Giants back on ice for an exciting season

And given the competitive performances on show, both away against the Cardiff Devils in Wales, and on home ice at the SSE Arena, with back to wins, Giants’ fans can be confident in another exciting season ahead for 2022/23.

Pre-season matches are as important to players as it is to the fans, for the players its all about getting the chemistry flowing between individuals, learning new systems and the ethos of organisations,

While for the fans it a chance to not only see favourites returning to Belfast like David Goodwin, Kevin Raine, Scott Conway and Jackson Whistle, but also a first glimpse of new signings like goaltender Peyton Jones, defencemen Will Cullen and Gabe Bast, and forwards, Chad Butcher and Steve Owre, to name but a few of the new players.

The fact that the Giants bagged two wins in their scraps with the Devils, will be a great boost ahead of the start of the challenge of Champions League at the end of next week and then the new season itself.

The Giants head coach was very pleased with his team after the two games against the Devils.

He said: “I am very pleased with our performances this weekend. I thought yesterday in Cardiff we were very good defensively which I liked.

“I thought we struggled a little to create as much as I would have liked.

“Then today, here at the SSE I thought it were worked well.

“I used the whole bench for both nights and that is what you want to see as a group.

“Above all that has been a great start for us.”

Keefe added that he has already started to see chemistry gelling with the team.

“I saw that tonight for sure, last night everyone was working hard for each other.

“Tonight there was a lot more chemistry on the ice, which is really nice to see.

“We have another week of practice ahead of us here before the games against the Dundee Stars and then the Champions League matches aren’t that far away, so the sooner that we find that chemistry and the guys fit together the better.”

Keefe is looking forward to seeing his former assistant coach returning to the SSE for two further pre-season games with the Dundee Stars.

Keefe said: “It should be fun having Jeff back in Belfast. I know that he is working hard over in Dundee putting together a competitive team, their training camp starts this coming week.

“While he may be a little short of some players we need to remain focussed, whoever we are up against we have to make sure that we control our game and play it.”

New Giants’ signing Chad Butcher was delighted to pull on his boots to play before the fans at the SSE.

He said: “It felt really good to get out and play in front of the home fans. The atmosphere it pretty awesome, especially for an exhibition game. Having the fans cheering us on loud was a great boost for the team.”

Butcher was buoyed by the fact that he found himself on the scoresheet so early on in his Giants’ career, it was an excellent way to announce himself.

He said: “It felt really good to score, Cooper made a great play to me and I was able to bury it past the Devils goalie.”

Reflecting on the performance of the Cardiff Devil, and the Elite League as a whole, Butcher said: “I thought they looked a pretty good team.

“They were missing a few of their top guys for these games, so we can expect a different game from them when its an EIHL game.

At the end of the day we were pretty good in these two games. We have been able to mesh together and stick to our systems.”