Is Jason Ruff The Greatest Giants Player of All Time?

With Jason Ruff having recently announced his retirement, KotG asks "Is Jason Ruff the greatest Giant or one of the greatest?". We turned to Patrick Smyth and Ricky Blayney to find out their opinions..

The Greatest Giant

When I sit here and instantly think of the Belfast Giants, its history and the players that made that history there are always two names that spring to mind for me every single time with little thought: Paxton Schulte and Jason Ruff. Paxton was a legend, he entertained and he was one hell of a player but it’s Jason Ruff that stands out when you talk about the greatest ever player to have pulled on the Finn McCool crest.

Jason Ruff came into a one season old Belfast Giants team, on the high of new support in a sell-out arena with fans desperate to see winning hockey right from the off. Ruff was brought in from the very highest minor-pro leagues in North America having spent most of his time in the then highly regarded IHL including a spell at the very top in the show. He was placed on a line with Kevin Riehl and Sean Berens. The rest of that year is history. The fans got their winning hockey.

Ask any Giants fan from back in them days and they’ll argue the case that that was our greatest line ever. Indeed it takes three players to make a great line and for all Riehl and Berens’ speed and scoring touch you had Jason Ruff’s power and leadership. The first thing any coach will tell you when looking at a possible player to sign are their various attributes. A whole host of things come into play; skating, passing, shooting, defensive play, leadership, hitting, strength, ability in the corners and even fighting. If a player meets three or four of these categories then you’re doing well - Jason Ruff met every category and was dominant in each.

At the end of his first year in Belfast the big European teams came calling but after a season ending injury in Germany the Giants looked to him again for 03-04 in the new Elite League. At that time the Giants were a cash strapped outfit on the verge of folding, it would be all too tempting for any player to look the other way and find a much more secure job like many others did at the end of the 02-03 season. Jason Ruff came back to play for Belfast when they needed a star like him more than ever.

Of course people are going to mention Theo Fleury. There’s no doubting how good that man was but for every great pass, goal or play he made it has to be remembered that it was when Jason Ruff’s season ended through injury, that the Giants season started to go downhill and the struggles to finish off the league championship began.

It would be unfair of me to use statistics to support my claim for Jason Ruff as the best Giants player ever so that’s exactly what I will do!!

In 194 games for the Giants Ruff scored 100 goals (a club record), 145 assists (a club record) and 245 points (a club record). He is tied for the most points in a single season as a Giant with Theo Fleury on 94 and Ruff did it on a considerably poorer Giants team that only finished 4th back in that 03-04 season.

His statistics may be passed one day but would I would be very surprised if a more complete package of a player ever came along again.

Even last year in what turned out to be his final year in Belfast when he was older, getting slower and less of a consistent goal threat his influence, leadership and key goals at key times were second to none. He may never have spent two full seasons and may always left have left us thinking we had seen the last of him, but his willingness to always return to fight for the Giants cause showed his love for the team, its fans and the city.

Last season, one half of the ‘instantly thought of’ Giants I mentioned in the first paragraph had his jersey retired. It can surely only be a matter of time before the other, Jason Ruff, has his number seventeen hung up for good - Nobody would deserve it more.

Jason Ruff was the man, the legend and the greatest Giant. A franchise player in every sense of the word.

Ricky Blayney

www.Giants-History.com

One of The Greatest...

Lets get one thing straight from the outset, I am a fan of Jason Ruff, and by no means am trying to degrade any of the achievements he has accomplished in his time wearing a Giants Shirt. Just by clicking on the table for All Time Giants Stats, you can see his name is right at the top. Under 200 games... 100 goals, 245 points. The man will always be held in high regard by the Giants' fans.

Thing is though, is he the greatest Giants player? Thats a tough one to call. In the short, now 8 season, history of the Belfast Giants there have been a whole host of great players. The lucrative finance of the Ice Hockey Superleague allowed for a number of highly rated imports to come to our shores and play. However it was that finance that ultimately led to the ISL’s demise and the advent of the Elite Ice Hockey League has brought maybe a lower standard of hockey. Though the ISL will always be remembered for the great players who came to Belfast.

Yes, it was the ISL that allowed a ‘young’ Jason Ruff to come to our fair city, however he was not alone. Belfast has seen some fantastic players in the last 8 years. Paxton Schulte will always be remembered as one of the first great Giants players. His number has been the first by the Giants organisation to be officially retired. Schulte was the first major franchise player, the first big face on the posters, and maybe the first memorable name associated with the Belfast Giants. He scored the first goal for the Belfast Giants in the Odyssey Arena, spent 4 seasons with the franchise being a servant both on and off the ice. His ultimate departure was in 2004, however he remains one of the top 4 players in the all time stats list I mentioned before.

