Belfast Giants: Captain Mark Cooper eager to get the season underway

He says that he is eager to get the season underway but first up is the matter of the pre-seasons games this weekend against the Cardiff Devils at the SSE Arena tonight and Team GB in Wales tomorrow.

“I am really excited to get the season started. We have brought together a really good group this season.

“I have got to know them over the last few weeks with training camp.

“We seem to have a really good group in the lockerroom and they all look like they a good players too, so there is a a lot of promise for the season.

“So we are all super excited to get a game on Saturday against the Cardiff Devils here at the SSE and get to see what we are made off.”

Cooper says it has been exciting to get to know the new players who have joined the Giants this season.

He said: “I knew that everyone on paper had a really good resume. The management team have done a great job this summer recruiting a lot of new and exciting players.

“But the test is always when you get to see the players on the ice.

“What we have seen so far is that all the new players are really skilled, so it will be great to see them play the Devils this weekend.

I am sure that it won't be much of a friendly against Cardiff, it never really is. The Devils have built another really strong team again this year. They already have two games played last weekend, so I expect league action against them will be intense.”

He says he is also looking forward to playing Team GB on Sunday, he said: “It will be our first bit of travelling together as a team like we do during the season.

“It is going to feel weird to play against Whis and Laker but it will be fun. I really want to score on Whis and this is my opportunity.”

He says his decision to come back to Belfast was an easy one.

He explained: “It was a pretty easy decision to come back to Belfast to be honest with you. Last wasn’t a great season for me with injury and I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to.

“I really wanted to put that injury behind me and get back to Belfast as soon as I could so that I could prove myself.”

He continued: “This season my focus will be playing a full season and staying healthy. It can be tough watching the team from the sides, especially when they struggled a bit last year.

“I am not thinking to much about last year, it is in the past, my focus is on the future. It’s about being in the moment and that is now, not then when I was injured.”

He agrees that the Giants roster looks like an exciting prospect for this season.

He explained: “It’s a really good skating team this season. But just as important is that they are a really great bunch of guys to be around of the ice.

“The last few weeks have been exciting to get to know them all and I am looking forward to being with them this season, especially on those big roadtrips that we have a couple of time in a season.

“Everyone seems to be really bought into the ethos of the Giants, which has been great to see so early on.”

Equally, he says it is great to see the core returnees back in Teal.

He said: “There are a number of the returnees from last season are back for their fourth or fifth season here in Belfast.

“Those players have seen it all, they have seen the great heights of success that we have reached, but equally we have seen the lows losing too.

“Hopefully we can build on our winning experiences down through the seasons since the return after Covid.

“But we also need to take the lessons from last season and learn from that too. If we do that, I am certain that we will have a really successful season ahead of us.”