Smith confident Belfast Giants can dominate league going forward
Belfast Giants forward helped contribute two goals in their 7-1 defeat of the Steelers on Saturday.
He says that the Giants had six big periods of hockey: “Picking up all four points from this weekend was the best case scenario and we’re all delighted to have won both those games.
“Sheffield came out hard in the first period of the game on Friday night and took it too us. Once we got ourselves back into the game were pretty much dominated them.
“They are two big statement wins for us, especially when you add them to the wins we had last weekend against Manchester and Nottingham.
“Things are really starting to go good for us as a team and the wins this weekend have put us at the top of the league.
“We had six big periods this weekend and got the results we wanted.”
Smith agrees that over the last number of weeks the Giants have been building a positive momentum and that is something they will be hoping to continue.
“Having got that momentum going now is very important,” he said.
“To get wins against the other top teams in the league will always be a boost.
“Indeed, big wins like those over Sheffield and Nottingham are probably even bigger momentum builders.
“The last few weeks have shown just how dominant that we can be in this league. It has lifted our game to another level.”
In the double-header Smith contributed a pair of goals and some assists, he was pleased to be able put in a good performance.
“It really doesn’t matter who scores this goals but it is nice to get them when I can when you are playing with good players.
”They gave me a couple easy ones. When they do come your way, you want to make sure to score them.
“But if you look across all the lines, everyone is contributing right now which is great to see.”
Giants head coach Adam Keefe says he is pleased that the Giants are sitting first in the league.
“We are not going to complain about being in first place after tonight’s result,” he said after the second win against the Steelers.
“It is still just a number at the minute and our goal is to be in first place at the end of the 54 games. There is still a long way to go just yet.
“We are going to enjoy our successes, the players have earned a break.
“However, there are still 25 games yet to be played in this season and there is still a very long way to go yet.”
Looking ahead to today’s game against the Guildford Flame, Keefe said: “We’re going to ramp it back up again come Tuesday to get ourselves ready for the game against Guildford.
“They are on a bit of a high having beaten 6-2 win against Fife tonight in their building.
“We know that they are a good team and they have already beaten us once in their barn this season, we have to be ready to play come right from the start of the first puck drop.”