Kingdom of the Giants :: Belfast Giants Fan Community, News & Views

Murphy's Back

KotG — 2012-05-09T07:00:00+01:00

Stephen Murphy, the two time KotG MVP, first team EIHL all star and statistically best rated goalie in the 2011/12 EIHL has put pen to paper on a contract committing him to the Belfast Giants for a fourth season in 2012/13.

Considered by many as THE key part of the Elite League winning Giants team of 2012, the fans will be delighted to see Murphy return to attempt to retain that title for Belfast. During that title winning run, Murphy won 46 out of 54 league games as the Giants set a new record for the highest points total in EIHL history.

While conceding an average of under 2 goals per game, Murphy gave the team in front of him a chance to win every night - something he will look to continue to do this forthcoming season, despite a slightly underwhelming World Championship performance from the GB number 1.

With most of the key Britsh slots on the roster now filled, coach Christiansen will be turning his attention to filling the various import slots to supplement what once more looks like a potentially solid spine to the team.

Garside Returns, Towe Tempted Over the Irish Sea

KotG — 2012-05-03T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants have announced two further signings for the 2012-13 roster with the return of Mark Garside and the addition of Matt Towe.

Garside has joined on a 2 year deal with 12/13 being his third season in Belfast. Playing a key role on the penalty kill and performing as one of the team's top face off men, Garside picked up 50 points including 10 goals and will hope to continue to improve with the comfort of a 2 year deal in place.

Matt Towe joins from the Guildford Flames of the EPL where he has notched 118 points in just 92 games over the last 2 seasons. 92 of those points have come in the form of assists hinting that Towe is more of a set up guy than the man whose skates he may be seen to coming in to fill - his former team mate Robert Dowd. Prior to his two years in Guildford Towe was a member of the Cardiff Devils for three years picking up 53 points in 162 games. It will be interesting to see what role he will play in Belfast this year.

While the Giants have lost top scorer Dowd, the addition of Towe and David Phillips may be considered a decent pay off for this loss, but only time will tell.

Former Giant Brie-ses Back Into Town

KotG — 2012-05-01T07:00:00+01:00

Former Belfast Giant David Phillips will be returning to the Odyssey ice in the 2012/13 season after signing a 2 year deal with the Elite League champions.

Phillips previously turned out in the teal, white and red in the 2008/9 season after moving across the Irish Sea at a young age from Hull. Picking up a career high 25 points in 54 games was enough to help the Giants to claim two trophies and to put the Beverley native on the radar of clubs across the Atlantic. After initially agreeing to return to Belfast the offer to attend AHL and NHL training camps in north America was too much and Phillips was allowed to pursue a career in the USA.

During his two years in north America Phillips continued to mature playing a total of 64 AHL games for 9 points and 65 PIMs representing the Rockford Ice Hogs, Chicago Wolves and Lake Erie Monsters with a further 50 ECHL games for Toledo Walleye and Gwinnett Gladiators which yielded 12 points and 32 PIMs.

The bouncing around between ECHL and AHL began to grate on Phillips and last year he was tempted back to the comfort of the UK to join Coventry, announced as a huge coup by the Blaze. In a season which badly disappointed for Coventry, Phillips was the target of much of the ire of the Blaze fans melting under the pressure of being the number one guy. Rumours of his dismissial began to circulate and it was proven again that there is often no smoked without fire as Phillips was released not long after Christmas. Danish side S�nderjyskE then picked Phillips up for the remainder of the year.

With the loss of Robert Dowd being a big area of concern for the Giants, the signing of Phillips will perhaps help to alleviate some of that worry. By picking up a quality defenseman with recent top level AHL experience, coach Christiansen has scope to bring in a further import forward, while Phillips will be allowed to play a more simple game as part of a defensive core, without being relied upon to be the number one straight off.

Craig Peacock is Back in Belfast

KotG — 2012-04-25T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants are delighted to announce that returning for a fourth season in Belfast is top line British forward Craig Peacock. After losing Dowd, who along with Peacock led the Giants in scoring with 78 points last season, the retention of Peacock was considered crucial by many.

Peacock's scoring has increased season by season in Belfast and 2011/12 saw him finish tied for 11th in the league statistics while topping the table for most assists on the Belfast Giants side. Falling just one goal short of the magic 30 mark, Peacock added 49 assists to reach that 78 point mark after picking up 47 and 53 points in his previous two seasons in Belfast - a trend he will hope to continue.

Peacock now finds himself 9th all time on the list of points scorers for the Giants with 178 points in 3 seasons. His 80 goals are good for 8th place and his 98 assists put him in 11th place. These totals put him in sight of various Giants legends of the past including Paxton Schulte, Curt Bowen, Todd Kelman and Shane Johnson with regards to scoring. Talked about as a future leader, Giants fans will be hoping to see Peacock for many years to come. "The reason I originally came to the Giants is because I knew there would always be an opportunity to play for championships. That is why we all play the game, to win championships and I would expect to be competing for titles again next season."

