Kingdom Of The Giants :: Belfast Giants Fan Community, News & Views
A Week Is A Long Time In Sport
09-Apr-2008The Seasons done and dusted, so Leafy gives us his thoughts on the recent appointment of Steve Thornton and the prospects of the new season
The old saying that “a week is a long time in sport” has never been so accurate as in the case of the Belfast Giants lately. In their case, to be more accurate, 8 days.
As the KOTG fan base spent Sunday 30th March contemplating what could and should have been, with a general feeling of despair that another promising season had come to a premature end, little could we have guessed that in a matter of 8 days the positive vibes of a new season ahead would appear, in the shape of the appointment of a new coach.
The early announcement of Stevie “Choccie” Thornton has gone some way to putting a smile back on the faces of the Giants fans, who will be hopeful that his coaching career is as successful as his playing career. A Belfast fan favourite as a player, Stevie will be hoping to emulate that as player/coach.
The early appointment also means KOTG avoids endless speculation as to who and when, so thanks Todd for that one! In a novel way of “announcing” the new coach, Todd gave out Thorntons chocolates to the traveling fans at the Playoffs in Nottingham, nice touch! The official confirmation on Monday 7th April confirmed the rumour that had been doing the rounds for a few days prior to the Playoff Finals.
Speculation will now change to the players – who will Stevie want back? Who will our new signings be? Welcome to the off season, a period where some names being bandied about seem feasible enough, others belong in fantasy world, more of that later! It will certainly be interesting to see what signing tactics Stevie uses – will he sign most players early, or will he be prepared to wait and see who becomes available as the NA and European leagues wind down to a close, and later in the autumn subsequent training camp cuts are made? Either way, hopefully most KOTG folks will have learned not to panic if we don't have a full roster on the first week of June. Can we dare to hope?I’m looking forward to finding out, with a renewed optimism for Giants hockey. It’s tough to have to wait to September, the NHL Playoffs will have to do for the moment. Speaking of which, anyone but the Habs, Sens or Flyers, thank you. For those of you going on holidays, have a good ‘un – and if you’re flying in and out of Aldergrove remember to look out for Mr Nolan. Not the annoying “PH” one, the other one!
Enjoy the summer, lets have some fun with the Pointless Posts while waiting for signings, and the Playoff Troops can have some fun with their flashback moments.
To finish, good luck Ed and thanks for all you have done for the Giants and welcome Stevie, do us proud. And the odd free chocolate as well would be nice!
- Leafy
- "Leafy" combines his 9-5 "hectic work schedule" with the ability to post on multiple forums, while maintaining that tricky life/forum balance in his personal life as well. Basically, his wife gets to see him when he's not on KOTG. He is currently part-way through an indoctrination process to make sure his kids become Leafs fans. Known on KOTG as a moaner, happy-clappy or realist... depending on what day it is and who's doing the name calling.
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| P | TEAM | GP | W(OT) | L(OT) | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blaze | 54 | 36(5) | 11(2) | 84 |
| 2 | Steelers | 54 | 33(5) | 14(2) | 78 |
| 3 | Panthers | 54 | 30(3) | 18(3) | 69 |
| 4 | Giants | 54 | 29(4) | 19(2) | 68 |
| 5 | Vipers | 54 | 24(4) | 22(4) | 60 |
| 6 | Devils | 54 | 23(3) | 25(3) | 55 |
| 7 | Phoenix | 54 | 20(3) | 28(3) | 49 |
| 8 | Capitals | 54 | 16(3) | 32(3) | 41 |
| 9 | Bison | 54 | 13(3) | 33(5) | 37 |
| 10 | Stingrays | 54 | 12(1) | 34(7) | 33 |