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Kelman: Boston visiting is huge for Belfast & EIHL
On what it means to the Giants and Ireland to be hosting the game against the Bruins…
It’s a huge thing for the Giants, for the city [of Belfast], and for our whole league. It’s the biggest hockey event that will ever be played in Belfast and definitely throughout the UK League.
On if playing against the Bruins, and Original Six team, has special meaning…
Yeah. When I originally tried to convince the NHL to do this, we had one team in mind and it was the Bruins. And that was kind of like the dream scenario and that’s what we got so we’re really excited about that. That’s the team we wanted. Belfast and Boston have such a connection. All of Ireland has such a connection to Boston and this is definitely the team we wanted.
On if the connection between Boston and Ireland played a big part in wanting to play against the Bruins…
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean there are so many Irish people in Boston and that’s the biggest reason why we wanted the Bruins.
On what the chemistry will be like on the Elite Hockey League [EIHL] All-Star team compared the chemistry the Bruins will have already built…
I don’t think the Giants as a team, or any team in our league – the Giants, we won the playoffs last year, so we’d be the top team, but I don’t think any of our teams individually could compete with the Bruins. So by making an All-Star team, we can hopefully give them a game. We originally had looked about bringing over a German DEL team to play the Bruins and [Belfast and the Giants] would just host it [the game], and then we thought ‘let’s do this with our own team, let’s do it for our own city.’ So we’ll put together the best team we can possibly put together.
On if having their own players and familiar faces is going to be special for Belfast…
Yeah, and I think including everyone around the league it becomes the coup for the entire league. So all the teams will be really excited. And if we get the best three players from a team like the Nottingham Panthers, which means nothing to anyone in [Boston], but if you can get their best three or four players than you're going to get all of their fans over to support this as well. So it’s exciting.
On what the Bruins and NHL fans should look for in terms of playing style that the All-Star team is going to institute…
That’s a tough question. I think we’re going to be sitting back. Trap. Play the red line, yeah. Trap [laughing].
On what effects he thinks the game will have on hockey in Ireland…
I think it’s great for us because it raises the profile of ice hockey and the league across the UK and across Ireland. It’s a huge thing for the city. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland but it doesn’t host a lot of international events, maybe concerts and that, but [not much else]. We have this fantastic arena, it’s a fantastic city and this kind of lets a lot of people, that wouldn’t expect Belfast to host such an event, to see what everything that Northern Ireland and Belfast has to offer.
On what kind of attention he expects the game to get…
A lot of attention. The league is shutting down the games for that weekend. We’re not playing games on that Saturday so we can put this event on. For a league that relies on Saturday nights for income, it’s a big deal that the entire league agreed to do this. So everyone’s buying into it. You have to think, the Bruins are one of the most popular teams in the world. Sometimes people in Boston wouldn’t realize how big they are globally. I could be walking around downtown Belfast or downtown Dublin and see a bunch of Bruins jerseys. This is the team that everyone in Ireland associates with. People in Ireland are Bruins fans. There
are going to be a lot more in the stands. I think I’ll even bypass and let Giants fans be Bruins fans for one night. I think we’ll all be Bruins fans for a long time to come.
On if the popularity of the NHL in the United States is similar to the popularity of the EIHL in Belfast…
No, it’s a minority sport over there. The big sports over there are rugby, Gaelic football and then football – like soccer [not American football]. This is a minority sport. Belfast is a little different because the Giants have had a pretty good following since we started. It’s a minority sport and we want to raise the profile of the game of ice hockey. I keep saying ice hockey because over there there’s field hockey too so I’m ingrained in doing that. So it’ll raise the profile of the game, but more importantly I think it’s good because it’s cool for us to have such an amazing team come over. So it’s going to raise the profile of Belfast
.
On the buzz about the game among players that are going to be competing on the All-Star team…
Yeah. You can imagine. Guys that are playing over there never made the NHL. A few of them played a few games in the NHL, [but] the majority of guys never made the NHL. This is going to be the biggest event for them, as well. It’s a great experience for these guys [and] and for the fans. The UK in general has a ton of hockey fans and we have this league [the EIHL] and it may be a minority sport but there are tens-of-thousands of people every weekend watching ice hockey in the UK. So for the NHL they have this pocket of fans over there that they never get to reach out to. So for them, coming to Ireland, this is a great way for a big portion of the European fans to get to see their team.
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| 11th February 2012 19:15 | ||
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| 12th February 2012 00:00 | ||
6-2 |
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| 5th February 2012 18:30 | ||
4-5 |
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| 5th February 2012 18:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 5th February 2012 17:00 | ||
6-1 |
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| 4th February 2012 19:30 | ||
4-1 |
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| 4th February 2012 19:00 | ||
6-2 |
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| 4th February 2012 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belfast Giants | 41 | 33 | 8 | 3 | 167 | 83 | 69 |
| 2 | Nottingham Panthers | 40 | 30 | 10 | 2 | 182 | 87 | 62 |
| 3 | Sheffield Steelers | 35 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 133 | 77 | 60 |
| 4 | Coventry Blaze | 40 | 25 | 15 | 1 | 153 | 113 | 51 |
| 5 | Cardiff Devils | 39 | 20 | 19 | 10 | 124 | 112 | 50 |
| 6 | Braehead Clan | 39 | 22 | 17 | 2 | 146 | 127 | 46 |
| 7 | Hull Stingrays | 41 | 11 | 30 | 4 | 107 | 165 | 26 |
| 8 | Edinburgh Capitals | 38 | 11 | 27 | 3 | 89 | 170 | 25 |
| 9 | Dundee Stars | 40 | 7 | 33 | 5 | 95 | 163 | 19 |
| 10 | Fife Flyers | 39 | 7 | 32 | 5 | 79 | 178 | 19 |
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| 8th February 2012 19:45 | ||
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| 11th February 2012 17:45 | ||
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3-0 |
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| 5th February 2012 18:30 | ||
4-2 |
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| 5th February 2012 18:00 | ||
6-3 |
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| 5th February 2012 17:30 | ||
6-8 |
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| 5th February 2012 17:30 | ||
3-0 |
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| 4th February 2012 19:30 | ||
1-3 |
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| 4th February 2012 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford Flames | 38 | 26 | 12 | 3 | 172 | 111 | 55 |
| 2 | Manchester Phoenix | 39 | 24 | 15 | 3 | 145 | 123 | 51 |
| 3 | Slough Jets | 37 | 24 | 13 | 2 | 167 | 117 | 50 |
| 4 | Sheffield Steeldogs | 38 | 22 | 16 | 4 | 119 | 101 | 48 |
| 5 | Milton Keynes Lightning | 37 | 22 | 15 | 1 | 116 | 99 | 45 |
| 6 | Basingstoke Bison | 38 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 135 | 126 | 44 |
| 7 | Swindon Wildcats | 39 | 15 | 24 | 5 | 126 | 134 | 35 |
| 8 | Bracknell Bees | 37 | 13 | 24 | 8 | 107 | 142 | 34 |
| 9 | Peterborough Phantoms | 38 | 14 | 24 | 2 | 123 | 164 | 30 |
| 10 | Telford Tigers | 39 | 9 | 30 | 2 | 106 | 199 | 20 |
- Challenge Cup Final dates confirmed
- Giants see off Devils to make final
- Murphy ready for Devils visit
- Giants sign Hoffman at the deadline
- Walton hits 500 Games
