Keefe: Excited to get going
Photo: Dean Woolley
The Belfast Giants completed their summer signings announcements just over a week ago, and now are already starting to get on the ice. The Giants have a slightly earlier pre-season than most with their CHL campaign starting on 2 September.
"Summer has been busy and gone by way too quick. If you take into account that we started later last season, add in the World Championships with Team GB, everything has gone by very fast this time,” began Head Coach Adam Keefe. "The excitement is building now as we get into camp but summer has been fun, especially to have down time with the family."
The Giants have nine new faces on their 2022/23 roster after winning the league and cup last time around. "After last season we first needed to see what we were going to be able to retain. We’ve obviously lost some really big pieces of that team to retirement and other leagues, so we started by seeing what holes we had to fill,” explained Keefe. "I’m confident we’ve brought in a lot of good pieces that will fit in with the core of last season’s team that we did retain, and I’m looking forward to putting it all together."
Keefe’s team currently comprises of 16 non-homegrown players, and while all of them will be eligible to ice in the CHL, EIHL rules only allow 14 on a game-day roster. "We lost Lewis Hook towards the end of the summer to the Alps League, and at that point we felt it would be very hard to replace a guy like Lewis, especially as a British talent,” explained the 38-year-old, who is also Team GB’s Assistant Coach. "We felt it was important to add depth so that we could compete with 14 imports on a nightly basis. We expect to carry this roster as it is for the whole season.
He continued: "It’s hard to say how much we’ll use the two-way guys right now, especially as I’ve only see Kell (Beattie) so far this summer - Mack (Stewart) has been skating in Canada. For Kell, I can say he's looked very good so far in pre-camp skates. Last year we hadn’t envisioned that either of these guys would dress for us as much as they did, but we had injuries and we needed them, so it could well be the same situation this year. We’re taking steps to make sure if have added depth if that does happen, but having Kell and Mack is part of that and I’m excited to get another look at them.
With players in Belfast, camp is already underway at the SSE Arena. "We started camp this morning. Players were arriving towards the back end of last week and over the weekend and now we’re ready to get started. For now my main focus is just on my team: making sure we break down this walls for new guys coming in so that they feel comfortable and are up to date with how we do things in Belfast. It’s incredibly important that everyone fits in and feels part of the team. Then we’ll start getting ready for those 'friendly' matches, if you can cal them that,” said Keefe.
"Of course we’re very excited and pumped for the Champions Hockey League after that, and then when that’s out of the way we’ll start thinking about the EIHL season."
Aside from playing familiar foes Cardiff in pre-season, the Giants will also come up against an old face with Jeff Mason now Head Coach in Dundee. “I spoke to Jeff knowing that he had aspirations to become a Head Coach and continue to climb the ladder in Europe or North America, and from chatting to him as a friend I knew he wanted to look for a Head Coach job to get better. He’s been very loyal to the Belfast Giants and the opportunities provided to him here, and we certainly thank him for his time here.
"Of course we’ll miss him, but we all recognise the opportunity he’s been given and wish him every success except when he’s playing us. It’s fitting that we’ll see him enough times, that’s for sure!"
