Belfast Giants: EIHL Champions 2018/19. Looking Back A Year On.

On March 31^st 2019, the Belfast Giants won the league in a rather strange manner- in a hotel! Well, sort of…

Having played our final games the previous two nights, 7-0 and 6-4 wins over the Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars, respectively, we just had to wait.

Coventry had nothing to lose, having already clinched their playoff spot in a win the previous night vs Manchester. Except maybe just not wanting rivals Cardiff to take the title, never mind on home ice!

Cardiff were one point away from their third league title in a row, but Coventry had other ideas.

March 31^st saw what turned out to be the deciding game of who won the EIHL title. A game at Coventry’s SkyDome would turn into a nightmare for Cardiff who finished blowing an 11-point lead at the top of the table and thanks to Coventry, would hand the title to Belfast!

In the first period on a delayed penalty call, Coventry went ahead 1-0. Coventry doubled their lead early in the second period with a one-timer from David Clements. Unfortunately, just before the mid-point of the game, Cardiff cut the Blaze lead in half through Sam Duggan. However, this would be the last goal by Cardiff in the 2018/19 league campaign and in the dying minutes Ben Lake scored an unassisted empty net goal to almost cement the Giants’ championship. As the seconds ticked down the excitement of Belfast fans continued to grow.

Had Coventry’s player of the season (amongst many other awards too) done it for the Giants?



Waiting for Twitter updates became even more stressful

*refresh, refresh, refresh*



Then the news came through- we had done it! Whether you were standing in your kitchen celebrating like me, or in the hotel for the Giants Awards Night, it was a special occasion for Giants fans. Our first league title since 2013/14.

The Giants finished atop the table with an incredible 92 points! (So did Cardiff but we won on tiebreak-more regulation wins).

Winning the Challenge Cup, Erhardt Conference and league ensured Head Coach Adam Keefe would have four titles in his first two years behind the bench- well deserved coach of the year!

It was great for retiring Giants legend Colin Shields to end his playing career with a league title.

We now had two berths in the CHL for the next season.

This was an excellent Giants team. With the likes of league-leading goalscorer Darcy Murphy, goaltending sensation Tyler Beskorowany, GB legend Colin Shields, my personal favourites Josh Roach and Kevin Raine. This list goes on! 5 of our boys made the EIHL First and Second All-Star teams. Watching back the Katowice game from the 2019 Continental Cup Final reminded me just how special this team and this season was.



Cardiff needed 1 point to claim the title.

Coventry had nothing to lose.

Cardiff did lose.

And Belfast claimed their 4^th EIHL title as the sounds of Tell Me Ma rang out in Coventry.

#LetsGoGiants