Mid-term Report: Belfast Giants

The story so far with the defending league and cup champions

Week 16 means that we are now halfway through the 2019/20 Elite Ice Hockey League calendar. So how is your team doing so far?

Belfast Giants began this season as defending League and Challenge Cup champions. After picking up four points in their debut Champions Hockey League campaign, the Giants only qualified for the cup knockout stages in their last game. In the league, they are currently third with 26 points from 22 games. 

Head Coach Adam Keefe gave his thoughts on the team's season so far, which you can watch above.

We've also asked the Belfast Telegraph's Adam McKendry for his take on the opening 15 weeks:

"Summing up the Belfast Giants' season to date could be done in one word: inconsistency.

The Giants have proven that they have big performances within them, as their back-to-back wins in Cardiff showed, but it's producing those regularly that has been the issue. It's not hard to see where their problems lie either: at seventh in the EIHL in goals per game, goals have been hard to come by despite Adam Keefe's side leading the league in shots per game, and being shut-out three times already this season is a big concern.

There have already been changes to the roster, with Jesse Forsberg and Jean Dupuy jettisoned in favour of bringing in Ryan Lowney and David Goodwin, and their arrivals have seen an improvement on offense, but the Giants have to find a stretch of form - or, at the very least, a run of consistent results - to kickstart their title defence into action.

They're still in touch due to the close nature of this year's Elite League and a run of wins could really lift the confidence in the locker room. But if their current issues persist, they'll quickly find themselves falling too far behind. A reliable goalscorer would go a long way to solving those concerns."