Giants Roster Taking Shape

With under three weeks to go until the Belfast Giants open their season with the Charity Shield fixture against last year's regular season champion Coventry Blaze, only three spots remain open on the roster.

The most recent arrival is Dan Welch. Welch is known to Giants' fans from his previous spells in Edinburgh, Nottingham and Coventry - the association with the latter two meaning he may have a lot to do to win over some. Welch will be relied upon to be versatile and fill in on scoring lines should injuries occur.

The forward lines are still something of a puzzle with those three spots still open. Last year's star Jeffrey Szwez has signed in Germany and leaves a large hole to fill. Returning however are Colin Shields and Brandon Benedict who will hope to pick up where they left off.

Of those signed so far, there are several new faces. Colin Hemingway arrives from Alaska Aces of the ECHL. Some may remember him as a stand out from his time at Edinburgh a few years back and he will be hoping to slot onto a top line and add some scoring. Former Las Vegas Wrangler Joshua Prudden is another of the new men on the forward lines. Prudden has shown responsibility at both ends and will hope to impact upon the EIHL.

Craig Peacock will not want to endure the dreaded "sophomore slump" that so many 2nd year players experience and after a solid scoring first year where he picked up 25 goals will hope to improve upon that. Peacock is joined by Mark Garside, a highly promising, talented Scottish forward who makes the seemingly familiar move over the Irish Sea from Edinburgh. It will be interesting to watch these two develop.

Signing at the same time as Dan Welch, Rich Seeley arrives as the 4th import defenseman. Seeley has almost 400 games of AHL experience and looks to be a large, tough body on the blue line. Jon Gleed is another defenseman new to Belfast who arrives with large amounts of AHL experience at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Again he projects to be a large, mobile, tough player at the back. The final new face on defense is Jeff Mason who will look to add some offense replacing the work done by Michael Jacobsen and Shane Johnson in recent years. Needing no reintroduction are local lad Graeme Walton and one of last season's playoff winning stars in Tim Cook.

With the size and experience available, the Giants' "D" will hope to be a key part of any success this coming year -One question remains: Is the "D" complete at 5 or will one of the remaining slots be another defenseman? We will have to wait and see.

Once more in goal we see the duo of Stephen Murphy and Nathan Craze. Murphy comes off a stellar season and many are querying whether he can maintain the levels seen last year. For Craze last year may have been a disappointment and this season should be a chance to rebound and show what he can do once more.

With the defense looking so solid, those last three pieces of the puzzle could be crucial in deciding the fate of the season so we wait with anticipation to see who completes the roster in the next few weeks. While the teams around the EIHL gear up for another season, we look forward to welcoming back regular old foes, but we especially anticipate the return of the Dundee Stars and also the maiden appearance of the Braehead Clan in Belfast - and of course we can't forget the NHL's Boston Bruins arriving in October. It's hard to believe summer is almost over already!

Aaron Kernohan

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