Belfast Giants: Elijiah Barriga focus on building a winning cup momentum

Looking back at last weekend’s games in Scotland, he said: “I think we did pretty well in our opening games of the season over in Scotland last weekend.

“We had had a pretty good pre-season, what with playing Cardiff, Team GB and the Canadian colleges too.

“There are a lot of new guys on the Giants’ roster this year, so everyone was getting use to the travel that comes with the league. Overall we played well but there is always room for improvement.

“Admittedly there was about 30 minutes in the game against Dundee we the run of the puck wasn’t going our way. Once we got those minutes out the way we got ourselves back into the game, we then led for the remaining 30 minutes in the game.”

He said that he enjoyed his return to Dundee, he said: “Yes, it was my first game back in Dundee since I left for the Giants.

“It was nice to be back in Dundee, there was still a number of the guys who I had played with in 2022/23 season who were still with the Stars, so it was nice to catch up with them again.

“I had enjoyed my time with the Stars during that season, so it was nice to go back. The game was fun to play against Dundee.”

He says that it was important to take control of the games in Scotland.

He said: “Getting those first wins were so important to us a team. We knew that they wouldn’t be easy barns to go into and that their fans would be on our backs.

“Getting wins under your belt with a new roster is always important and helps contribute to momentum, which is what ever teams wants to have.

“Not only that, it was an important game, every game is in the Challenge Cup.

“Early wins in the season will give you a better positioning when the cup group stages end, we want to ensure that we get as best a position that we can, and that can be done by winning all our games in the stages.”

He added: “We want to get these wins in the Challenge Cup as early on in the season as we can.”