BELFAST,U.K-Steve Thornton has agreed to terms and will return to the Elite league Belfast Giants as Player-Coach for the 2009-10 Season. Thornton made his Giants debut in 2003 when he joined half way through the season and helped the Giants to a second place league finish and lead them to their only Playoff Title to date.

Thorny spent the next few seasons in Europe before returning to the UK as player-assistant coach for Elite League side Basingstoke Bison. Thornton then suffered a hand injury which required surgery and saw him ice in only 28 games but still tally 15 goals and 22 assists. When Ed Courtenay announced his retirement it was up to General Manager Todd Kelman to bring in a new coach, and Thornton was his first choice. Since rejoining the Giants, Thornton has 62 points in 54 games, and also rejoined Team Great Britain and went alongside five other Giants to the Olympic Qualifiers in Poland. Thornton also lifted his first piece of Silverware as a Coach, with the Giants winning 6-5 on aggregate over the Manchester Phoenix on St. Patrick’s Day in the Challenge Cup final. The Giant’s sights are now firmly on their British Knockout Cup final on Thursday March 26 in the Odyssey Arena, and then to their Playoff Qualifiers to try win the treble in Thornton’s inaugural term as Coach. Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com

BELFAST,U.K- If you were to say to any long term Giants fan, the words “Challenge Cup”, the most likely response would be “Black Sunday”. But after seven years, 14 days and five hours, the Belfast Giants lifted the trophy that eluded them back in 2002. Picture the scene: 2pm on a Sunday afternoon in March, a 7000 capacity sold out Odyssey Arena, BBC cameras to televise the Challenge Cup final live. The teams; the League Champions who ran away with the title finishing 21 points clear at the top of the table, The Giants and the opponents Ayr Eagles; The league runners up, a team who had faced the Giants on eight occasions, losing seven and drawing once. Who would your money be on? The Giants went on to lose 5-0 against the Eagles and ever since, that day has been referred to as “Black Sunday” by Giants fans (as the team wore special Cup jerseys which were black, rather than the usual white or teal worn by the team). Since that season, the Giants have only made one other cup final which was the victorious Playoff Final in 2002-03. Fast forward now to St Patrick’s Day 2009, another sold out venue this time it was the Dundonald International Ice Bowl which is significantly smaller than the Odyssey. The Giants went into game two of two a goal down after losing 4-3 to the Manchester Phoenix in Manchester in game one. Paul Deniset opened the scoring on the powerplay at 6:42, giving him his 38th goal of the season and tying up the series. 10 minutes later Player-Coach, Steve Thornton netted his 16th goal of the season and put the Giants ahead. Into the second period and neither teams were giving up much, with Steven Murphy and Stevie Lyle pulling off save after save and keeping the game tight. Just over the half way mark, former Giant, Tony Hand scored on the backhand against Lyle, levelling the score. Both teams had it all to play for going into the third period. As it looked like the game was going into overtime, Mike Burgoyne picked up the puck in the Giants zone, went coast to coast, took on two Phoenix defenders and fired the puck past Murphy to give the Giants the 6-5 lead on aggregate. The Game ended and the Giants lifted their first piece of silverware since 2005-06 when Ed Courtenay led the team to the League Title. The Challenge Cup is no longer “the one that got away”.. Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com 

