Belfast Giants

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Belfast Giants
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City Belfast, Northern Ireland
League Elite Ice Hockey League
Founded 2000
Home arena SSE Arena Belfast
Colours White, red & teal               
Owner(s) The Odyssey Trust
Head coach Canada Derrick Walser
Captain Canada Adam Keefe
Website www.belfastgiants.com
Franchise history
2000–present Belfast Giants
Championships
Regular season titles 2001–02, 2005–06, 2011–12, 2013-14
Playoff championships 2003, 2010
Knockout Cups 2008–09
Challenge Cups 2008–09

The Belfast Giants are an ice hockey team from Belfast, Northern Ireland that compete in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Home games are played at the 7,200-capacity SSE Arena Belfast (formerly the Odyssey Arena).

Currently the Belfast Giants are sponsored by Stena Line and are known as 'The Stena Line Belfast Giants'. The previous major sponsors were Aer Lingus, LBM, Coors Fine Light Beer and Harp Lager who sponsored the Belfast Giants in sequence since their inception.

History

Initially members of the now defunct Superleague, the Giants won the championship in 2001–02 and were play-off champions in 2002–03. With the Superleague's demise, there were concerns that the Giants would not survive because of major financial problems which had developed. Running up debts of £600,000 and facing the threat of liquidation creditors voted to accept 20p in the pound allowing the club to continue. One company was believed to be owed nearly £65,000.[1]

However, with the creation of the new Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) for the 2003–04 season, the Giants survived. The Giants finished 4th in the league's first season, but failed to reach the post-season play-offs..

The Giants finished runners up in the 2004–05 season behind the Coventry Blaze but were winners of the Cross-over League Cup, which was played with teams from the BNL.

In 2005, The Giants unveiled NHL All-Star and Olympic Gold Medal winner, Theo Fleury who made his debut against the Edinburgh Capitals. The Giants won 11–2, with Fleury scoring a hat-trick. With 4 additional assists and a fight, he was named man of the match.

Besides Fleury, several other players who previously played in the NHL have played for the Giants; Paul Kruse, Jason Ruff, Paxton Schulte, and Jason Bowen, Bowen and Kruse having played almost 600 games between them. Kevin Westgarth is the latest incumbent from the NHL to don the Giants jersey, arriving from the Calgary Flames after several seasons in North America's top league.

Team culture

With an average attendance of around 4,744, the Giants are one of ten Elite league ice hockey squads in the UK. They are the 2nd best supported team in the UK and 67th in Europe. [2]

Sectarianism had long been seen as a significant problem in some sports in Northern Ireland. When the club was established, the Belfast Giants were keen that the club not attach itself to a particular faith or community, instead wanting to represent Belfast as a whole. A number of policies were subsequently introduced to try to ensure this. Particular clothing (such as association football replica shirts), which might have displayed a person's political or religious affiliation, were banned and flags were not permitted to be brought into the arena. The national anthem of the United Kingdom, traditionally played before games at other arenas in the Elite League, is not played before Giants games. These policies have been successful and the Giants have quickly built a large and enthusiastic fanbase who did not have to fear the sectarianism that marred other sports in Northern Ireland.

Facts

Sponsors: Stena Line (Main Sponsor 2011–present)
Founded: 2000 into the British Ice Hockey Superleague
Primary Arena: SSE Arena Belfast, (capacity 8,000)
Training Arena: Dundonald International Ice Bowl
Uniform Colours: White, Red, Teal, Black
Logo Design: shows Finn McCool with a hockey stick.
Mascot: Finn McCool and Subman (Sponsorship Deal with Subway)
Motto: "In the land of the Giants, everyone is equal".

2014–15 roster

Netminders[3]
Number Player Place/Date of Birth Catches Acquired Joined from
31 Stephen Murphy[4] Scotland Dundee, Scotland
(1981-12-11) 11 December 1981 (age 42)		 L 2009 Manchester Phoenix (EIHL)
35 Andrew Dickson[5] Northern Ireland Ballymoney, Northern Ireland
(1987-11-02) 2 November 1987 (age 36)		 L 2011 Invicta Dynamos (ENL)
Defence[3]
Number Player Place/Date of Birth Shoots Acquired Joined from
3 Jeff Mason[6] United States Easthampton, MA, United States
(1981-08-11) 11 August 1981 (age 42)		 R 2012 Lillehammer IK (GET-ligaen)
6 Johan Ejdepalm[7] Sweden Uppsala, Sweden
(1982-04-01) 1 April 1982 (age 42)		 L 2015 Székesfehérvár (Austria)
17 Mike Wilson[8] Canada Vancouver, Canada
(1987-05-18) 18 May 1987 (age 36)		 L 2015 Wichita Thunder (ECHL)
23 Mitch Ganzak United States Redford, MI, United States
(1986-05-01) 1 May 1986 (age 37)		 L 2015 Graz 99ers (Austria)
43 Derrick Walser Canada New Glasgow, Canada

