Friday: Pre-season begins in Belfast

Photo: Belfast Giants

It may only be Friday 25 August, but players will be back on the ice to kick off pre-season for 2023/24 this evening at the SSE Arena in Belfast in a repeat of the 2023 Playoff Final - albeit with a lot that's changed since then.

Hosts Giants take on Cardiff Devils in two games this weekend, the second on Saturday night in Cardiff, as they prepare for their third Champions Hockey League campaign which starts next week. The Giants have back-to-back road games in Finland to start their CHL journey.

For the Devils, it will be the first game behind the bench for new Head Coach Pete Russell who was appointed in the off-season. His new-look Cardiff team has nine new players from the roster that made the Playoff Final last time out. 

The Giants have 14 new faces on their roster from the team that won a domestic Grand Slam last season. Head Coach Adam Keefe also has Jeff Mason back among his backroom team after he left Dundee in the summer. 

Tonight's game is available to stream live here.

Please note that in pre-season, there is no live scoring on the EIHL website - this is to allow off-ice teams to test, refresh and train new members without the data being public. We will, however, upload a completed copy of the gamesheet to our Pre-season page.