BELFAST U.K.- Belfast Giants General Manager, Todd Kelman, said that the Giants ‘lacked toughness’, and he wanted to fix this. Which they have with the announcment of 5’11” 205lb tough guy, Jason Rushton. Rushton joins the Giants after spending majority of his career between the UK leagues and the LNAH which is more commonly known as ‘The Goon League’, where he amassed 135 fights and sat in the penalty box for over 1200 minutes. “I’m not going to lie to you, this guy has been brought in to add toughness to our team and to drop the gloves with the other tough guys around the league,” Todd Kelman said  “We have a very skilled team, and I think we have built a fast, exciting team to watch but if there is one area we might have screwed up, it was not bringing in that special player that gets under the skin of other teams, that entertains the crowd, that gets the people up and out of their seats night in and night out.” The Giants brought in Malcolm MacMillan and Bobby Robins to use their size and toughness this season, but with MacMillan injuring his hand early in the season, and reinjuring it recently his fighting has had to be kept to a minimum to avoid further injury. Robins has been putting up good numbers all year and would be silly of him to take five minute fighting majors with lesser hockey skilled opponents. Rushton is no stranger to the UK , having made his UK debut in 2001-02 when he played for the Romford Raiders in the English Premier League. Rushton racked up 41 points from 11 games, including 96 penalty minutes- making him the third highest scorer in the team for the season.  The 2002-03 season saw Rushton play in Romford once again, as well as the Ayr Scottish Eagles (which also folded that season), the Cardiff Devils and the Bracknell Bees. Rushton then made his move to the LNAH and was there until he returned to Britain to once again ice for the Bees in 2006-07, where he scored 17 goals, assisted on 14 more, in only 13 games proving he can put up the points in the UK . The Giants will be Rushton’s forth team this season, with the other three being LNAH teams. “When I spoke to Steve Thornton and Todd Kelman, they said they were looking for someone to lift their crowds out of their seats, and I thought I’m your man, they said they wanted someone to protect their skilled guys and add toughness to the lineup, and I thought I’m your man,” Rushton said “W hen they said that if I came in and did the job they know I can do, this could become a long-term arrangement in Belfast, I said ‘I’m definitely your man.” Rushton will make his Giants debut against the Sheffield Steelers on January 21, in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast . Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com

BELFAST U.K.- With six call ups for the Great British National Team, the Coors Belfast Giants lead the way with GB in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Poland.
The Giants representing Team GB in Poland are Giants Head Coach, Steve Thornton, the defensive pairing of Dave Phillips and Graeme Walton, starting netminder, Stevie Lyle, and forwards, Paul Sample and Colin Shields.
Netminder Stevie Lyle has been a member of the GB squad since his first appearance in 1996 in the World Junior Championships (WJC), before making the move to the senior squad in 1997. Lyle was a regular with Team GB up until 2002. Lyle was recalled for the 2007 World Championships after an impressive season with HC Morzine-Avoriaz in France, where he helped lead the team to the League title, before his return to the UK with Basingstoke Bison and Belfast in 2007-08.
Dave Phillips has also been a long time member of Team GB, making his debut in the WJC in 2004, where Team GB Under 18’s won the Gold Medal, and repeated the feat in 2006, once again winning the Gold Medal with the GB Junior Team. Phillips has been a member of the senior squad for the past two years, with this being his third  senior call up.

Belfast born defenceman, Graeme Walton, made history becoming the first Northern Irish born player to be selected by Team GB, and has gone from strength to strength, both at National and Elite league level. “Getting asked to represent GB was a great honour and now we have a real chance to take that next step to qualifying for the Olympics, I have five team mates coming with me, including my coach. I hope we can do the Giants and Belfast proud.” Walton said.
Paul Sample returns to the squad after a year out from the National team. The Olympic Qualifiers are Sample’s fourth call up to GB, after breaking through to the senior squad in 2004, after his rookie season with the Giants, putting up 40 points (18 goals) in the inaugural Elite League season.
Glasgow born, Colin Shields also makes a return to International Hockey, after being unable to play due to Playoff hockey commitments in the ECHL in 2006-07 and was injured for the 2008 Wold Championships.
Coach Thornton, born in Ontario, Canada, makes his return to Team GB after five years. Thornton iced with GB for the first time in 1999, after debuting in the UK in 1996-97 for the Cardiff Devils, the team he stayed with for five seasons, before moving the London Knights, and eventually joining the Giants mid-season in 2002-03.
“Having Steve Thornton back in the team just makes us a better team; it’s as simple as that.” Coventry Blaze and Team GB Head Coach Paul Thompson said.
Team GB face off against hosts, Poland, then Japan, before finishing their matches against Romania, hopefully one step closer to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer at Darran.gilpin@prohockeynews.com

