Tag Archives: Jim Doran

Belfast Giants yet to lose a regulation league game

As many of you know, I vowed to follow the Belfast Giants this season as my personal snub of Gary Bettman and his travelling shit show  insistence upon another NHL lockout. Instead of writing substandard game recaps from afar, I’ve enlisted Giants seasons ticket holder Jim Doran to give us first hand reports from the capital of Northern Ireland. This is his second report for the 2012-13 season — the first can be read here.

by Jim Doran

Belfast Giants
This gorgeous aerial shot of Stephen Murphy’s crease in the Odyssey Arena was taken by Michael Cooper — visit his website and buy his stuff!

I should probably set the scene somewhat for anyone unfamiliar with the UK Elite Ice Hockey League. The EIHL is made up of ten teams; four from England (Coventry Blaze, Hull Stingrays, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers); four from Scotland (Braehead Clan, Dundee Stars, Edinburgh Capitals and Fife Flyers); the Cardiff Devils from Wales; and the Belfast Giants from Northern Ireland.

This season has seen the league spilt into two conferences for the first time. The four Scottish teams along with Hull comprise the Gardiner Conference, with the Giants joining the Steelers, Blaze, Panthers and Devils in the Erhardt Conference. The new format sees each club play teams in their own conference eight times during the season (four home / four away) and play the teams in the opposing conference four times (twice home / twice away). Continue reading Belfast Giants yet to lose a regulation league game

Belfast Giants Season Preview

Knowing little and less about the British league, we’ve reached across the pond to long-time Belfast Giants supporter Jim Doran. Jim’s kindly agreed to keep us updated on the Giants’ 12-13 campaign. Make sure to give Jim a follow on twitter at @jai_dee.

The Belfast Giants are quite possibly best known across the pond for large dancing elves and that Mariah Carey Christmas video, but they are a hockey team, honestly. In fact the Giants can even count Theo Fleury amongst their past players. Yes, that Stanley Cup winning, Olympic gold medallist Theo Fleury who racked up a more than impressive 24 goals, 70 assists and 308 PiM in his 45 games for the Giants during the 2005-06 Elite League season. Continue reading Belfast Giants Season Preview