The Sky Is Falling? Wait! It's Fallen Before...

At the weekend the Belfast Giants won their opening game for the third straight season. They followed this up however by getting thumped by Cardiff by 7-1. It's not however the first time this has happened to the Giants and unfortunately it's unlikely to be the last. Thankfully though they are a rare occurrence and we've got a long season ahead of us to put things to right. How the team actually responds from this early set back remains to be seen. Different teams from different years respond in different ways but it's worth taking a look back over the years at previous beatings we've been served up and how we reacted to them.

Ricky Blayney looked at a selection (almost all) of league games that the Giants were beaten by five or more clear goals and seen how the team responded in the following three games and beyond.

BEATING #1: RESPONDING

For the first and for one of the most memorable you have to go all the way back to the 2001-2002 season, 1st September 2001 to be precise. This 9-3 drubbing at the hands of the London Knights to open the season is the one that reminds me most of our latest loss to Cardiff. Both were very early season and both took us by surprise. I remember the summer of 2001 being filled with anticipation. We had gotten our inaugural season under us and had made some impressive signings and everything looked in good shape for a strong challenge for trophies. I was sitting in Austria on holiday and I remember logging on during the game to the old iceweb website (remember that!) to see goal after goal go in against us.

At the time people were reaching for the panic button. I know I was a little worried myself but it was how they responded that mattered and that’s what we learnt. Surprisingly the turn around didn't begin immediately. Although we shutout Ayr 4-0 the following night we lost the next two before the end of the week, again to London (5-2) and then to Nottingham (4-3). Now anyone starting to worry a little might have been excused but the Giants stuck at it and then went on a seven game undefeated streak. By early 2002 the Championship was out of sight and we had our first league crown.

BEATING #2: REVENGE HAPPENS

Revenge can be oh so sweet. Before moving right off the 2001-2002 season with a smile it's worth remembering that the defeat by London to open the season was not the only night we got it rough that championship winning year. Only a few months later on 28th October against Sheffield we went down 8-1. We lost two nights later to London (3-1) but came back strong with a 4-1 win over Bracknell and a 6-2 victory against Manchester (Storm). Later on that season we would put eight past Sheffield and get our sweet taste of revenge.

BEATING #3: GETTING BACK ON TRACK

15th December 2002. We were on a high having already qualifying for Lugano but this didn't stop our old foes Sheffield getting one over on us when they beat us 6-1 in the House of Steel. The boys responded strongly beating Bracknell 5-2. They lost the following game 3-2 to Nottingham but followed that up with a 7-2 hammering of the London Knights. It put the season back on track and in the New Year the Giants went to Lugano, put on a great show and returned home to win the playoffs championship.

BEATING #4: FORGET ABOUT THIS ONE

The 2003-2004 season was one most Giants fans tend to want to forget. It was a poor year in the league and they made no in roads in the playoffs. We lost almost as many as we won that season and took a few heavy defeats a long the way. November was one of them months were they never won or lost a normal game, it was either a big loss or a big win. It started on the first day of the month with a 7-2 defeat in Basingstoke. After edging Cardiff a week later another big loss was offered up by the Manchester Phoenix by 7-2 again but the Giants responded well and found their scoring touch with two nine goal performances against London (9-2) and Basingstoke (9-3). As for the rest of the season and the enormous losing streak suffered early in 2004, well all that needs said about that is at least the scoring was low!

BEATING #5: CARDIFF ROUND 1

Last Sunday night’s loss to Cardiff was not the first time they have enjoyed a lop-sided victory over us. Back on 24th October 2004 Cardiff put five past us without reply. It didn't set the team back for long however as they followed it up with three wins against Nottingham, Dundee (in that cross-over cup) and the London Racers.

BEATING #6: POST-CHRISTMAS

It's not all roses and great responses however. One of the most recent heavy defeats prior to this season came at the back end of last year. In a championship race with the Coventry Blaze and every game important we lost big time in an 8-0 defeat to Coventry. It was the only beating of the six covered were the Giants really struggled to respond but worth noting that it was the only one that came at the post-Christmas side of the season. A week after that defeat Hull embarrassed us by 7-2, Sheffield beat us 3-1 and Nottingham put six past us in a 6-3 win. By the time the ship was steadied after a further two defeats the Giants went on an eight game winning run but it was all too late and our title hopes were long over.

CONCLUSION: GIVE ‘EM TIME

Of the six above, on three occasions they went on to win a major trophy and in five of the six they went on to finish in the top two in the league. This latest one is no different to the first five in that it's came at the right side of the season to get easily back on track. This blog was certainly not meant to put the doom and gloom into us all before this weekend’s game but just to remind us we’ve been here before, so for now, keep that panic button out of arms reach. These defeats happen and they will happen again but if you are in doubt look to them similar defeats to London and Sheffield back in 2001 and 2002 and how the ship was steadied.

One thing I did notice while trawling through the fixtures was that the Giants have comfortably handed out more beatings than they’ve taken!

P.S. With the latest news that Killer is returning to the line-up we now have a guy with past experience in over-coming lopsided defeats in a Giants jersey. All is well.

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