Ward’s words resonate for Giants
BEFORE last Saturday’s game against the Sheffield Steelers at the SSE Arena, centre Brian Ward addressed his Belfast Giants team-mates and insisted that they had to break out of this run of form.
The crux of what he was saying stemmed from a ‘two steps forward, one step back’ mentality which has seen the Giants frustratingly inconsistent to start the season, having not won three straight games since November 3 and currently sitting four points off the pace in the Elite League.
Unfortunately for Ward, his theory was proven right as the Giants failed to back up Friday’s 6-2 win over the Steelers by being blanked 4-0 by the same opposition on Saturday.
It was another offensively damaging night for Adam Keefe’s side, who couldn’t get past Tomas Duba for the second time this season and were shut-out on their Teddy Bear Toss night.
“It’s just frustrating because it feels like we’re taking two steps forward and one step back. We didn’t do a lot of things we usually do,” said Ward.
“We’re just trying to get in that momentum swing where we go on a roll. Losses like tonight are particularly frustrating because we came out (on Friday) and had a great 60 minutes, and then we didn’t carry the momentum through.”
His words resonated in the Giants’ locker room, receiving unanimous agreement. While the team are defiant that things will eventually start falling their way, there is an undeniable frustration with the lack of consistency within their recent results.
Winger Liam Morgan concurred: “I liked that he said that. It’s right on. We seem to have two good games and then fall off after that, which is a problem.”
Player-coach Jordan Smotherman also agreed, adding: “It has been a problem for us, consistency. We have two games where we play really well and then we have a game where we lose our heads.
“It’s almost certainly a mental thing. It’s about finding that confidence that when we get those chances, we will score. It hasn’t happened yet but we’re definitely working for it.
“That’s something you can’t take away from us though. We’re working hard, every guy in that locker room is battling for it, and we’ll keep doing so every night.”