Dowd and Out

KotG — 2012-04-24T07:00:00+01:00

After playing a key role in successive EIHL championship wins - 2011 with Sheffield and last season with Belfast - star player Robert Dowd has left the Belfast Giants to sign in the Swedish second tier HockeyAllsvenskan with Troja Ljungby.

Dowd followed up his outstanding EIHL campaign - where he became the first Giant to score 40 goals in a season - by top scoring for Team GB in the World Championships helping GB stay in the division with a win in their last game against Hungary. Dowd picked up 5 goals and 4 assists including a hat trick in just 5 games. This was also good enough to place Dowd as top scorer in the tournament.

Troja finished 10th last season in the 14 team league and will be hoping Dowd can help them to improve upon this position this year.

While the departure of Dowd leaves a huge hole in the Giants offensive lines, Doug Christiansen has begun the search for his replacement. Several options remain for the Giants. It will be almost impossible to sign a similar quality British forward with many of the best impact players signed up already. One option may be to sign an impact defenceman - David Phillips may be available, for example - and fill Dowd's spot with an import scoring forward. It certainly sets an early off season challenge for championship winning coach Christiansen.

Giants on International Duty

KotG — 2012-04-20T07:00:00+01:00

Just because the playoffs are finished and the ice in the Odyssey has poured off down the drains for the summer months does not mean every Giant is out relaxing in the early summer sun.

Robert Dowd, Craig Peacock, Stephen Murphy and Mark Garside have all been selected for the GB & NI team who are playing in Division 1A in Slovenia. GB were drawn in a tough group with Austria, host nation Slovenia, Ukraine, Hungary and Japan.

With 4 of the 5 games played, GB find themselves in a precarious position. Facing the home side in the first game, GB fell to a 3-2 loss. This was then followed by a humbling 7-3 loss to Austria. Both of these sides have already claimed promotion to the world group with a game left to play. GB then picked up their first win of the tournament with a 4-3 OT win against the Ukraine, led by Giants star Dowd. A win against Japan would then have kept GB safe from relegation worries - but it was not to be as Japan inflicted a 5-0 drubbing on the team. This means that GB sit just one point ahead of Ukraine who are bottom of the table. GB face Hungary on Saturday while Ukraine play Japan. After finishing in a medal position last year, this is a bit of a come down for the GB side with their future in the balance.

For GB, Giant Robert Dowd leads the team in scoring with 3+3 including a hat trick along with linemate Colin Shields, while Craig Peacock is tied for second in scoring with 1+3 playing on the same line.

Meanwhile in Turkey Ireland are also in World Championship action in Division 3 alongside the hosts, Greece, Korea, Luxembourg and Mongolia. After 4 games Ireland have 2 wins and 2 defeats with the wins comiong against Greece and Mogolia to have the side sitting comfortably mid table. Things could be so much better after Ireland let slip a 3-0 lead to lose 5-3 to Turkey who top the group.

Giants forward Gareth Roberts scored a hat trick in that Turkey game and is comfortably the top points scorer for Ireland with 7+7 in just the 4 games. This record is good enough to have Roberst at the top of the competition scoring charts, 5 points ahead of Luxembourg's Robert Beran. Former Giant Gareth Martin is next in the scoring charts for Ireland with 3+3 in the 4 games so far.

Raging Semi

KotG — 2012-04-11T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants saw the curtain come down on their 2012 Playoff title chase on Saturday afternoon, losing out 4-3 after penalty shots in the National Ice Centre in Nottingham.

Despite dominating the opening period, the teams went in all square at the first interval with Scott Matzka taking advantage of a stretched defense to skate in alone after 2.30 to beat Stephen Murphy. Stevie Lyle was busy in the Devils net turning away 12 shots to the 5 faced by Murphy but it took a Giants powerplay for captain Jeremy Rebek to slot home and tie the game in the 8th minute.

While the Giants had started much the stronger the Devils gradually took control. Playing a stifling defensive game caused the Giants to struggle to string passes together or get set up in the Devils zone, with the forwards eventually taking to lobbing the puck in and very little forechecking following this up. The Devils then were content to play a counter attacking quick breaking game and deservedly re-took the lead 11 minutes into the middle period when Matzka fed Dobbin who beat Stephen Murphy.

The third period saw the Devils continue to dominate and Luke Piggott put some daylight between the sides with a 3rd and potentially decisive goal. However, this seemed to finally stir the slumbering Giants who realised that with only 8 minutes left their season could soon be done. The play of the game saw Mason find Dowd on the right wing who took the zone at speed. Dowd skated in and with a perfect cross ice pass picked out Aaron Clarke at the back post who slammed the puck past Lyle to half the deficit. The game was back on. More pressure followed as the Giants sought that tying goal. As thoughts began to turn to when the Giants would empoy their panic tactics and pull the goalie for the extra skater time stood still. Jon Pelle held the puck and took a speculative shot from a bad angle. Lyle floundered in his crease and the puck squirmed loose behind him, sitting on the goal line against the post in view of the Devils and Giants fans who were sat behind that goal. Multiple players crashed into the net and Mike Hoffman somehow got the telling touch to push the puck over the line into the goal as the Giants fans went mad and the Devils fans slumped into their seats with just 80 seconds of the game to go.

