In a city full of history, the Belfast Giants are determined to write new chapters of their own. Adam Keefe’s team won the Elite League and Challenge Cup last season and reconvened after the summer with a renewed sense of urgency.
Belfast’s previous success earned them a spot in the Champions Hockey League for this season, a competition featuring elite clubs from across Europe. They were drawn into the group of death with HC Davos (SUI), Skellefteå AIK (SWE), and Oceláři Třinec (CZE), turning what would already be an uphill battle into an almost impossible task.
Třinec are back-to-back winners of the Czech Extraliga and approached the competition with several medallists from Beijing 2022 on their roster.
Davos, the 31-time Swiss champions, finished fifth in the National League last time out, but made several impressive signings and retained top prospect Simon Knak this offseason.
Then, there is the club based 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
Belfast Giants produce memorable performance versus Skellefteå
By the time Skellefteå arrived in Belfast, they were top of the Swedish Hockey League and had enhanced their reputation as one of the continent’s best offensive teams. Belfast, meanwhile, were off to the perfect start in the Challenge Cup but found themselves on the cusp of elimination from the Champions League.
The Giants needed to beat Skellefteå on home ice and results to swing their way on Tuesday [4 October] to keep their campaign on the continent alive. They almost did.
Belfast produced one of their best performances in franchise history but fell to a 4-2 loss versus an elite opponent. Keefe’s side covered every inch of the ice with a level of intensity, tactical awareness, and individual skill rarely produced by clubs hailing from the Elite League.
Despite conceding a powerplay marker at the end of the first period, the Giants entered the break knowing that they had kept pace with their rivals from Sweden. But the dynamic shifted after play resumed.
The Giants stunned Skellefteå with a pair of early strikes in the middle frame, with Steve Owre and Sam Ruopp scoring to turn the tie on its head.
! @BelfastGiants in the lead !@BelfastGiants turn the game around and put themselves in the driver’s seat!🚗@BelfastGiants 2 – 1 @skelleftea_aik #ChampionsGoBeyond pic.twitter.com/ncEJDiRuZM
— Champions Hockey League (@championshockey) October 4, 2022
Belfast kept pace with the visitors until deep in the final period, when Skellefteå’s quality eventually tolled. Sweden’s league leaders equalised in the 47th minute and took all three points with a pair of goals ten minutes later.
If not for a standout performance from netminder Gustaf Lindvall and a few spurned opportunities earlier in the contest, the result would have been different for Belfast. The Giants provided a herculean effort and were rewarded with a final-minute standing ovation from the home crowd.
Skellefteå battle highlights the Belfast Giants’ culture of success
It wasn’t to be for Keefe’s side, but it is telling that disappointment was the overriding emotion they felt on their walk back to the locker room – it was the kind of heartbreak that players and coaches only experience after a near-miss.
“We’re happy [with the performance] until halfway through the third period,” forward Scott Conway told British Ice Hockey after the final buzzer sounded. “I think a little bit of fatigue set in. They had the majority of the puck but we played them tight tonight.
“We knew that they are a fast team; so, we tried to limit the odd-man rushes as much as we could. We capitalised on a lot of our chances tonight. If we capitalised on a couple more, I think the result would have been reversed.”
Ben Lake shared a similar tone.
“We knew that it was going to be a tough battle going into it,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of skill and speed but I think we did pretty well to slow them down in the neutral zone. We gave them the opportunities they had and we knew they were going to bury them.
“In all honesty, it was a pretty good effort. We were skating and getting on the forecheck all night. We knew they weren’t going to like our physicality; so, we tried to have that in our game. I thought we did a pretty good job finishing hits and creating opportunities. I think it could’ve gone either way if we had buried more of our chances.”
Keefe shared his squad’s disappointment.
“Obviously, there’s frustration,” he told reporters at SSE Arena. “I feel for the players who gave that effort for an hour but a lot of confidence can be taken from this. It was a good effort from us against a very good hockey team… I thought if we had scored a couple of our early opportunities, it would have been a much different game.”
Belfast’s run in Europe was a wild ride and raises questions about how they developed into a team capable of sticking with Europe’s best. He isn’t the only factor, but Keefe’s influence is unmissable – and was especially obvious after the Giants scored twice in as many minutes to start the second period versus Skellefteå.
But what was his message to his players during the first intermission?
“There wasn’t really a specific message,” Lake said, raising an eyebrow at the question. “It was just to keep playing the way we started… we knew the goals would come and it was nice to see a couple of finishes from Steve and Rupper.”
Conway was slightly more specific, hinting at a siege mentality in the Giants’ locker room.
“I think it was just that we could skate with these guys: that we could play with them,” he explained. “They’re the best team in Sweden and their team salary is ten times higher than ours. We held them to what we needed to do tonight; we just needed to capitalise a couple more times and the game would’ve gone the other way.”
Keefe, who achieved a perfect score in BIH’s preseason survey, arrived in Belfast as a player over a decade ago and has been an integral member of the franchise ever since.
Into his sixth season behind the bench, the Canadian is more intense now than he was as a penalty-minute leader during his days as captain. He comes as advertised.
“He’s an intense guy; he wants to win just like we all do,” Lake said when asked to define Keefe’s impact. “He’s able to get everyone playing on the same page and playing the way we need to – and that’s tracking back hard.
“If you’re not going to work hard on this team, you’re not going to play. He instils that in everyone and gives everyone the confidence to play [freely] in the offensive zone. But if you’re not playing to his standards defensively, you’re not going to play. I think that’s the biggest impact he has on the team.”
Conway insisted that “there’s no secret” to Belfast’s success – it simply boils down to consistency and application.
“It’s just about finding the puck, working hard, and creating simple plays,” he added.
While they came out on the losing side against Skellefteå, the Giants lived by those principles and learned plenty in the process.
“You have to watch these teams when you’re pre-scouting them and you pick up little things that they do well and that you want to do too,” Keefe said when asked if Champions League exposure had improved him as coach. “There’s also a lot of similarities in our styles: there are some bigger, stronger, faster players on [Skellefteå] and you can see the similarities in the way that we played.
“We can strive to do some of those things in our own league. It’s about competing with those guys and building the confidence that we can compete with them when we play well.”
Ultimately, the table tells the truth. The Giants surpassed expectations in the Champions League but fell just short.
However, their consistency is noticeable. They have jumped from the Elite League, where they are favourited most weekends, to the continent, where they play the opposite role, seamlessly – with Conway and Lake crediting Keefe for keeping the team on an even keel.
It is an achievement the 38-year-old takes pride in.
“Consistency is the hardest thing for anyone to find, but we came into this game with our backs up against the wall and knew the margin for error would be small,” he told British Ice Hockey. “You have to expect the best out of the players, at least defensively, and to have a sharp mindset – which we did tonight.
“The players wanted to win in regulation and they wanted to get through the group stage. That’s why I’m gutted for them. We couldn’t hold on in the third period to give us a chance next week. It didn’t happen for us, but we’re still happy with the effort.”
The Giants are out of Europe, but will continue to create more new memoires in Belfast.
Belfast Giants v Skellefteå: what did you make of the game? Join the conversation by tweeting @BritIceHockey.
