For the Nottingham Panthers and Belfast Giants, when it rains, it pours.
Danny Stewart and Adam Keefe entered the season with high expectations and last season’s silverware in their trophy cabinets.
But the opening weeks of the campaign haven’t played out as expected for two of the Elite League’s powerhouse sides.
The Giants are 4-2-1 to start the season, with their latest defeat coming in overtime against the rebuilding Fife Flyers.
Painfully, for Belfast, they led 3-1 with fifteen minutes remaining in Fife, much to Keefe’s chagrin.
We had a lot of scoring chances to grow our lead and win the hockey game,” explained the Canadian. “But that’s not my concern: my concern is that we gave up a couple of breakaways again and just some looks that we shouldn’t do.”
It’s a similar story for the Panthers, who — by their own admission — were “outworked” on home ice against the Manchester Storm.
“I’m not going to sit here and beat the squad up, but it certainly wasn’t good enough,” said Stewart. “It’s one thing to lose a hockey game because you made a few mistakes, but we got outworked tonight — and it was for large parts of the game and that’s pissed me off.”
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Saturday, 4 October 2025
Guildford Flames 5-1 Glasgow Clan
Andrew Hemmings, Guildford Flames:
I’m really, really happy with the performance tonight. We needed that — and credit where credit is due: the boys are chipping away and it’s no secret that we’ve got some injuries right now. I felt, after Glasgow scored first, we didn’t panic, we grew into the game, and we needed that for this group.
Corey Neilson, Glasgow Clan:
It was a tough one for us: I thought we created a lot of really good chances and we kept attacking the net. We capitalised on our one power play and it’s just unfortunate that the game went the way it did. We ended up in the penalty box, giving up penalty shots, and Guildford were clinical: they capitalised on their chances.
Cardiff Devils 5-6 Coventry Blaze (Challenge Cup)
Colton Saucerman, Coventry Blaze (Image: James Assinder)
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
We weren’t playing up to our standards in the first period — and that was pretty clear. Fortunately, our fourth line gave us a big shift at three-nothing to give us the energy to claw back into it, make it 3-1, and give the guys some life. I don’t think the guys’ first period was great, but they calmly regrouped and played up to our standard the rest of the way. Because of that, they were rewarded and it was a good team win.
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
I’m not really impressed with us: we were three-nil up at home and playing the way we’re supposed to play. Then, we conceded and from there on until the end of the first period, I felt we were poor. And then I we didn’t turn up in the second period. Our penalty-kill wasn’t good today and we need to look at that as coaches.
They’re smart, they make plays to sticks, and we weren’t on sticks, defensively today. Again, we clawed our way back into it, only to take some really, really poor penalties. I’m disappointed.
Nottingham Panthers 3-6 Manchester Storm (Challenge Cup)
Cam Critchlow, Manchester Storm:
I thought it was a good hockey game: we stuck with it, Nottingham pushed, and we pushed back. I think we took advantage of our chances and we had some big performances tonight. [Brady] Gilmour’s line was outstanding and Evan Weninger [check spelling] has given us a hell of a chance to win in back-to-back starts. We’re battling hard, we’ve had a little bit of a tough stretch, but credit to our guys.
Danny Stewart, Nottingham Panthers:
I’m not happy at all. I’m not going to sit here and beat the squad up, but it certainly wasn’t good enough. It’s one thing to lose a hockey game because you made a few mistakes, but we got outworked tonight — and it was for large parts of the game and that’s pissed me off.
I can accept losing if individual performances aren’t there or we make mistakes, it happens over the course of a long season, but when you’re at home, in front of a full barn, and you get outworked… we got what we deserved and I’m not happy.
Sheffield Steelers 6-1 Dundee Stars
Jordan Southorn, Sheffield Steelers (Image: Dean Woolley)
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
There were a lot of real positives for us tonight: our special teams [play] was outstanding — the penalty-kill was two-for-two with a short-[handed goal] and the powerplay went three-for-three. At five-on-five, we were good all night and I thought one-nothing was probably the worst the scoreline could be at the end of the first period.
At the time, I was a little worried because we created a lot of offence last Saturday night, but we couldn’t find a way past [Coventry Blaze netminder Mat] Robson. It looked very similar tonight, creating a lot, but pucks not being able to get pucks in.
But the powerplay took over in the second period and we were able to play four lines for the majority of the night. We feel that if we’re able to continually play forward and fast, we’ll wear teams down — and that’s what happened tonight.
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
The first thirty minutes were really good. At that point, it was a 1-1 game — but we lost our defensive coverage to make it 2-1 and it went down hill from there. I thought they were all over us in the second half of the game and our special teams weren’t very good. They scored three powerplay goals and added another one short-handed.
Fife Flyers 4-3 Belfast Giants — Shootout (Challenge Cup)
Jamie Russell, Fife Flyers:
It was a huge response from our guys: we’ve played Belfast twice and, quite honestly, they’ve kicked our ass twice. We had a thin line-up, but I thought our defensive zone coverage was much better tonight and much improved. They’re a team that are deadly on transition, so you have to manage the puck and get things going in the offensive zone.
I thought our penalty-kill was outstanding. I’m really happy for Christian Purboo for getting his first win. Jeremy Mesella stepped up: we were on our heels a little bit, but he stepped up with a great tilt to get us going.
It was a mentally-strong performance from the team: we were down 3-1 late, but we found a way to win it in the shootout. It’s a happy room in there tonight.
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
I thought we were good for half of it. Personally, we shouldn’t only be playing half of it. Fife really impressed me: they competed extremely hard, they were physical, and there was no quit in their team.
I thought we controlled the game for portions of it, but we still gave too much up defensively. There’s some frustration on our team right now because some guys aren’t producing like they have in the past — and some of that frustration is because Fife competed really hard.
That being said, we had a lot of scoring chances to grow our lead and win the hockey game. But that’s not my concern: my concern is that we gave up a couple of breakaways again and just some looks that we shouldn’t do.
Fife definitely deserved the comeback and we’re going to have to take that one point and go into a building tomorrow to play against a team that we haven’t beaten yet. We’ve got to start getting a little bit angry here and prove to ourselves that we’re going to be a competitor in this league.
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