There was still time for one last glorious chance for the Giants to win as Dowd's from right out in front was turned away by Lyle with only 5 seconds to go and the game went to overtime. For the playoffs, the OT period at the semi finals this year was to be ten minutes 4 on 4. With the momentum back with the Giants the game went end to end and Belfast had the better chances but no goal was forthcoming and once more a Giants v Devils playoff matchup would be decided by penalty shots. Kenton Smith stepped up for the first shot and scored. Craig Peacock, Stuart MacRae, Jeff Mason and Scott Matzka all missed meaning former Devil Jon Pelle had to score to take the penalties to sudden death. His shot was turned away and the Devils advanced to the final.

Many will question why a fit Daryl Lloyd did not play in the semi final after such a great season, while the Devils went on to lose the final 2-0 to Nottingham who demolished the Hull Stingrays 10-3 in the other semi final. Another season in Belfast Giants history has ended. The Giants finish the year as Elite League champions, Challenge Cup runners up and Playoff Semi finalists. Now the focus turns to 2012/13 and already the recruitment for next year's team will be underway. Thanks to all who have followed us this year on KotG and we look forward to a summer of rumoour, speculation and rebuilding!

Aaron Kernohan

The Final Four

KotG — 2012-04-05T07:00:00+01:00

Just over seven months have now passed since the 2011/12 edition of the Belfast Giants first took to the ice in a pre-season unfriendly against the Nottingham Panthers containing multiple new players as the roster was overhauled during the summer.

On what has been a long and eventful road with many difficult and memorable moments - injuries or suspensions, players coming and going, old unexpected faces returning and an unforgettable league winning party on home ice - only four days remain until another season is complete and we start the cycle once again.

The Giants go into the playoffs considered by many as favourites. Having topped the league standings pretty much from start to finish losing only eight of sixty-one games in all competitions it is hard to argue with that tag. The Giants kept up momentum after beating the Steelers to claim the league title on home ice by collecting wins in "dead rubber" games against the Steelers and Panthers, before crushing the hapless Dundee Stars in their quarter final. A 5-0 win at home was followed up the following night by a 9-0 mauling in Dundee for a 14-0 aggregate win.

Being favourites doesn't always work out, however. League runners up and 2011 league title winning Sheffield Steelers were huge favourites in their quarter final match up with the Hull Stingrays. The man many love to hate - Derek Campbell - backed up by inspired goalie Christian Boucher helped the Stingrays to draw with the Steelers in Hull before winning on the road to send Hull to their first ever finals weekend.

Hull will face the Nottingham Panthers, who recovered from a 3-0 reversal in Braehead to claim an over time win 5-1 at home. Former Giant Brandon Benedict notched the all important winner to bring his new team to the party. Nottingham are defending champions and with the finals being held in their rink, no matter what may be said, must hold a certain advantage. Back-stopped by the athletic Craig Kowalski the Panthers are often difficult to break down. However, can Hull continue their fairytale and knock off another of the big guns in the second semi final of the day? It would be the hugest of upsets...

Awaiting the Giants in the first semi final will be the Cardiff Devils in a re-match of last season's semi final where Cardiff came out victorious. A 3-3 draw in Coventry gave the Devils hope going into the second leg of their quarter final. The Devils took full advantage of home ice to claim a 4-1 victory and continue their remarkable run of qualifying for every final four weekend in EIHL history.

Cardiff have struggled through the season with injuries and have several players who may or may not be able to ice this weekend. Definitely not available are two people that many would consider the faces of the Cardiff Devils over the last few years - Brad Voth who has retired and Max Birbraer who is recovering from neck surgery. Such losses cannot be under-estimated, but the Devils still contain many players who can turn games. Jeff Pierce has picked up many important goals and is has been mentioned as one of the best players in the league, while mid-season acquisition Jamie Vanderveeken added a hard nosed edge to the defence.

An interesting subplot to this semi final concerns both teams� netminders. The top two British goalies of the last decade face off against one another and have something of a history in big games. As a Giant Stevie Lyle got the better of Stephen Murphy in two cup finals in 2009 when the Giants claimed the Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup titles. The tables were turned in the playoff final of 2010 as Stephen Murphy picked up the trophy for the Giants by out duelling Lyle in the shootout after the final ended tied. Lyle bit back with the win in the 2011 Playoff Semi final as the Giants went out with a whimper in a season that promised a lot but delivered, frankly, nothing.

While the EIHL league title is already in the bank and the trophy has settled in Belfast for the next year (at least), the chance is there for the Giants to go out with the biggest of bangs.

Stars Extinguished - Giants En Route to Final Four

KotG — 2012-04-02T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants booked their place in the Elite League playoff semi-finals at the National Ice Centre with a professional annihilation of the Dundee Stars.

