It wasn’t a weekend to remember for the Belfast Giants as they came up short in one of their worst performances in team history that had the fans booing them off the ice. Although they fired a deceiving, and surely record setting, 72-shots on the Newcastle Vipers goal the effort against a 9 man Newcastle team wasn’t there and they blew a four goal lead to lose 6-5 after a shootout.

Taking an early 4-0 lead had the fans settling into their seats for a Sunday evening snooze as their team had it easy against a Newcastle with such a short bench that they deserved credit for even bothering to show up. Just nine men had taken the ice for the injury hit team and with the score at four they’d have been forgiven for rolling over and taking the thumping that appeared to be coming their way.

Read More»

It was the biggest two games of the year for the Giants, a home-and-home against their biggest rivals for the Elite League title, the Coventry Blaze. Two wins here would go a long way to erasing the games in hand the Blaze have over the Giants that if won would put them in a comfortable position atop of the table. Unfortunately for the Giants they could do no better than coming away with just one point to their name after losing the away game of the two in overtime. It’s a big blow, but it isn’t even Christmas yet and with plenty of games still to be played, including quite a few against the Blaze themselves the Giants have to remain positive, though the Blaze are now the big favorites to win the title if they weren’t before.

Both games were close but the telling factor might well have been the injuries to key personnel, namely the Giants coach Steve Thornton who missed the games and couldn’t even make the trip to the away fixture because of his injuries. The short bench was never going to help, especially against a team like the Blaze and so these game came at the worst possible time. The Giants will now lick their wounds over the Christmas period and look to get back on track heading through the festive season and into the new year.

Last night in the Odyssey, following a defeat to the Vipers last weekend, the Giants had the chance to exact some revenge and they certainly went about doing that in clinical fashion with a massive 11-3 victory. The eleven goals for tied a team record for goals in a game (they have done it twice before) while the total of fifteen goals scored in total tied a record for goals in a game that involved the Giants (they have done it three times before). Goals in the game came by way of Pat Bateman (2), Steve Thornton (2), Craig Peacock (2), Brandon Benedict (1), Mark Morrison (1), Sean McMorrow (1), Evan Cheverie (1) and Jeff Szwez (1).

Both Pat Bateman and Steve Thornton picked up two goals and three assists while six other players registered multi-point games including Mark Morrison who grabbed his first goal of the season. Captain and top points scorer Colin Shields took until the seventh goal to get on the board and that was only with an assist as his quiet night allowed for nearly everyone else to get on board. In fact, only defenseman Michael Jacobsen and young forward Robbie Brown failed to pick up a point.

The highlight of the night however was the McMorrow goal. While on a hat trick Pat Bateman decided to pass up the opportunity to shoot for a team-mate who normally does the dirty work with his fists. McMorrow finished the tap-in and his celebration though was one that had the Giants benched doubled over laughing and the crowd equally entertained: He threw his glove in the air and proceeded to replicate shooting it with the but-end of his stick like a someone with a shut-gun hunting a bird. I guess when you don’t score very often as an enforcer and finally get your first goal at home, you have to make the most of it. An entertainer with his fists tonight he did it by putting the puck in the net.

The win sent the Giants back on top of the Elite League at least for a day or so until Coventry, who with games in hand, played again. But the team is really coming together now, everyone is contributing and the message to the league is clear that with an 11-3 win here and an 8-2 win last week against Edinburgh, the Giants mean business. Their next opposition is indeed the Capitals on Sunday.

…for any hockey fans living in Belfast. A comeback effort against Coventry that fell short on Friday night was followed by a shutout defeat to Newcastle on the road last night. It hasn’t been the best of starts for the Giants team, a team which by all accounts, that come directly from the fans at the games since I do not get to games myself anymore, the Giants have been very poor. Some fans even said the team look well behind the standard of last years team which only managed a 4th place finish in the league. Read More»

Steve Thornton has spoke up about the Giants powerplay so far this season and his thoughts on special team unit has not been good. And no wonder, the Giants are 0-25 with the man advantage through four games and if you look at average conversion rates of powerplay goals to chances the Giants have given up scoring a potential extra 4-5 goals. Given that the team sit second in the league in the early going it isn’t a disaster, yet, but it will effect results if the team do not improve quickly. Giving up a potential goal per game because your powerplay is poor will catch up with you eventually.

The signings are coming thick and fast now by Steve Thornton with Canadian Pat Bateman being the latest to join up. He signs on as a player and also a student with the University of Ulster through the Giants Scholarship Programme. The 26-year old spent last season in the ECHL with Gwinnett Gladiators and is a product of the NCAA system with Michigan University.

Read More»

Steve Thornton today spoke to Sky Sports News about his plans for next season. As well as telling them that his new season has already begun he noted that he hopes to retain most of the players from last season though does seem confined to losing star player Paul Deniset to a team in Europe.

Claiming that he wants to keep the majority of players that helped the team win two trophies in his first year as a head-coach was interesting considering General Manager Todd Kelman recently said in an interview that he would like to see an overhaul of the side.

Read More»

Shame. My second and last game of the 08-09 British Hockey season ended in defeat for the Giants. In the two games I seen over the period I have been back in Northern Ireland the team picked up two points from a game that wasn’t a classic and lost the game that was actually fun to watch. But the scores aside it was nice being back in the Odyssey, nice to see old faces, a good attendance and a nice shiny new and very effective pre-game show. Read More»

So I am getting ready to head out to the Odyssey Arena for my first Giants game of the year and what will likely only be the first of two I will see this entire season. I flicked onto the KotG forum to see any team news to be hit with the news that Steve Thornton has been handed a two-game suspension for the ‘accidental’ tripping of Curtis Cruickshank against Hull a week ago. Whoever made this decision needs hung from the rafters of the Odyssey Arena. Click below for the video. Read More»

The Giants have found Hull quite a hard team to overcome this season so it was to my pleasant surprise that I turned up the score when I got home from work this evening to see a score line of 8-2 in the Giants favor. The had just snapped their losing streak in time for my pending trip back to Northern Ireland for 10 days were I will take in two games that I really hope they can show me what everyone was raving about in the first few months of the season. Then I switched up the forums to hear the fans reviews and heard that all 8 of the Giants goals came against the back-up goalie of Hull. Read More»