(1978-05-12) 12 May 1978 (age 45)

 L 2015 Rapperswil-Jona Lakers (NLA)
50 Matt Nickerson United States Old Lyme, CT, United States

(1986-05-01) 1 May 1986 (age 37)

 R 2015 Fife Flyers (EIHL)
Forwards[3]
Number Player Place/Date of Birth Shoots Position Acquired Joined from
7 Mark Garside[9] Scotland East Kilbride, Scotland
(1989-03-21) 21 March 1989 (age 35)		 L C 2010 Edinburgh Capitals (EIHL)
9 Evan Cheverie[10] Canada Charlottetown, PE, Canada
(1980-05-06) 6 May 1980 (age 43)		 L F 2013 HC Morzine-Avoriaz (France)
12 Ray Sawada[11] Canada Richmond, BC, Canada
(1985-02-19) 19 February 1985 (age 39)		 R F 2014 Tappara (Finland)
15 Kevin Westgarth[12] Canada Windsor, ON, Canada
(1984-02-07) 7 February 1984 (age 40)		 R F 2014 Calgary Flames NHL
17 Mike Kompon[13] Canada Thunder Bay, ON, Canada
(1982-02-21) 21 February 1982 (age 42)		 L F 2014 Oji Eagles (Asia)
19 Colin Shields[14] Scotland Glasgow, Scotland
(1980-01-27) 27 January 1980 (age 44)		 R C 2013 Sheffield Steelers (EIHL)
21 Mark McCutcheon[15] United States Ithaca, NY, USA
(1984-05-21) 21 May 1984 (age 39)		 R F 2014 Aalborg (Denmark)
22 Kevin Saurette[16] Canada Winnipeg, MB, Canada
(1980-06-27) 27 June 1980 (age 43)		 R RW 2013 ESV Kaufbeuren (2nd Bundesliga)
47 Adam Keefe[17] Canada Brampton, ON, Canada
(1984-04-26) 26 April 1984 (age 39)		 R RW 2011 Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL)
71 Craig Peacock[18] England Peterborough, England
(1988-08-08) 8 August 1988 (age 35)		 L LW 2009 Peterborough Phantoms (EPIHL)
72 Darryl Lloyd[19] Canada Pickering, ON, Canada
(1984-02-10) 10 February 1984 (age 40)		 L LW 2011 Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL)

Retired jersey numbers

Former players

Captains

Nat Name Tenure
United Kingdom Jeff Hoad 2000-02
Canada Paul Kruse 2002-03
Canada Jason Ruff 2003-04
Canada Shane Johnson 2004-05
United States George Awada 2005-09
Scotland Colin Shields 2009-11
Austria Jeremy Rebek 2011-12
Canada Adam Keefe 2012-

Head coaches

No. Nat Name Tenure
1 Canada David Whistle 2000-03
2 Canada Rob Stewart 2003-04
3 Scotland Tony Hand 2004-05
4 Canada Ed Courtenay 2005-08
5 Canada Steve Thornton 2008-10
6 United States Doug Christiansen 2010-13
7 Canada Paul Adey 2013-14
8 Canada Steve Thornton 2014-15
9 Canada Derrick Walser 2015-

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the Top 10 Points Scoring Leaders for the Belfast Giants:

Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player POS GP G A Pts
Colin Shields C/RW 370 159 297 456
George Awada RW 376 149 187 336
Craig Peacock RW 341 140 159 299
Evan Cheverie LW 239 91 183 274
Jason Ruff LW 193 100 145 245
Todd Kelman D 418 73 141 214
Shane Johnson D 491 54 145 199
Rob Sandrock D 224 49 141 190
Ed Courtenay RW 124 58 129 187
Curtis Bowen LW 219 84 103 187

Last Updated: 5 February 2015

Honours

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2000–01

2001–02

2002–03

2003–04

2004–05

2005–06

2008–09

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011–12

2012–13

2013–14

References

  1. ↑ Giants on the rocks, BBC Sport, 22 June 2003. Retrieved 30 June 2012
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

Preceded by Superleague Champions
2001–02		 Succeeded by
Sheffield Steelers
Preceded by Playoff Champions
2002–03		 Succeeded by
Sheffield Steelers
Preceded by Elite League Champions
2005–06		 Succeeded by
Coventry Blaze
Preceded by Playoff Champions
2009–10		 Succeeded by
Nottingham Panthers
Preceded by Elite League Champions
2013–14		 Succeeded by
Sheffield Steelers
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