On Saturday night in the Odyssey Arena, despite dominating the first period and allowing Dundee only 3 attempts at goal, it took a scrappy goal from Jeff Mason to separate the sides at the first interval. The Giants were much more clinical in the second period. Strong penalty killing was a trait of the team on the night including the killing of two 5 on 3 Stars advantages, but Craig Peacock put the icing on the cake breaking in alone to score short handed early in the second to double the score. Robert Dowd added a powerplay marker and Jon Pelle scored after his initial shot was saved - collecting the rebound to roof the puck over a sprawling and increasingly disconsolate Chris Whitley.

Despite more Giants pressure in the third, the highlight for many probably came from the fists of Adam Keefe. After Daryl Lloyd threw a huge hit behind the Stars net, Brennan Turner took exception and grabbed a hold of Lloyd. Keefe steamed in and after gaining the upper hand in the bout received 2+10 for instigating to go with his fighting penalty. All that was left was for Mike Hoffman to squeeze a puck home in the final minute and round out a solid 5-0 shut out win.

With such a solid lead, it was important for the Giants to get in top early in the second leg to ensure the Stars were given no hope of mounting an improbably come back and creating the shock of the season. Just 27 seconds had elapsed when Aaron Clarke fired the Giants ahead on the night, before doubling that lead just two minutes later and effectively ending the contest. Two further goals from Mark Garside - his first goal since January 20th - and Craig Peacock had the Giants 4-0 up and 9 goals clear on aggregate.

Daryl Lloyd got on the board with the Giants 5th just 7 minutes into period two and that was the signal for Andrew Dickson to come into the net for his first taste of post season action. He would share yet another shut out with Stephen Murphy. Dowd added a 6th goal before the second period ended with more fisticuffs.

Firstly Nick Kuiper tangled with Brennan Turner, possibly a throw back to the previous night's action, then as the puck was dropped after this altercation former Giant Jeff Hutchins dropped the gloves to take on Daryl Lloyd who threw the hit that stirred up the bad blood in the first place.

With all the aggression out of their systems, the final period passed off without major incident and goals from Hoffman, Gareth Roberts - his first post season Giants goal - and another from Dowd made it a Star crushing 9-0 on the night and 14-0 on aggregate.

The Giants therefore travel to Nottingham next weekend to face the Cardiff Devils in the first semi final on Saturday April 7th at 1pm for the chance to play either Nottingham or Hull - who upset the second placed Sheffield Steelers in sensational fashion to make their first ever finals weekend.

Aaron Kernohan

KotG MVP 2012 - Stephen Murphy

KotG — 2012-03-31T07:00:00+01:00

The Kingdom of the Giants members tonight saw their MVP announced at the end of the home playoff quarter final against the Dundee Stars with netminder Stephen Murphy collecting the award. Murphy gained 41% of all votes cast to claim the award.

The Team GB starting goalie has had a phenomenal season in the Belfast Giants net posting a miniscule 1.92 goals against average helped by 5 shutouts and leading the league with a 0.923% save percentage. He notched up 47 wins to help secure the Giants their second Elite League title.

Murphy has also created another record - becoming the first player in Giants history to collect the award on two occasions. Congratulations to Stephen.

Running Murphy close in the voting were Robert Dowd with 16% of the vote and Jeff Mason who collected 13%.

Playoff Quarter Finals Looming

KotG — 2012-03-28T07:00:00+01:00

With the regular season complete, and a week which has seen the UK Hockey Journalists announce players of the year and all star teams along with a bout of unseasonably sunny warm weather, it would be easy to think that hockey was done for the summer.

Vast amounts of emotion were invested as the Giants drew closer to proving the mantra that had been promoted all year - that this is the year. A certain amount of joy and relief was felt when the title was claimed and this has contributed to a party like atmosphere in the land of the Giants ever since. However, all's not done yet!

This weekend sees Belfast welcome the Dundee Stars to Belfast on Saturday at 7pm for the first leg of the playoff quarter final, while both teams then hop across the Irish sea for the return leg on Sunday night at 6.30pm. Despite having claimed the EIHL regular season title, while Dundee spent most of the year languishing outside the playoff places before the collapse of the Edinburgh Capitals let them sneak in towards the end, the slate is clean and anything can happen over two games. The Giants ended the season a full 63 points better off than Dundee, but in the pressure of playoff hockey anything can happen.

For the record, this year has seen the sides met six times, with Belfast claiming six wins. At the Odyssey Arena, Belfast won 7-1, 5-4 and 6-2. Things in Dundee were slightly different however as two games required overtime to separate the sides. The first game way back in September was a 1-0 OT win for Belfast. In November a shootout was required as the Giants prevailed 4-3 before Belfast claimed a 4-1 win in January. Considering that Belfast picked up 50 of 54 possible road points, this may indicate that Dundee provided something of a problem for Belfast.

With the first leg at home, Belfast will be hoping to take a solid lead on the road with them to Dundee, but it will not be easy.

Elsewhere around the league the other fixtures have seen second place Sheffield paired against Hull, while Coventry and Cardiff face off for a place at finals weekend in Nottingham. Due to ice availability, Braehead have already hosted the Panthers and hold a surprise 3-0 lead before the return leg at Nottingham on Saturday.

Doug Deal

KotG — 2012-03-26T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants announced on Sunday night that current coach Doug Christiansen has agreed to stay on for a further two years - just rewards for his efforts in the first two years of his stay in Belfast.

