Belfast Giants: Consistency will win championships says captain Mark Cooper

“I think that as the season goes on we need to stay consistent,” he explained.

“Consistency is so important in a hockey season, the team that maintains it’s consistency will be the champions at the end.

“We need to focus on getting better as the games are played.

“I have no doubt that this coming weekend with the games in the league against Manchester and then Sheffield, which are going to be hard games for sure, that we are going to need to be on top of our game.”

Building momentum early in the season is so important he says and that’s will be a focus of the Giants.

He said: “Momentum is always huge in hockey. We have been working hard with the games in the Challenge Cup to get some momentum going, and it’s something that we will be eager to build upon this weekend.

“As we have seen in previous seasons with the Giants, once we have got ourselves on winning streaks, that momentum just keeps building and we can become hard to catch.

“Building those multiple winning streaks is so important for team confidence too.

“Looking back at last season, the Sheffield Steelers also had a bunch of winning streaks, which also put them into an excellent position.

“To win the league it will come down to consistency and building on that winning momentum, aiming to win every game, every week is how championships are won.”

Looking back at least win against the Dundee Stars he said: “I think it was our best performance this season so far. The scoreline certainly showed that we had had a good game.

“We knew that we have got a really good offensive setup this season, and that it was only a matter of time before it showed its full calibre.

“The game also showed that we can play a tight defensive game too.

“And then of course we had Jackson backstopping and he was great the whole game and kept out any chances that fell to Dundee.

“It was all round a very good game and we came home with the points.”

He adds that it has been great to have Scott Conway back with the Giants and that he is already having the right impact.

Cooper said: “Scott has always been a great threat to other teams offensively, so it’s great that we have been back in the lineup this season.

“He is a crazy competitive teammate, probably the most competitive that I have known, anything is possible on any given night.

“Having him in the lineup is going to be huge for the Giants, and we have seen, even with the few games that has played this year, he is making the right impact, creating plays and scoring goals, which is what we want him to be doing.”

He added: “He hasn’t missed a beat since he returned, he has scored several goals and got some assists, so that's great for the future games.

“It is a treat to play with him and he keeps us all super competitive.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​