Third place is ex-Giant Jeff Hutchins all the way down on 197. At this current pace Sean McMorrow looks set to hit 458 penalty minutes for the year which is a staggering number considering the all-time record by a Giants player in a season is currently Paxton Schulte with 424 from 2003/04.

Between the pipes the Giants come out top again through Stephen Murphy who leads the league in save percentage with a total of .922 ahead of Peter Hirsch of Coventry on .919 and Michel Robinson of Newcastle on .914. Murphy also leads in goals against average with 2.30 ahead of Kevin St. Pierre of Nottingham on 2.80 and ex-Giants tender, Stevie Lyle now of Cardiff on 2.82.

So what about team stats?

Ask any Giants fan and they’ll tell you the penalty killing is pretty good but the powerplay is awful and the stats don’t lie. The Giants have the third worst powerplay in the Elite League with a 17% hit rate compared to the leagues best of 23.4% from Sheffield. It’s surprising that considering the Giants are actually second in the standings with Sheffield second last. Shorthanded the Giants are much stronger coming in second best in the league on 83.9% behind Sheffield who sit on 84.4%. Very very strange Sheffield leading both powerplay and shorthanded categories yet struggling so much in the standings overall.

In goals per game the Giants are always high on the charts. Ever since the teams inception in 2000/01 the team have always been known as an offence first team and one that has been high up, if not leading, the goals per game ratio. This year is no different with the team currently second in goals per game with 3.9, just 0.2 behind Coventry who lead on 4.1 goals per game. At home the Giants are averaging an impressive 4.5 goals per game - not bad from a Giants team who some fans believe are lacking up front.. For what it is worth the Stingrays bring up the rear with a poor 2.5 goals per game. The Giants also lead the shots on goal totals with an average of 37.6 per game and sit second last in penalty minutes per game with 22.7 dispelling theories that the referees in the league are anti-Giants or that the team are ill-disciplined.

I’ve spent the last little while updating the fight section on the site, giving it a full revamp. I’ve tracked down lost fights, old video’s as well as updating all-time statistics as individual season statistics. Fights are broken down to individual seasons with details of each fight as well as fighting majors for the season per player and against individual teams. In the coming weeks and months I hope to add in profiles of individual players and their fight stats – enough to keep the Giants fight fan busy for a while!

Of course, there’s only videos of fights I could fine but if you see any fights without a video link, let me know and I’ll be sure to link it up.

For interests sake, Did you know:

- Sean McMorrow has now had more fights in a single season (20) than any other Giants season.

- The Giants have had more fights this season (35) than in any other season before.

- Paxton Schulte has had more fights than any Giants player in team history with 31. Shawn Skiehar is second on 21 with Jason Bowen and Sean McMorrow on 20.

- There have been 132 fights at home games and 125 on the road with four occasions when there have been four fights in a single game and one occasions when a player has had three fights in a single game (Shawn Skiehar).

- In December 2000 the Giants got into 14 fights in one month.

The homepage of the Giants fighting information can be found here with links to individual seasons.

Warning: Incase you listen to this and somehow managed to get all excited for the game they are talking about, I’m a bit late on this one and the game has actually taken place, but it is worth pointing out anyway since it involves a Giants player – and not just any Giants played but the most talked about Giants player of all-time on message forums – Sean McMorrow.

The Sheriff appeared on BBC Radio Sheffield talking to their hosts about his teams upcoming double header (this past weekend) against Sheffield Steelers (in which each team won one game a piece) while also having an on-air chit-chat with Steelers new enforcer Mike Sgroi. The chat with Sgroi is the interesting point – an insight into what some of these tough guys think about one another. If you’re looking fireworks and trash talking then don’t bother, the respect is clearly there between these two heavies who have been doing the dirty work for their teams for over a decade now but it is worth tuning in to hear how they set up their fight for the first period of the first game between the two teams. (They did indeed go in the first and McMorrow got the edge).

Detractors will crucify this as them ‘arranging the fight’, but in Hockey this is something McMorrow would be expected to do. He is the leagues top enforcer and when someone new comes in to enforce for his team it’s only right that McMorrow gives him his stage, welcomes him to the league and lets him set a tone for his own team. Thankfully when it did happen McMorrow won the scrap and then the teams got on with the Hockey. The Giants won that one and lost the following night were both big boys kept clear of one another.