Over that time, Christiansen has led the team to a record of 91 wins, 19 losses and just 7 overtime losses. This recent season has seen the team crowned Elite League champions with a record 95 points, while finishing just one point off winning the title in 2010/11. There have been back to back Challenge Cup final appearances, although both were lost to the Nottingham Panthers, a semi final at the 2010/11 playoffs and Dundee lie in wait in this season's playoff quarter final with the playoff title still to play for.

On picking up the title in 2012, Christiansen fought through adversity with many players missing games due to injury including several key players with the likes of Jon Pelle and new captain Jeremy Rebek missing time early on as the team tried to establish its identity. Other key losses included Benoit Doucet who was injured as linesmen tried to break up an altercation and missed more than the last half of the season. Brock McBride came in and impressed so much he was approached by Ljubljana of the Austrian league and left after notching up 28 points in just 16 games.

It was the inspired decision to carry an 11th import on the roster that really helped Christiansen's Giants to lift the title as Ryan Crane ended up playing a vast majority of games with several player spending time in the stands. When further injuries occurred, Christiansen's recruiting skills were tested. Many questioned whether Mike Hoffman was the right player to bring in at the transfer deadline, but his form since arriving has been a big part of the 17 game league winning streak that sealed the title.

With a new two year contract in the bag, it will be interesting to see which players of what many consider the most enjoyable Giants side to watch in several seasons will stay on with their coach. For those that move on, Christiansen will have to prove once more he has the contacts to pick out the right replacements. It is notoriously difficult to defend a league title as other teams get themselves up to put one over on the champions. The Giants organisation has made a good start in their defence of their title by showing confidence in the coach to give him two more years.

KotG MVP 2011/12 Voting Drawing to a Close

KotG — 2012-03-23T07:00:00+01:00

With the regular season drawing to a close and Belfast Giants confirmed as champions, only two major trophies remain up for grabs. One is the playoff title, but that pales into insignificance when compared to the KotG MVP award.

Now is the time to get your votes in, following the rules set out below:

All KotG forum members are entitled to vote (Giants' fans or not)
Only votes for members of the 2011-2012 Belfast Giants' squad will count
Closing date for votes is Sunday 25th March. No votes will be accepted after this date.

To register your vote send an email to mvp@kingdomofthegiants.com containing the following information:

Your choice of player for the KotG MVP 2011-2012 award

Your forum username

For the record, former MVPs include:

2001: Shane Johnson
2002: Mike Bales
2003: David Matsos
2004: Jason Ruff
2005: Martin Klempa
2006: Theo Fleury
2007: Roman Gavalier
2008: Mark Dutiaume
2009: Paul Deniset
2010: Stephen Murphy
2011: Jon Gleed

Can Murphy make it a second MVP in three years? Or has one of the new crop such as Robert Dowd or Jeremy Rebek claim the award? Remember, vote early, vote often!

Aaron Kernohan

Champions!

KotG — 2012-03-16T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants welcome the reigning Elite League Champions into the Odyssey Arena tonight knowing that a regulation time win would be enough to bring the title back to Belfast for the first time since the Theo Fleury inspired Giants of 2006.

With all to play for in front of a mammoth crowd of 7022 fans, the home team did not disappoint. Early goals from Robert Dowd and Jon Pelle had the Giants two goals up with not even 6 minutes gone. The Giants then had twp goals washed off, one for Mike Hoffman for apparently kicking the puck into the net and the other from Robert Dowd after he put the puck in the net post-referee's whistle. Dowd was awarded a penalty shot but his spin-o-rama move was turned away by Steelers goalie De Caro. That was not the end of the first period drama as Jeff Legue ripped home a bullet to half the deficit and give the Steelers a life line in their quest to retain their title.

With delays caused by melting ice from the heat of so many people in the building, the second period finally got underway and the Giants began to turn up the pressure further, spending much time in the Steelers zone. Aaron Clarke took advantage of a powerplay chance to restore the 2 goal advantage and ratchet the noise in the arena up once more.

The third and final period saw the Steelers try to chase the game but the Giants forecheck remained irresistible, pinning the Steelers in their own end and preventing them getting many quality scoring chances. Frustrations began to boil up and four Steelers found themselves in the penalty box in the final period. With Huttel in for slashing Paul Deniset started a move behind his own goal. Mike Hoffman took the Steelers zone and fired a shot that De Caro saved, kicking it right out in front where Deniset was perfectly placed to bang the rebound home and make it 4-1. Game over? Not yet.

The Steelers pushed back, but the heart of the Giants was shown by key plays as a 3 on 1 rush for the Steelers was broken up by Jeremy Rebek laying his body on the line to block a shot, followed by another diving block just minutes later. Adam Keefe, lying prone on the ice without a stick managed to first throw then kick a puck out of the zone to outbattle two Steelers. It was to be captain Jeremy Rebek who was to finally end the game. Once more a frustrated Steeler lashed out to put himself in the box for slashing. From the edge of the right circle Jeremy Rebek wound up and hammered home a slap shot to the top left corner, releasing a torrent of emotion and a plethora of champagne corks as the home crowd began to celebrate the 2011/12 Elite League Champion Belfast Giants!

