Belfast Giants must put ‘sloppy’ loss behind them and focus on title

They need 78 points to secure the championship.

Giants head coach Adam Keefe admits that his squad must behind them last weekend's sloppy loss at home to the Glasgow Clan as they go into this weekend's crucial double-header with the Nottingham Panthers at the SSE Arena.

One win in the weekend should be enough for the Giants to clinch the league championship.

With the Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers splitting their double-header last weekend, the Steelers are out of the chase after being eliminated by the Panthers

The Cardiff Devils have been making some inroads into their position in the league and are now in third place with 67 points and 49 games played.

The Panthers are in second place and remain a threat to the Giants' league hopes to the trophy, they have 68 points and have played 49 games.

The Giants, they currently sit with 76 points in the bag and stand with 48 games played. That extra game could always come in handy. Or the title might be won before then.

But should they beat the Panthers (on either the Friday or Saturday) and move up to 78 points, with only four games left for the Panthers to play, there would simply not be enough points left for them to catchup the Giants.

Speaking after the away win against Glasgow last Sunday, Keefe said: “We have to go and attack the title and get it ourselves.

“We expect nothing but a tough weekend next weekend against Nottingham and it’s probably the way it should be.”

Keefe praised his squad for their bounce back against the Clan when they played them last Sunday.

He said: “I liked the mental strength of the group, especially after last night and in this situation we find ourselves in as we could have clinched the title this weekend.

“The result didn’t go our way last night so the mental strength of the group to bounce back tonight, especially after that first one goal went in for Glasgow.

“I thought they got rewarded and they earned it the right way and that was nice to see for us.

“It’s about staying focused. I thought maybe we lost focus throughout the week after a very emotional weekend in Sheffield the previous week.”

Keefe concluded honestly: “I take full responsibility for that. I thought we would be ready for the occasion and I was sadly mistaken, we clearly were not.

“We were humbled in a big way and that was maybe the worst display of hockey we’ve played in a long time.”

Giants forward Jordan Kawaguchi said that the win against Glasgow on the road was a “a big bounce-back win”.

He said: “It wasn’t the kind of game we wanted last night, so it was important for us to come back with Nottingham and Sheffield chasing us. It’s a big two points, but even bigger now knowing that Nottingham lost.”

He added: “We just realised that mentally we weren’t there in the home game,.

“Some nights as a group you just don’t have it. Maybe we were too focused on what could happen, so we just had to re-engage mentally and that’s what we did here.”

He concluded: “I think we’d rather play tomorrow now, as everyone is excited, but we’ll have a good week of preparation here.

“It’s a big week coming up and we want to get the job done, but ultimately we just want to win hockey games.”