Walton hits 500 Games

Friday 27th January 2012

Official Belfast Giants Media Release

Tags Belfast Giants
Graeme Walton

Tonight Graeme Walton of the Stena Line Belfast Giants will make his 500th appearance as a Giant, the first player in Giants history to play in 500 games. Walton began his professional career back in 2003 when he became one of four original local players to sign for their hometown team. 9 seasons later, Walton remains as the last of the original four local players but is joined on this year's squad by two other Northern Irishmen - Andrew Dickson and Gareth Roberts.

In his 9 seasons, Walton has won 4 championships - the Elite League Title in 2006, the Challenge Cup and Knock Out Cup in 2009 and the Playoff Championship in 2010. Walton hails from Dundonald and played his youth hockey at the Dundonald Ice Bowl.

"It is a great testament to Graeme to have played 500 games for the same team," said General Manager Todd Kelman.

"As an organisation, we are very proud of Graeme and what makes this even more special is that our longest serving player is a homegrown talent.

"When the Giants arrived in 2000, it was a team full of North Americans and nobody ever thought of local ice hockey players getting the opportunity to play for their hometown team but 12 years later and we have our longest serving player born and bred in Northern Ireland. His success story gives alot of local players hope that if they work hard they will get their opportunity as well.

"On a personal note, I am pleased to see Graeme reach this milestone. Graeme was my defence partner for a couple of seasons when I was playing and I enjoyed 2 of my personal best seasons with him as my partner out on the ice. We also won a league title together in 2006.

"He has played a big part in the Giants success over the years and although he is the guy that tries to stay out of the spotlight, this achievement should be celebrated. Let's hope he can get a win in his 500th game tonight in Braehead."

The BBC will be airing a story on television profiling Walton later today, but it is already up online. Click below to watch it:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/16748770.stm

blog comments powered by Disqus

Braehead	v	Sheffield
24th February 2012 19:30
Edinburgh	v	Braehead
25th February 2012 18:00
Hull	v	Belfast
25th February 2012 18:00
Nottingham	v	Cardiff
25th February 2012 19:00
Fife	v	Sheffield
25th February 2012 19:15
Sheffield	v	Edinburgh
26th February 2012 17:00

Sheffield	5-1	Fife
21st February 2012 19:30
Coventry	4-6	Braehead
19th February 2012 18:00
Hull	3-5	Cardiff
19th February 2012 18:00
Edinburgh	0-9	Nottingham
19th February 2012 18:00
Belfast	7-1	Fife
18th February 2012 19:00
Braehead	4-3	Coventry
18th February 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Belfast Giants	45	37	8	3	187	90	77
2	Sheffield Steelers	41	35	6	0	156	94	70
3	Nottingham Panthers	45	32	13	3	203	99	67
4	Cardiff Devils	43	24	19	10	142	121	58
5	Braehead Clan	42	25	17	2	163	136	52
6	Coventry Blaze	44	25	19	1	165	131	51
7	Hull Stingrays	45	13	32	4	118	181	30
8	Edinburgh Capitals	42	11	31	3	96	194	25
9	Dundee Stars	44	8	36	6	110	178	22
10	Fife Flyers	43	7	36	5	85	201	19

Swindon	v	Telford
25th February 2012 17:45
Bracknell	v	Manchester
25th February 2012 18:00
Guildford	v	Sheffield
25th February 2012 18:00
Basingstoke	v	Milton Keynes
25th February 2012 18:30
Milton Keynes	v	Slough
25th February 2012 19:00
Manchester	v	Bracknell
26th February 2012 17:30

Bracknell	2-3	Sheffield
19th February 2012 18:00
Guildford	9-1	Swindon
19th February 2012 18:00
Manchester	5-2	Milton Keynes
19th February 2012 17:30
Peterborough	6-7	Basingstoke
19th February 2012 17:30
Telford	1-5	Slough
19th February 2012 17:30
Milton Keynes	6-3	Swindon
18th February 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Guildford Flames	43	30	13	4	202	123	64
2	Manchester Phoenix	42	26	16	4	160	128	56
3	Slough Jets	41	26	15	2	182	136	54
4	Sheffield Steeldogs	41	25	16	4	133	106	54
5	Basingstoke Bison	43	24	19	2	153	145	50
6	Milton Keynes Lightning	41	24	17	1	129	112	49
7	Swindon Wildcats	43	17	26	5	142	157	39
8	Bracknell Bees	41	14	27	10	118	156	38
9	Peterborough Phantoms	43	15	28	4	150	191	34
10	Telford Tigers	42	9	33	2	110	225	20