It was a celebration three years in the making as the Belfast Giants made it back-to-back Elite League wins.
A shootout success at the Sheffield Steelers on Sunday saw Adam Keefe’s team secure top spot in the United Kingdom’s championship, defending the trophy it lifted back in 2019.
Since then, the pandemic curtailed the 2020 campaign and wiped out the 2021 season, making this success an unusually extended title defence.
The Giants’ triumph, which also earns them a place in next season’s Champions Hockey League, is their fifth British title. The first came in 2002 in the British Superleague; 2022’s trophy is the team’s fourth Elite League win.
For Giants head coach Keefe, the title was a reward for a season of hard work – sometimes in adversity.
“You bring in a group of good people and good things happen,” he told Premier Sports at the trophy presentation. “All year long these guys have done what we asked of them. They’ve grinded. Early on in the season we had so many injuries and everybody just kept going, guys filling in every spot, no questions asked.”
Decisive double header
For much of the season, it was a two-horse race. Sheffield made the stronger start, including a 7-1 thrashing of the Giants in November, with Belfast hampered by injuries in the early part of the campaign. Gradually, though, the Giants found their form and steadily eroded the Steelers’ advantage.
The penultimate weekend of the season saw Belfast travel to Sheffield for a double header, knowing that two victories would secure the crown. Saturday’s game saw a defensive masterclass give the Giants a 3-1 win, meaning that any kind of verdict on the Sunday would take the title back across the Irish Sea.
But Sheffield – which finishes its regular season in Belfast next weekend – was not about to give up the fight. Despite allowing an early power play goal when GB international Scott Conway set up Mark Cooper at the back door, the Steelers had the better of the first period. The home team hit the piping twice and, in the final moments of the frame, forced Tyler Beskorowany into possibly the save of the season as he dived to get his stick to an empty net rebound and rob Martin Latal of an equalizer.
The goalie described it as the best stop of his career while Sheffield head coach Aaron Fox said it was an “unbelievable save” on a chance that “would probably score 99 times out of 100”.
Beskorowany was beaten early in the second frame thanks to Tanner Eberle’s wrister and Sheffield came closer to getting a second goal in regulation. The home team was denied by a video review in the third period when Marc-Olivier Vallerand forced the puck over the line, only to learn that the net was already off its moorings. The officials told home head coach Aaron Fox that the angle they had on the video review was not conclusive enough to overturn the on-ice call.
It came down to a shootout and after a game of few goals, the first 11 attempts failed to find the target. Steelers hit the piping three times before, in sudden death, Conway converted his second shot to spark huge celebrations among the traveling Teal Army.
“After that first move I saw a bit of a five-hole open,” Conway told Premier Sports. “The second time, I knew I had him. I came down the left side and tried to tuck it five-hole and it worked. On my first attempt I was reacting to the netminder but after that I adjusted to what the goalie was doing and the five-hole was definitely the play.”
At the other end, Beskorowany, a 2008 draft pick for the Dallas Stars, went unbeaten through that shoot-out.
“I do video on these guys so I have a good idea of what their moves are,” he said. “They had a couple different things out there, but I stood my ground. I got lucky with a couple of posts, but it was good.
“It hasn’t been an easy year but we played well today. Hats off to this Sheffield team, they battled all year as well and it could have gone either way, but there’s only one winner and we’re happy to be hoisting it.”
Hockey unites
Rivals on the ice, Giants and Steelers fans came together this weekend in support of Sheffield’s Martin Latal and his extended family. The Czech forward’s wife, Iryna, comes from Ukraine and in the wake of the Russian invasion 11 of her relatives were forced to flee their homes. Since then, Martin, who won a World U18 bronze in 2006, has been providing financial aid from them from the UK.
After hearing the news, the Giants Official Supporters Club worked with the team, set up a raffle of three jerseys from the Challenge Cup final to raise funds to help out. The prize draw attracted contributions from fans across the Elite League.
Chasing a treble
Sunday’s success brings a second trophy of the season to Northern Ireland. Earlier, the Giants won the EIHL Challenge Cup, defeating Cardiff Devils 3-2 in overtime in last month’s final. Now, Keefe’s team is going after the treble when it begins its play-off campaign on home ice on 24 April.
However, Sheffield is eager to halt that progress. “Our goal has got to be to win a trophy, we don’t want to go 0-for-3,” concluded Steelers head coach Fox. “I like our group and I feel like it’s a group that deserves to win us a trophy this year.”
If the Giants can clinch the treble, they will be the third team to do so in the Elite League era. The Coventry Blaze (2005) and most recently the Nottingham Panthers (2013) also landed all three prizes of British ice hockey.