BELFAST, U.K. – The Coors Belfast Giants continued their winning ways, advancing to the Semi-Finals of the Challenge Cup, and moving into the final eight of the British Knockout Cup.
The Challenge Cup has been a competition which the Giants have not

always had much success in. In 2002, they reached the final, but were defeated 5-0 by the Ayr Scottish Eagles, a team which the Giants had never lost to during the regular season. Since then, the Giants have struggled, until this season. The Giants maintain a 100% win rate in the competition, winning all four qualifying matches, and progressing with a +10 goal difference.
The British Knockout Cup came into existence for 2005-06, replacing the National Crossover Cup which ran in 2004-05 and saw Elite League teams face of against British National League teams. The Giants won this Cup, winning twelve games, drawing once and one loss in overtime. The Giants entered the Knockout Cup in its inaugural season, but were eliminated by the Coventry Blaze in the semi-finals, with Sheffield Steelers going on to lift the trophy.
The Giants have not entered the Knockout Cup since that season, but with new Coach, Steve Thornton taking over, the team re-entered the competition. As the cup is an eight team tournament, the entrance of the Giants moved the numbers to nine teams, and the League decided they had to playoff to get to the final eight of the competition.
The two-game home and away for the Giants’ qualifier was played in Sheffield against the Steelers. Back-up netminder Nathan Craze was given the opportunity to start in both games, giving number one goalie, Stevie Lyle a well deserved rest.   The Saturday night game saw the Giants relinquish a 3-1 lead, to draw 3-3, leaving the Sunday night game with all to play for. The Sunday night game seemed like déjà vu, forfeiting a 6-2 lead, with the Steelers pulling three more back but just couldn’t force overtime and saw the Giants advance with a 9-8 aggregate score, and will now face Coventry Blaze in the next round.
The Giants have got off to a great start to the season, having lost only two games from 20 (12 league, two British Knock Out, two Challenge Cup, two Preseason) and are hoping to continue their form and lift as many trophies as possible. Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com

BELFAST,U.K- The new look Coors Belfast Giants have stormed their way to the top of the Elite League table with an impressive nine wins out of ten league games under new Coach, Steve Thornton. The Giants opened the season with two wins under their belts, beating the Dundalk Bulls/ Latvian Hawks select side two nights in a row in August, before the League opener in the Odyssey Arena against the Cardiff Devils.

The following week, old rivals Newcastle Vipers returned to the Odyssey and suffered an 8-2 defeat at the hands of the Giants, with new signing and former Coventry Blaze star, Evan Cheverie finding the net four times. The Giants then made the trip to Newcastle on September 20 for a double header weekend. They suffered their first and only loss of the season so far on the Saturday night, losing to the home side 4-3. On the Sunday night game, a Thornton high stick caught Viper Andre Payette in the head, causing an uproar from the Vipers team, and saw the League hand out a nine game suspension to Thornton, following two other lengthy suspensions given out a week earlier to Hull Stingray Rick Kozak (10 games) and Cardiff’s Devils Brad Voth (12 games). Thornton appealed the suspension, allowing him to continue to play until his appeal was heard, ultimately allowing the Giants to recover from injuries which Malcolm MacMillan and Andrew Martin had picked up earlier in the season. Thornton’s appeal also ultimately lead to a win in the Coventry Skydome, an Arena which the Giants have had trouble securing two points in since the inaugural Elite League season in 2003-04, with the Coach netting the puck with 19 seconds left on the clock to give the Giants a 3-2 win over the reigning League Champions. Thornton’s ban has since been reduced to four games, with Kozak and Voth’s bans also being reduced to six for Kozak (which see’s him return to action the weekend of Oct 11) and seven to Voth. The new Giants have all impressed the Belfast Fans so far, mainly ‘Triple R’ Bobby Robins, who has eight goals and eight assists from 12 games, mirroring Colin Shields stats, but a quiet player on the ice has racked up 11 goals, 10 assists and has been named EIHL Player of the Week for two weeks running, Paul Deniset. Local Giant, Mark Morrison is out for the next 6-12 weeks with an injured Achilles, and with Thronton’s ban, the Giants will once again be two forwards down. The Giants face off against Sheffield Steelers on Saturday October 11 in another Challenge Cup qualifier in Belfast. Contact the author at Aaron.stewart@prohockeynews.com