McMorrow goes on to say how he’d like every team to carry a player like himself and Sgroi on the line-ups and it’s hard to disagree with him. It would be good to see an extra element of entertainment on top of the skillful hockey some teams are producing and it would help add to the rivalries.

The irony in this radio piece though is that this is the same Sheffield team that earlier in the season said they were going down the skill hockey only route and that McMorrow wouldn’t be able to “buy a fight” against Sheffield but after a poor start to the year they have addressed a potential weakness by adding some toughness to the line-up (or if not to change fortunes at least give the fans something to cheer about) to fight, who else, but Sean McMorrow.

Perhaps looking for a fellow and regular dance partner, Giants enforcer Sean McMorrow has welcomed tough nut Mike Sgroi to the Sheffield Steelers calling him “an excellent addition to the Steelers team and a great signing for the Elite League.” Sgroi comes with a reputation of being a guy who can fight and play a bit and should add to the entertainment factor in games between the Giants and Steelers. With the Steelers struggling so far this season, especially domestically, their coach Dave Matsos has looked to shake up the line-up. Brad Cruickshank has moved to Coventry and Sgroi comes in to replace him. The Steelers organization has obviously seen what a McMorrow can do for entertainment with the fans both home and on the road and have looked to bring in someone of a similar ilk. McMorrow himself was full of praise while taking a not-so-subtle dig at his big rival Brad Voth.

“What kind of guy is he? perhaps the complete opposite of a Brad Voth, Mike Sgroi is a team guy, he puts his team first not him self, he will entertain the fans, protect his team mates and do whatever is best for his fellow players, not necessarily what is best for him self, he is the real deal,” clearly letting us know what kind of player he thinks Voth is at the same time and no doubt sparking their rivalry more.

“Mike is respected by many NHL and AHL tough guys as a clean fighter, he is an honest tough guy, sure he knows his role but he wont cheap shot a guy, he won’t try and beat a guy when he is down, the fans of Sheffield are in for a treat, he is the perfect player for the Steelers and the perfect player for our league,” said McMorrow, again pointing a finger towards Voth who McMorrow feels jumped him the last time they played.

McMorrow went on to say what many of us believe, ”The fans in this league deserved to be entertained, I try and do that and so will Mike Sgroi. The Steelers have a good man, a tough man and a good hockey player, the City will love him.”

Voting is complete for the starting line-ups for the EIHL all-star game on 27 January at Ice Sheffield and the announcements of who has made the team, especially from the Giants, has raised some eyebrows, but reminded us the risks involved with fan votes.

Stephen Murphy, Colin Shields and Jeff Szwez all made it, and rightly so, but Sean McMorrow, enforcer for the Giants and a fan favorite, has also been voted onto the team and while McMorrow is great to watch, even he would admit that he is a little out of place on an ‘all-star’ team in that sense of the word.
But then again, this is a popularity contest among EIHL fans and people want to see McMorrow and while he won’t fight or even hit, no doubt he’ll be entertaining in some capacity.

The Elite British All-Stars, coached by Sheffield’s Dave Matsos, will be back-stopped by Stephen Murphy of the Belfast Giants. Patrolling the blueline will be Coventry’s Jonathan Weaver and Stevie Lee from the Nottingham Panthers. Completing the line-up are forwards Colin Shields (Belfast Giants), David Clarke (Nottingham Panthers) and Lee Esders (Hull Stingrays).

The Overseas All-Stars, will be coached by Nottingham Panthers’ Corey Neilson. In-between the pipes will be Peter Hirsch of the Coventry Blaze, while defencemen Dominic D’Amour (Nottingham Panthers) and Adam Knight (Hull Singrays) have been selected at the back. Belfast Giants’ enforcer Sean McMorrow and team-mate Jeff Szwez will be joined by Panthers’ leading goalscorer Jade Galbraith to complete the line-up.

— eliteleague.co.uk, 6 Jan’10

Some fans will be frustrated about fan voting making a mockery out of an all-star game, but lets face it, this isn’t a serious game – it’s a gimmick – so why not have some fun with it by indeed letting fans vote. The rest of the teams will be selected by the respective coaches and I would expect the import all-stars to win pretty comfortably.

By the way, is there a skills competition?