Once upon a time this weekend of a hockey season would always fill me with joy. It was a chance to get back to the Odyssey Arena, see what they had changed since I’d been away, see how much the beer had gone up by, but most of all, see the latest installment of the Belfast Giants take to the ice. There was always a rash of new players, something that is controversial with some fans, but something that you just have to live with at this levels. Still, it was nice to see a new set of players, find out what they brought to the team and discover what this team might have to offer for the season ahead?
The Belfast Giants are into the final throws of the 2010/11 Elite League seasons and it has reached desperation stages. Actually, it has reached that horrible stage were you now desperately require the opposition to drop points in order for you to win the championship. One look at the league table and there is reason to be optimistic that it could happen. Both Belfast and Sheffield have three games remaining and the Giants trail by just the one point, but flick up the fixture list and the pessimism quickly begins to set in.
My visit back to Northern Ireland over Christmas was a great one. It always is. Well, the travel aside I suppose which was a bit of a nightmare, but the bit in between the traveling was a lot of fun; Christmas, New years, friends, family and of course a trip back to the Odyssey Arena to see the Giants. I didn’t know what to expect really having not seen them play a game in exactly two years. Did I expect the Odyssey to look bigger? Smaller? A new lick of paint? The scoreboard looked higher than before and they had new championship banners, but give or take a few subtle things, it was like I had never been away. We still parked the car in the same area, we still arrived with a few moments to spare and they still sold the watered down beer in them plastic pint cups (though in comparison to what I’ve got used to with Toronto sports teams, it’s remarkably cheap!). All in all, it was the same game-night I had last seen two years before and had enjoyed on an almost weekly basis during the hockey season for eight years prior. But what about on the ice?
I meant to write an article last week about the Giants and how they were doing given that they had hit the 27 game plateau for the 2010/11 season and marking the halfway point in their so far excellent season. But stuff got in the way – namely a new iPad – and before I knew it they had played their 28th game. Thankfully the 29th was abandoned due to heavy snow and ice (I know I’m not the only one that sees the irony in a hockey game being cancelled due to winter conditions) and so I’m only one game out when I write my half-way to glory, thoughts. Thankfully as well, the Giants won that 28th game and still sit pretty on top of the Elite League meaning that this review can be wholly positive.
Leave it to my beloved Belfast Giants of the British Elite League to release what is sure to go down as one of the great hockey music videos of all time as the players shamelessly, but brilliantly, lip-sync and dance to Mariah Carey’s classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” It’s a well put together video, and while hilarious, it is also an advertising masterstroke as the video promotes the clubs Christmas schedule of which I for sure will be attending given my upcoming Christmas trip back to Northern Ireland. The video itself has gone viral thanks to various hockey blogs such as Yahoo’s Puck Daddy and across Twitter with many hockey fans getting some festive cheer thanks to the antics of the Belfast Giants.
I wouldn’t quite say it feels like yesterday, but it certainly doesn’t feel like ten years. Maybe about five years? I mean there has been enough ups and downs to make us all aware that the Giants have been around for a while, but the thought that ten full years of hockey has passed under the Odyssey Arena bridge is hard to believe even though we’ve always known it was the 2nd December 2000 that they officially arrived in town. That’s right, on these words the memories come flooding back that today marks ten years to the day that professional hockey arrived in Belfast – and I wasn’t even there.
If you were lucky enough to have a ticket to the Belfast Giant – Boston Bruins game last night you’ll know how jealous I was about not getting to see what was sure to become one of the great memories in the already memorable ten years of the club. While their was plenty of action in the game, including the wonderful moment when the Belfast Giants took the lead after holding the Bruins off the score for over half the game, there was also loads of action off the ice as various media outlets from Boston and Belfast covered the game. The exposure was superb for the Giants and the British League as a whole. Below is links to Twitter addresses of beat writers, bloggers and other media folk covering the game as well a bunch of links to the entire weekend that I have managed to come across. As I come across anymore I will add them on. Enjoy.
Being stuck in Canada and away from the thick of the hockey action in Belfast might sound like a strange statement to say in a hockey context, but for me – a Belfast Giants fan – knowing that the Boston Bruins of the NHL have landed in Belfast, practiced in the Odyssey, had a civic reception with the Lord Mayor of Belfast and are getting ready to face the Belfast Giants select team tomorrow night, makes me feel like Southern Ontario is some kind of hockey wilderness. Via Twitter and various websites I have at least been able to see what has been going on, follow pictures of the Bruins trip so far and find out what people are saying ahead of the game. Unfortunately the game isn’t on TV here and I’ll be out for the day so I’ll have to make do with my phone for updates and hope that sooner rather than later some online highlights become available followed by a full-game DVD for purchase. Because I’m not around tomorrow I won’t be doing any on-site updates or chit-chat but no doubt from everything I hear and everything that is written I’ll put together some sort of review of the weekend without actually haven seen it.
It’s great stuff this for British Hockey and for the sport in Northern Ireland and it’s great publicity for Belfast. I hope the Bruins are enjoying their trip and I hope we can give them a decent game tomorrow night.
Over on my website PRBsports.com I have put up an article all about tomorrow’s epic night for the Giants against the Boston Bruins. I’ve taken the angle that not everyone reading knows the Giants and knows the British Leagues but mainly I’ve taken the approach that I am bitterly jealous that I am not getting to be a part of yet another memorable night in the Odyssey, yet extremely proud of the teams, Todd Kelman and the fans that something like this is happening. It just shows how far this team has come and the exposure gained via Tourism, media coverage and potential new fans can only ever be a good thing. Whatever the result – probably a big Bruins win – it’ll be a magical and fun night and I hope Todd’s hopes of having fans from many of the Elite Leagues teams coming to watch come to pass and that the building is rocking like it was in the old days when the east-tier – rumoured to be making an appearance on Saturday night – was a regular fixture at Giants games.
With the Giants players currently in Nottingham on the fringes of another new season I thought I would put together a little questionnaire for myself to preview the team by and give my own hopes and fears for the season ahead with a few unusual odds thrown in to boot… Read More»
