Elite League: Belfast Giants aim to complete clean sweep of trophies at play-offs weekend
- Published
David Goodwin celebrates after scoring his penalty in the shootout win over Coventry Blaze last weekend
The Belfast Giants head to Nottingham for the end of the season play-offs this weekend aiming to join an exclusive club.
League champions and Challenge Cup winners, they now seek the Grand Slam of trophies on offer.
The treble has only been achieved twice in the Elite League era - the dominant Coventry Blaze side of 2005 were the first team to complete the sweep of silverware, with only the Nottingham Panthers matching their feat, nine years ago.
The recent dominance of the triumvirate of the Sheffield Steelers, Cardiff Devils and Giants has seen trophies shared out between those three teams without one side ever hauling in a complete set in one season.
The Giants have the chance to change all that this weekend, starting with Saturday's semi-final against the Dundee Stars. The Devils and Guildford Flames will do battle in the other game for a place in Sunday's final.
In truth, Belfast are relieved just to have made the final four. The two-legged quarter-final against the Coventry Blaze was a nervy affair. The Giants swept all six games against the Blaze in the league but the knock-out games are different.
Decided on sudden death penalties after the game ended 3-3 on aggregate, the Giants know they only just made it to Nottingham.
After the grind of the 54-game league campaign, play-off hockey brings a new jeopardy of sudden death.
Both the Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers found that out as they were eliminated last weekend.
For the first time the play-offs will take place without either of those two sides present.
'More urgency and intensity'
"We're going to have to try and change some things. Make sure we have more urgency and intensity for the final four," says Giants head coach Adam Keefe.
"It's a very difficult weekend with everyone there playing for their lives and playing for that trophy. We're certainly going to have to be at our best if we want to have success there."
"We need to be aware that it's play-off hockey. Checking is going to get tighter. It's going to be difficult to get 'pretty' goals.
"You're going to have to get that puck off your stick a second faster. The reason the Grand Slam hasn't been done too often is that, while we've had success in the cup and the league, sometimes it is hard to find that extra momentum or motivation.
"It shouldn't be but it's different over here as one moment you're celebrating trophies, then the next you're getting ready to play again. Sometimes you can get caught cold and find yourself a couple of goals down in the next game."
'We let it slip away last time'
Tyler Beskorowany is one of five players who were part of the squad which came close to securing the treble three years ago
It is three years since the Giants came agonisingly close to clinching the elusive treble.
On that occasion they fell at the last, beaten 2-1 by the Cardiff Devils in the season-ending showpiece. Five Giants players that featured in that play-off final will head back to Nottingham this weekend.
Among them is Tyler Beskorowany, the Elite League player of the year in 2019, who has once again proven to be a key part to the Giants' success in this campaign.
The popular six-foot four netminder from Ontario is the huge yet agile last line of defence for a side that has conceded the fewest goals in the league this season.
He proved to be a hero in the Challenge Cup final against the Devils with a remarkable save late in a game poised at 2-2, before the Giants' overtime winner.
The Canadian feels there is some unfinished business this weekend with the play-offs: "We let it slip away last time. I think the guys that have been before have learnt from that. We going to rely on that crew to get everyone else up to speed."
"We have to show up prepared and full of energy because our season depends on it. The Stars are going to come out with the same intensity, same mentality - we just have to stick to our game-plan and outplay them. And I think we've shown we can beat anyone in this league."