Road Warriors

KotG — 2012-03-12T07:00:00+01:00

The Belfast Giants completed their on the road portion of the 2011/12 Elite League season with two more victories in Edinburgh. Saturday night saw the team claim a 6-3 success while Sunday night ended 8-0 to give the Giants an EIHL best ever road record of 24-1-2 amounting to 50 out of 54 available points - a record that may be close to impossible to ever better.

Despite the apparent disparity implied by the two scorelines, neither game was as easy as it may have eventually looked. With the home Challenge Cup final fresh in mind, Saturday night saw the Giants arrive in Edinburgh knowing they had to get back to winning ways as Sheffield continue to breathe down the necks in the title race. It was Edinburgh who would score first, taking advantage of one of the many penalties given away by the Giants as player coach Richard Hartmann netted on the powerplay to put Edinburgh ahead. Was this to be a shock? Adam Keefe settled Giants nerves with another powerplay goal to tie the game and the first period ended evenly balanced at 1-1.

Stepping up the pace the Giants began to ease away, but found progress halted by continuing to take penalties. Captain Jeremy Rebek continued his recent goal scoring form to put the Giants ahead in the second and Mike Hoffman also notched a goal to make it 3-1 as it looked like the Giants might ease away. Holding a 2 goal lead as the final ten minutes of the game approached, Bari McKenzie set nerves jangling once more pulling Edinburgh within one goal again to celebrate his GB international call up. Was there to be a sting in the tail from the Capitals?

Graeme Walton, Jon Pelle and Robert Dowd said no, as within just 2 minutes 8 seconds they tallied 3 goals for the away team to ensure the victory before Jan Safar scored for Edinburgh to make it 6-3.

Sunday night really belonged to Aaron Clarke. In a game that, with a final score of 8-0 may have seemed easy, once more the Capitals held and frustrated the Giants for long periods. Clarke opened the scoring mid-way into the first period on the powerplay but that was how it would stay until the end of the first. The highlight for many was to be the bout of "midget wrestling" that broke out between Jon Pelle and Sean Menton as two guys whose combined height would probably not be equal to that of Mike Hoffman squared off and received 2+2 each for roughing.

Once more as the game went on the Giants coasted through the gears when needed and took advantage as the shorter benched Capitals tired. Three middle period goals from Jeff Mason, a second goal for Clarke and Jeremy Rebek made things much more comfortable after two periods. The final period then saw the Giants finish off Edinburgh ruthlessly with 4 more goals doubling their tally for the night. Craig Peacock added a double, Jeff Mason added his second and Adam Keefe scored short handed to make it 8-0 and give Andrew Dickson ten more minutes experience where he pulled off one great glove save to preserve the shut out.

Meanwhile in Sheffield, the Steelers picked up two wins of their own leaving them still 7 points back of the Giants with their two games in hand. This coming St Patricks weekend sees Sheffield come to Belfast for a double header in front of what is bound to be a packed out Odyssey Arena. On paper the equation is simple - a win in regulation in either game will give the Belfast Giants their first title since Theo Fleury and 2006. On the ice we know it's going to be much, much, much more difficult than that.

Aaron Kernohan

Mission: Capitals

KotG — 2012-03-09T08:00:00+01:00

This weekend sees the Belfast Giants travel to Edinburgh for their annual two game double header against the Capitals. The team will be no doubt looking to bounce back from the disappointing Challenge Cup final defeat on Wednesday night at the hands of the Nottingham Panthers.

Edinburgh currently lie in 8th place in the league holding down the final playoff position, a higher position than many would have predicted for them after the debacle of the 2010/11 season at Murrayfield. Former Giant Nathan Craze will be playing in goal and trying to put a dent in his former side's title hopes. Last weekend saw the Capitals end a 14 game losing skid with a 6-2 win over their challengers for that final playoff spot - Dundee.

Key to the Capitals improved fortunes this year has been another former Giant and recent first time GB senior team call up Bari McKenzie. Playing on a top line with Caps player coach Richard Hartmann and the very dangerous Rene Jarolin, the three have clicked and provide much of the Capitals offensive punch. Jarolin in fact leads the league with 40 goals - impressive for a team at the lower end of the table.

With the Capitals just two points clear of Dundee (all be it with two games in hand) and fighting for their playoff lives, these will not be easy games for the Giants and an upset is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Meanwhile, Giants main title contenders the Sheffield Steelers dropped a point in an over time loss on Thursday night to Braehead - secret Agent Mike Bayrack picking up the over time winner for the Clan. This now has the Steelers with just two games in hand on Belfast and still 7 points back. This weekend Sheffield host both Braehead and Cardiff. With home advantage Sheffield will expect to win both to keep the pressure on at the top. It promises to be another dramatic week in the Elite League title chase.

