Huge weekend ahead as Belfast Giants face three games in three nights
Belfast Giants’ head coach Adam Keefe says that he can’t fault his players for their performance against the Cardiff Devils last week but that this weekend’s focus will be getting back to winning games.
He said: “It was a tight game in Cardiff. It was certainly a close game for sure. I thought that both teams played well. We competed quite well and I was happy with that.
“Obviously we had wanted to create a little more offence and finish our chances a little more than what we have been doing.
“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen in the way that we would have liked to have seen. But it was hard to argue with the guys effort to be honest, we left Cardiff feeling like we could have got something more out of the game, so that's frustrating.
“It is a very good Cardiff team this season and we were right with them throughout the game.
“We want to be able to tilt the ice in our favour going forward than we were able to do last weekend.
“Sometimes the performance you put it is what really matters.
“I really didn’t love our performance in our first game against Cardiff. We were still in that game too but it didn’t feel like it.
“Last weekend’s performance was much improved, we were in the game to the very end.
“Right down to the last 18 seconds I thought that we created scoring looks, we were a post away from tying the game.
“Having the one goal disallowed early in the game was frustrating.”
He added: “The margin for error in the league this season is very small. If you look at the two goals that they ended up scoring, I think we tipped one into our own net and then they scored of Jackson’s from behind the net.
“They had a little bit of luck on their end but we needed a little more execution on the night.”
Keefe agrees that there will be no easy games this season.
“I think that improvement in the league has been ongoing for several seasons now,” he explained.
“You have seen big wins like that a couple of times this season already, we have seen Fife taking points away from both Cardiff and Sheffield.
“The parity is there in the league and every game this season is going to be a battle.”
He added: “I think, if we look at the maths, we have about 40 games left to be played. There is a lot of hockey yet to be played.”
Keefe says that the team are focused on a big weekend ahead which starts with the double header against the Guildford Flames at the SSE.
He said: “We’re looking forward to the double header but then this weekend isn’t just that, we have a triple header with the game on the road to Dundee as well.
“We want to make sure that we are fully prepared for that double header against Guildford, we want to take full advantage of all our home games and this weekend is no different.
“We need to manage the bench the best that we can for energy levels.
“Our focus firstly is on the Friday game against Guildford, we know what they are capable off, we know that they can be fast. But we have to get back into the win category right away.”