Talent going in the right direction?

Posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 11:50 am

Welcome all Giants fans to the 2009/2010 season. We are almost exactly one month into the season and we have already had some great highs and some not so good lows. Looking back on the first month I think we have made some great progress as a team both on and off the ice. If you have already read “Coaches Corner”, I could not agree with Steve more in him saying that it has taken us longer to find our identity and place as a team. I do think however, that we are a much stronger, well balanced team than last season. There is no doubt that last season’s team was loaded with talent, but did we have the right talent going in the right direction? This season we have much better balance from our goaltending right through our defence and forwards. Some players have already made their mark with some great goals, hits and saves. Others are still finding their feet and will no doubt step up and dazzle you sooner rather than later. i know there is going to be some great hockey played at the Odyssey this season against some very good teams.

Off the ice, I think all the lads are settling in nicely. After all the usual adjustments, driving, food and mobile phones everyone seems to have found a home in Belfast. I have so many great stories from the first month I would love to tell them all, but my favourite has to be one involving driving. For those who don’t know, many American’s can go through their whole driving lives with out driving a standard or stick shift car. I will not name names but one certain player had never drove a stick shift before coming to Belfast. And need I say anymore apart from his Downey’s issued team car was a 5 speed…. and after about a week of lessons from his roomy, his new nickname is “Wheel Spin”. Enough said!

As for me, well I am pretty happy with how the season has went so far. I think we would like to have a few games back that we gave away some points. That is all part of having a new team in somewhat of a new league this season. I have enjoyed the start of the year very much and really like our team and out chances of winning the league this season. I have a new room mate, Craig Peacock, who is a great kid and has been a great addition to our line up this year. He has a lot of talent and is going to be goal scoring threat for us this season. I started the season with a nagging injury that I picked up over the summer and had been battling it over the pre season and first month. I had some great treatment help from our physic staff Andy and Bill Massey. Its had to describe how important the back room staff, from trainers, equipment managers (Taff), office staff and everyone else involved are in the day to day running of a professional hockey team. I also have to mention the help I had from Marissa and James Boyle. I actually had some acupuncture treatment which I found to make a huge difference and offered a different type of release than my body was used to. So now I fully fit and am looking forward to October and moving forward to the rest of the challenge cup and the league championship.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the matches so far and is looking forward to the rest of the season as much as I am!

Shieldsy