With pre-season over, now the Belfast Giants get down to Challenge Cup business
Eight long months of hockey gets underway for the Belfast Giants this weekend with a Scottish roadtrip in the Challenge Cup.
First in Dundee against the Stars on Saturday night. Then the following afternoon against the Glasgow Clan at the Braehead Arena.
Head coach Adam Keefe was frank on what he expects going into these two games – and that is that the squad’s discipline has to improve.
Looking back at the two games in the Warrior Cup in Germany, Keefe said: “I think it was a pretty good weekend for us all.
“There are certainly a lot of things that I think we can look at working on and improve upon. By that I specifically mean the amount of penalties that we took in the game against Red Bull München.
“If we can eliminate those small issues then I am think that we will be a tough team to play against.
“But having said that, if we allow the other team to be on the powerplay to large parts of games, then its going to become difficult for us.
“That aside, with our five-on-five and special teams did pretty good job, which I am happy with.”
Keefe agrees that Red Bull München we a tough to play against in the Warrior Cup final.
He explained “I loved our first period. We came out of that period with a one nothing advantage.
“The second period was a little more loose which allowed Red Bull to get themselves back into the game.
“We gave up a couple of opportunities which ultimately led get ahead.”
He added: “The game then pretty much unravelled for us from that point.
“I think we needed a couple more calls in our favour to calm the game down a little.
“While we fatigued from the pace of play from Red Bull it was down a lot of having to kill so many penalties.
“If you let a team as good as Red Bull, with the talent that they have on their roster, the space to play, I think they had about 15 minutes of powerplay, they are going to punish you and make life very difficult.”
Keefe says that he likes what he seen so far in the new look Giants for the 2026/7 season.
“We like what we have got on the roster,” he said. “It is still very early days with this new team.
“We are yet to see it in full competition and of course that will all change this weekend in the games in Scotland. It has been a good first three weeks together as a team.”
He added: “I have been doing this long enough to know that there is a long way to go in every season.”
American forward JJ Piccinich says that the prep for the Giants’ new season has been coming along well just in time for the start of the Challenge Cup games.
Reflecting on the pre-season games, he said: “Those games are always good for prepping for the season. It was also great to get time back at the O2 after the summer months off.”
Piccinich added: “You can do all this training but it can be hard to be in game shape without having played any competitive games as such.
“There can be a little bit of rustiness and those first couple of pre-season games don’t really matter a tonne.
“It always takes a bit of time to get that match readiness back for sure and those pre-season can be really helpful in that way.”
Looking back at the Warrior Cup games Piccinich says: “We are still getting the team together, so those games in Germany went well.
“Overall it was a good weekend for us. Getting that time together as a team was also very good too.”
He added: “Yes, we had a lot of penalty problems in the game against Munich, but it still very early doors for the team and I have no doubt that we can build a great team from what we have.”
From this weekend onwards every game and every point will count for the Giants.
Piccinich agreed, he said: “This league is both a sprint and a marathon at the same time. This is my fourth season in Belfast, so I know what to expect.
“It is something that the leadership team has been impressions on the guys who have joined the Giants this season.
“There are so many games to be played in the season and every team can take points off whomever they are playing.
“It is definitely one of those unique leagues where every game, every scoring chance, every powerplay, every penalty kill is so important and you need to be at the top of your game all the time.”