Odyssey Arena Challenge Cup Curse Continues

KotG — 2012-03-08T08:00:00+01:00

With a run of twelve straight wins for the Belfast Giants, the Nottingham Panthers arrived in Belfast for the opening leg of the Challenge Cup final and made it unlucky thirteen for the home town team forcing the Giants first home loss since the same team prevailed 3-2 in a league fixture on December 21st.

A solid start by the Giants saw them force Kowalski into a number of decent, if not overly testing saves in the first ten minutes. This good early work was undone after 11.05 when former Giant Brandon Benedict worked a move with Matt Francis and skated in through the middle unopposed to slot past Stephen Murphy putting the Panthers ahead. Despite much huffing and puffing, the Giants created very little. With Myers in the box for tripping, Guy Lepine hammered Ryan Crane from behind into the glass and was assessed a two minute minor for boarding while the crowd bayed for more. It was a questionable hit, but Crane did turn his back slightly as the hit came in so the call was perhaps understandable. The two man advantage of 1.35 came and went and the Giants struggled to even get set up in the zone.

The period ended, however, on a controversial note. Kowalski made a superb save but the puck dropped down on the line. Underneath his pad it clearly sat over the line, and in the resulting melee it was forced further into the goal. Referee Darnell was unsighted behind the goal and washed the goal off. Was this to be a crucial moment, despite the Giants not being deserving of tying the game at this point?

The second period saw the Panthers up their physicality even more with little response from the Giants. Two more powerplays came and went before it was left to Jeff Mason to stand up for himself, battling with Corey Neilson and both men sitting two minutes for roughing. It was to be the Panthers who would take advantage of the more open ice scoring two goals within 13 seconds of each other through Wilson and Francis with the Giants defence once more parting all too easily. Despite Murphy making the initial saves there were easy rebounds for the Panthers to pounce on with no Giant in sight. The second period ended with the Giants on the power play once more and again there was a level of impotence as the forwards struggled to even enter the zone.

The 3rd period began with the end of the Giants powerplay being easily killed off and soon Mike Hoffman found himself in the box for a late hit, putting the Panthers on the powerplay for the first time. Unlike the Giants there was to be no messing around as only 28 seconds had elapsed when Derek Beauregard found himself alone right out in front with the easiest of finished putting the Panthers 4-0 up and surely returning the Challenge Cup to Nottingham. The Panthers played a very effective in your face style, and clogged up the neutral zone preventing the Giants getting much going. With Belfast trying to force the game more and more passes began to go astray, but with time running out finally the Giants powerplay clicked at the 6tth time of asking as Jeff Mason fired home after a mazy skate from Jeremy Rebek to make it 1-4 and perhaps bring a little light into focus at the end of the tunnel.

The last two seconds of the game were to sum up the poor, ineffective night for the home team. Firstly, Robert Dowd who had a poor night by his own high recent standards took a poor interference call giving the Panthers just their second powerplay of the night. The difference in attitude was summed up as the puck was dropped, Matt Myers won the face off cleanly and David Clarke slapped the puck home just before the buzzer sounded forcing the knife deep into the heart of the Giants Challenge Cup chances.

A poor performance all round from the home team, but credit must be given to Nottingham for their play. Unfortunately, a 4 goal deficit is likely too much to turn around and focus must be on Edinburgh this weekend where no further slip ups can be permitted in the challenge for the Elite League title.

Aaron Kernohan

And Now, the End is Near

KotG — 2012-03-05T08:00:00+01:00

With another weekend finished, and four more points in the bank, the end of the road for the 2011/12 Elite League season can now be seen looming ominously on the horizon.

Once more the Belfast Giants went into a tough weekend knowing that anything less than perfect could spell the beginning of the end of their hopes of bringing home the league title, and once more they skated away with two great wins.

Saturday night saw the team visit second places Sheffield Steelers in a clash that many considered the biggest game of the year so far. A cagey opening period ended when former Steeler Robert Dowd continued his excellent form netting on the powerplay to send Belfast in 1-0 up at the end of the first.

The 2nd period story can be summed in by the word "powerplay". Firstly Jason Hewitt tied the game on the PP for the Steelers, and then, as the home side tried to seize the momentum the Giants were put on the powerplay on a Finnerty interference call. Within 20 seconds of the PP and just 90 seconds after the Steelers tied the game Jon Pelle snuck in to re-establish a Giants lead..

With all to play for in the final period the Giants sat back on their lead somewhat relying on Stephen Murphy to bail them out when needed. This tactic worked well, until with just over 4 minutes remaining Sheffield once more tied the game through Lee Esders. Belfast, however, were more than content with one point and despite facing some late Steeler pressure were content to let the game go to overtime.

The overtime period flew by in a flash, with only 4 shots on goal in the entire five minutes meaning penalty shots were needed to separate these top two warriors. Mason and Ramsey traded goals on the inital 3 shots, but still the sides could not be separated and it was now sudden death. Craig Peacock skated in on John DeCaro and slid the puck home, leaving Steve Birnstill having to score to prevent the Giants claiming the second point of the night. Stephen Murphy turned his shot away and Belfast claimed a second consecutive victory in Sheffield, opening up the gap just a little more at the top of the table.

