Even at this early stage of the season, the games are coming thick and fast for the Steelers. But with a decent start behind them, confidence is good.
This weekend sees the team travel on the Saturday and then come back to the Arena on the Sunday against the very same opposition. This is who we play:
Yes it's the teal army themselves, the Belfast Giants. This is a team we have many an interesting battle with since the Giants inception in 2000; and these games are always good value and entertaining. Giants these days are coached by their former talismanic captain Adam Keefe, who succeeded Derrick Walser in the summer. Keefe has also hung the skates up as a player, but will only ice if his team is short on bodies.
The roster is well recruited as always like all Giants rosters are, and there are still a number of familiar faces in it. The evergreen Stephen Murphy is still there as are former Steelers Matt Towe and the man who always seems to get a point (whether it be a goal or an assist) against us, Colin Shields. Former NHLer Jim Vandermeer is the experienced head on the blue line, whilst Cole Jarrett is a direct replacement for Walser if his statistics are anything to go. Mark Garside is in his eighth season as a Giant and that's quite remarkable for someone who is still just 28.
The forward threat is led by last season's surprise top scorer Blair Riley, whom Keefe has chosen as his replacement to wear the "C" and the experienced Steve Saviano. They are backed by Jonathan Ferland and Dustin Johner who both are excellent pick ups. Sébastian Sylvestre, a 23 year old Canadian, has made a good start to his Belfast career and also will be one for us to watch out. All in all, it's a roster that could seriously punish if you are off your game on the night.
Steelers have had, in recent times, a good record in the "O" and picked up some convincing wins there. Who can forget the 6-2 win when a Tyler Mosienko inspired performance had the Steelers 4-0 ahead after just 20 minutes. The end result saw Walser reading the riot act to his players and bluntly putting their jobs on the line if they didn't buck their collective ideas up. Giants, on the other hand, have equally had some good results back in the House Of Steel. I mean we only have to hark back to last season when they virtually killed off the three-peat bid with a couple of wins when nobody expected it. That first period in game one that night remains one of the worst first periods we have had on home ice ever. The Giants were clinical that night, although some of our defending didn't help, and Keefe will be hoping to make a statement against us in his rookie coaching year.
My predictions? I'm going for a split series here. Giants to take game one 4-2 in the "O" then Steelers to take game two back at the Arena by 5-2. Both teams are going to have cope with the travel on Sunday, so it might be a case of seeing which team settles first. Either way, I think we're in for a couple of good games. What do you think?
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