You can’t rank a player as being great based on statistics, that's true, and no one is claiming this about Ruff, however some of the other great players for the Giants wouldn’t be obvious to those browsing through Giants statistics and game reports, but in the minds and hearts of Giants supporters, they are legendary. One prime example of this, is former NHL Forward Paul Kruse.

Kruser only spent one season with the Belfast Giants, but as captain in that 02/03 season he was instrumental in the Giants ultimate success when he lifted the Icy Smith Playoff Trophy in Nottingham’s NIC Arena. Kruse had this air of indestructibility about him. He was feared by other teams, heck he was feared by his own team, yet he was able to control on the ice and get the job done. I always remember “that Nottingham game” in October 2002 when Paxton Schulte was ‘mugged’ by Neikar and his cohorts. The story was that while leaving the ice after the incident, a number of Panthers players were skating by the Giants bench on their way off to the dressing room. Kruse hadn’t played due to an injury, but was suited up on the bench, and when Jason Clarke and Eric Charron passed the bench he pointed at them, indicating he knew who he was going after. Apparently this prompted the response of “It wasn’t us Kruser, it wasn’t us”. Only Kruse could demand that sort of response and respect. and we all remember Jason Clarke’s ultimate reaction when Kruse finally did get a hold of him, instantly turtling and hitting the ice.

I could sit here thinking of a multitude of names over the Giants short history and with them a story for each showing their prowess on the ice, in forward, defense or overall demeanor. Sean Berens, Chad Allan, Colin Ward, Curt Bowen, Steve Thornton, Ryan Kuwabara, Rod Stevens, Kevin Riehl, Shane Johnson, the list could be long and quite exhaustive. Maybe a couple of others, however, deserve special mentions as my aim is to show that Jason Ruff was a great player for the Giants, but we have had so many it would be unfair on others to single him out an ultimate accolade.

Jason Bowen and Rob Stewart. Those two names alone conjure up a multitude of images and stories that Giants fans could wax lyrical over for years on end. “JB” became and instant fan favourite. From his thundering hits to that celebration dance, it was apparent to Giants fans just what a player Bowen was. This was no more apparent as when he came to the Odyssey in the shirt of the Scottish Eagles, then playing out of Braehead. Bowen showed us there and then what we were missing, owning the Giants offensive zone, and decimating any attack we tried to create. Rob Stewart was the iron-man of the ISL and one of the most experienced heads on the Giants rosters. With presence of mind in defense and a lightening bolt of a shot from the blue-line, Stewart became known as “golden skates” to we Giants fans and despite a less than successful season behind the bench as coach, Rob came back into the fray when the Giants were found wanting at the back, showing the ‘young bucks’ exactly how the game is played.

I think there are only two other names I can throw into this blog to try and complete my point. One is Theo Fleury. Do I really need to say any more than the name? Loved by Giants fans, hated by everyone else, his class was superb, his skill un-matched, his impact unforgetable. From his first goal, within 60 seconds of setting foot on Odyssey ice. His first game, a hat-trick, four assists and a fight. and in his only season with the Giants he accumulated 94 points, having only arrived in October! Kevin Riehl had always been unrivaled in the #14 Giants Shirt, until Fleury arrived.

And last but not least, in my opinion the closest we’ve had to “The Greatest Giant” is a player who loved the club so much.. he decided to start running it. Todd Kelman’s name will always be one that Giants fans will look upon with respect, gratitude and fondness. Every name you see above, Kelman has shared the ice with and he has always been considered one of the players most associated with Giants success. Having arrived with Dave Whistle from Bracknell, Kelman showed early why he was considered one of the best D-men in the ISL. His vision on the ice, the timing of his poke-checks, and his distribution from the defensive zone were unrivaled. However he was always the servant off the ice also, his outgoing personality making him the franchises perfect spokesman. 7 seasons of Kelman in a Giants shirt came to an end last season with a Testimonial game, and his popularity with Giants players over the years was apparent by the return of some great names for his “All-star Team”, Schulte, Ward, and even Theo Fluery (Kelman’s Childhood Hero) returning to belfast to show their respect for the man. And now we have TK the GM, with whom we have had one of the most open off-seasons in Giants history, Kelman has been one with the fans, keeping them up to date on all goings on, understanding the relationship between the man in the crowd and the team on the ice. The season ahead looks bright and in no small part to the former #44

Jason Ruff was a fantastic player, and I take my hat off to him. I believe his number should be honoured in some way. He was a fantastic servant on the ice to the Belfast Giants and one of the most accomplished players the UK game has seen. However the definition of “Greatest” is one that can be argued for eons. And in years to come we may be talking of Mark Morrison, Graeme Walton or even young Bari McKenzie in the same mode. One things for sure though, Belfast hasn’t been short of “Greats” and I dont think thats about to stop now.

Patrick Smyth

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