Saturday night saw the arrival in Belfast of the Braehead Clan, who had featured in a live TV game the evening before where the Cardiff Devils had opened up a first period 4-0 lead before the Clan pegged it back to 4-3 but ran out of time in seeking the game tier. As one of few teams to have won in the Odyssey as well this year, the Giants had to be wary not to let the effects of the previous night in Sheffield catch up with them.

Any worries those in the stands may have had were quickly ealleviated when Robert Dowd once more opened the scoring, ripping a shot by Jaakko Suomalainen in the Braehead goal after just 23 seconds. Ryan Crane and Paul Deniset scored just 51 seconds apart to put the Giants 3-0 up at the 4 minute mark and Suomalainen retreated to the bench to be replaced by Braehead backup Mike Will. Will fared little better, picking a puck out of his net only 40 seconds after coming into the goal as Criag Peacock slotted home to all but end the game at 4-0.

The Giants continued to dominate and Jeffrey Mason hammered home a great slapshot on the powerplay to make it 5-0, but Braehead did manage to continue to produce chances and eventually Jade Galbraith breached Stephen Murphy's best efforts at a shutout roofing a lovely back hand to cut the score to 5-1.

Early in the final period Robert Dowd scored his second of the night and 33rd of the season to finish the scoring and secure a high quality 6-1 win against a Braehead side who, sadly, disappointed on the night.

While immediate attention now shifts to Wednesday night's Challenge Cup final first leg against Nottingham Panthers in the Odyssey Arena (Face off: 7.30pm), next up in the league comes the annual double header trip to Edinburgh to face a sliding Capitals side. A Marcis Zembergs hat trick against Dundee this previous weekend helped the Capitals to their first win in 12 games and once more the Giants will have to be at 100% to avoid any potential potholes as they continue to march towards the end of the road in the 2011/12 EIHL season.

Perfect Road Weekend for Giants

KotG — 2012-02-27T08:00:00+01:00

Two away games, thirteen goals for and back to back shut-outs was the sum total of the Belfast Giants work in Hull and Coventry this past weekend.

With Sheffield losing on Friday to Braehead, a little bit more pressure was heaped onto the Giants to ensure they did not let this slender advantage slip. Despite easily disposing of the Hull Stingrays at home, playing away can be a totally different proposition.

On Saturday night in Hull, the Giants peppered the Hull goal with a total of 73 shots, 8 of which found the net with two each for Jeffrey Mason and Robert Dowd and tallies from Jon Pelle, Jeremy Rebek, Craig Peacock and Adam Keefe. Despite being well beaten Hull did not disgrace and managed plenty of attacking chances of their own, however both Stephen Murphy and Andrew Dickson kept the puck out of the net.

A short trip down the road to Coventry on Sunday evening brought what many would have considered a much tougher game, despite the Blaze not being in the best of form and in somewhat of a slump. Once again the Giants were dominant, however, and only Peter Hirsch in the Blaze net kept this from being even more of a rout making some outstanding scrambled saves behind a lacklustre home side defence.

Peacock and Dowd both picked up 2 goals each while captain rebek added another as the Giants ran out 5-0 winners. Despite facing a total of 22 shots, Murphy was rarely tested with only one real moment of alarm when a puck squirmed through his pads but did not cross the goal line.

Two more solid road wins lead perfectly into what promises to be the biggest game so far of the 2011/12 season as Belfast travel to Sheffield to face the 2nd place Steelers on Friday 2nd March at 7.30pm. With the Steelers just 7 points behind but holding 3 games in hand, the outcome of this game could be crucial in the rest of the season.

The Home Stretch Begins

KotG — 2012-02-24T08:00:00+01:00

As the battle for the Elite League title enters the finishing straight, once more the Belfast Giants spend the weekend on the road.

Saturday night sees the team attend the "Most Versatile Venue" in Hull before a quick trip down the road to Coventry for Sunday night's fixture.

A solid 6-1 win over Hull last Friday night will give the Giants confidence going into the first game and Hull have been on a bit of a slide of late. However, history has seen the Giants occasionally struggle in Hull and no mistakes can be allowed in this encounter. Coventry has been a difficult place for the Giants over the years and very few wins have been picked up here. So while both the teams the Giants face have not been in their best form, focus will be key to ensure no unneccesary slips occur.

Sheffield continue to pile the pressure on the Giants at the top. Slowly chipping away to level off the number of games played, the Steelers now sit only 7 points behind with 4 games in hand. This weekend sees Sheffield play 3 games in 3 nights. The first of these games is clearly the toughest of the 3 as they make the trip to Glasgow to play Braehead Clan.

Braehead sit solidly in mid-table but have picked up a few big scalps at home, including against the Giants. Once this game is over, Sheffield travel to Fife who are struggling at the bottom and looked poor last week against the Giants, before a Sunday night home game against Edinburgh who, after a better than expected showing have now lost 11 in a row.

As the regular season enters the home stretch, nothing less than two wins will be much use for the Giants as the Steelers continue to nip away at the lead. Once this weekend's fixtures are over, the next game for both teams is Belfast's visit to Sheffield on March 2nd. That game could be huge in the final destination of the Elite League title.