New Season
The hockey season is back, and you can follow it all with us right here on BIH.
Stats Centre
We are working on an archive of matches, stats and players from BIH in the past few years.
The long wait is almost over
Life runs in cycles. Fashion, Music, Movies and Sport all turn 360 degrees time and time again as our lives go on. Every April we revel in the victories or defeats the ice hockey season has given us, and by the end of August we sit in anticipation of what’s to come. Those past machinations are merely confined to the memory banks for use only in statistical and emotional comparisons.
Once again we have reached that point of eager anticipation; the first drop of the first pre-season puck is merely hours away while hockey fans both casual and fanatical dust off the shirts and plan their pre-match routines with friends. Some of which they won’t have even seen for many a day, as life returned to mundane normality between April and September.
Piece by piece the puzzle of this year’s teams have been put together, with some still needing completion. Preparations are made on the ice for the forthcoming season; PR is distributed to draw in fans to the arena for the first time, or the first time in a long time. Mascots are drawn from cupboards, programmes are printed, cheerleaders rehearse and merchandise is laid out for sale.
But to the fan, spending his or her hard earned cash on a small piece of card that would gain them entry; the peripherals are but that, superfluous to the main event. The rush of noise as a new band of recruits takes to the ice wearing the crest that represents those in the stands as much as those on the ice who came before them.
I approach this season with enthusiasm that I didn’t believe I’d have back in April. I should have known better. Weary from a season that gave so much in promise but returned so little in product, I felt I could happily tone down my emotional involvement in the sport and look to other things. Golf took precedent in the summer months, running, surfing, Glastonbury and working to pay for this fun all took my mind away from hockey.
But not for long.
As the signings rolled in, one by one I started to get more interested. One by one I began to become more enthusiastic. While the initial signings got no more than a glancing look, as more and more were brought in I found myself looking a little longer at each player who would this season be donning the red, white and teal shirts of the Belfast Giants.
Like a drug I’d been weaned off, I indulged just once, then again, and again, and again. And now I sit awaiting a flight to Belfast, yes I have other social plans, but I also already have my tickets to one of the pre-season friendlies.
Why?
A number of reasons really. Mainly because, despite my protestations, I love this sport; the speed, the skill and the physicality. I also enjoy the people around the sport. A tight-knit community of fans who would know most of each other by name, if that be first name alone, and only have one topic of passionate conversation, knowing what aspect each enjoys and arguing till the cows come home any contrary opinion.
Another reason would be the fact I have been very impressed with the team put together this season. A mixture of experience, speed, talent and grit. From Rebek’s vast European hockey experience in defence, to the outright grit of a player like Lloyd. I feel this seasons team has such potential to be one of the best.
Undoubtedly in Peacock, Dowd and Garside the Giants have one of the best forward line British cores in their short history, if not the best in this years league. While the familiarity of a player like Walton alongside the development of Gareth Roberts, and maybe one or two other local lads who have trained pre-season, brings pride in what my home-land can produce.
I also take into account that for the first time in a long long time, I have looked at the “hard man” signing and held up a lot of hope for his role. Adam Keefe may be that franchise “enforcer” the Giants faithful have craved since the retirement of the number 27.
The Giants organisation have been hard at work looking at angles to promote and encourage the excitement leading to these opening games and with the visit of the Nottingham Panthers. Those fans who are long in the tooth need no further encouragement than to stand and shout for their men on the ice against a team for whom they hold little love. A perfect nemesis for an opening stanza.
The season proper is only a week or so away, the opening games are only days away.
My shirt resides in my hand-luggage, my ticket in my wallet as I sit feverishly waiting for the gate of my flight to be called. A sleepless night awaits….
Could this be the season?
Or did I say that last year?
These things run in cycles, after all.
Patrick Smyth
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