A shootout success at the Sheffield Steelers on Sunday saw Adam Keefe’s team secure top spot in the United Kingdom’s championship, defending the trophy it lifted back in 2019.
Since then, the pandemic curtailed the 2020 campaign and wiped out the 2021 season, making this success an unusually extended title defence.
The Giants’ triumph, which also earns them a place in next season’s Champions Hockey League, is their fifth British title. The first came in 2002 in the British Superleague; 2022’s trophy is the team’s fourth Elite League win.
For Giants head coach Keefe, the title was a reward for a season of hard work – sometimes in adversity.
“You bring in a group of good people and good things happen,” he told Premier Sports at the trophy presentation. “All year long these guys have done what we asked of them. They’ve grinded. Early on in the season we had so many injuries and everybody just kept going, guys filling in every spot, no questions asked.”
Decisive double header
For much of the season, it was a two-horse race. Sheffield made the stronger start, including a 7-1 thrashing of the Giants in November, with Belfast hampered by injuries in the early part of the campaign. Gradually, though, the Giants found their form and steadily eroded the Steelers’ advantage.
The penultimate weekend of the season saw Belfast travel to Sheffield for a double header, knowing that two victories would secure the crown. Saturday’s game saw a defensive masterclass give the Giants a 3-1 win, meaning that any kind of verdict on the Sunday would take the title back across the Irish Sea.
But Sheffield – which finishes its regular season in Belfast next weekend – was not about to give up the fight. Despite allowing an early power play goal when GB international Scott Conway set up Mark Cooper at the back door, the Steelers had the better of the first period. The home team hit the piping twice and, in the final moments of the frame, forced Tyler Beskorowany into possibly the save of the season as he dived to get his stick to an empty net rebound and rob Martin Latal of an equalizer.
The goalie described it as the best stop of his career while Sheffield head coach Aaron Fox said it was an “unbelievable save” on a chance that “would probably score 99 times out of 100”.
Beskorowany was beaten early in the second frame thanks to Tanner Eberle’s wrister and Sheffield came closer to getting a second goal in regulation. The home team was denied by a video review in the third period when Marc-Olivier Vallerand forced the puck over the line, only to learn that the net was already off its moorings. The officials told home head coach Aaron Fox that the angle they had on the video review was not conclusive enough to overturn the on-ice call.
It came down to a shootout and after a game of few goals, the first 11 attempts failed to find the target. Steelers hit the piping three times before, in sudden death, Conway converted his second shot to spark huge celebrations among the traveling Teal Army.
“After that first move I saw a bit of a five-hole open,” Conway told Premier Sports. “The second time, I knew I had him. I came down the left side and tried to tuck it five-hole and it worked. On my first attempt I was reacting to the netminder but after that I adjusted to what the goalie was doing and the five-hole was definitely the play.”
At the other end, Beskorowany, a 2008 draft pick for the Dallas Stars, went unbeaten through that shoot-out.
“I do video on these guys so I have a good idea of what their moves are,” he said. “They had a couple different things out there, but I stood my ground. I got lucky with a couple of posts, but it was good.
“It hasn’t been an easy year but we played well today. Hats off to this Sheffield team, they battled all year as well and it could have gone either way, but there’s only one winner and we’re happy to be hoisting it.”
Hockey unites
Rivals on the ice, Giants and Steelers fans came together this weekend in support of Sheffield’s Martin Latal and his extended family. The Czech forward’s wife, Iryna, comes from Ukraine and in the wake of the Russian invasion 11 of her relatives were forced to flee their homes. Since then, Martin, who won a World U18 bronze in 2006, has been providing financial aid from them from the UK.
After hearing the news, the Giants Official Supporters Club worked with the team, set up a raffle of three jerseys from the Challenge Cup final to raise funds to help out. The prize draw attracted contributions from fans across the Elite League.
Chasing a treble
Sunday’s success brings a second trophy of the season to Northern Ireland. Earlier, the Giants won the EIHL Challenge Cup, defeating Cardiff Devils 3-2 in overtime in last month’s final. Now, Keefe’s team is going after the treble when it begins its play-off campaign on home ice on 24 April.
However, Sheffield is eager to halt that progress. “Our goal has got to be to win a trophy, we don’t want to go 0-for-3,” concluded Steelers head coach Fox. “I like our group and I feel like it’s a group that deserves to win us a trophy this year.”
If the Giants can clinch the treble, they will be the third team to do so in the Elite League era. The Coventry Blaze (2005) and most recently the Nottingham Panthers (2013) also landed all three prizes of British ice hockey.