It’s tight at the top of the table but Belfast Giants can only concentrate on own performances, says Mark Garside

Ice Hockey

Belfast Giants' Mark Garside is staying focused. Credit: William Cherry

Adam McKendry Twitter Email

February 19 2022 11:00 AM

Belfast Giants defenceman Mark Garside believes they are already into the part of the season dubbed ‘play-off hockey’ in the Premier Sports Elite League.

There may still be 20 games remaining in the season, but with only three points separating the Giants and league leaders the Sheffield Steelers at the top of the standings, with the Cardiff Devils a further point adrift having played three games more, every win matters.

Adam Keefe’s side, coming off the back of picking up seven points out of a possible eight from their gruelling four-game road trip in the space of five days, received a significant boost on Wednesday as both Sheffield and Cardiff slipped up in Scotland, and Garside reveals those results have galvanised the squad.

“We saw that and we were talking about it on Thursday morning in practice. It’s good that other teams are able to take points off Sheffield and Cardiff,” said the Great Britain international.

“We just have to focus on ourselves, we need to do everything we can to catch up. We still have plenty of games to play, so it’s still all to play for and we have to concentrate on our own performances and picking up the points we can first.

“We’re getting to that stage of the season where we can see who the runners are: ourselves, Sheffield and Cardiff, with Sheffield slightly ahead. Every weekend now is play-off hockey, we’re at that stage where every weekend is very important.”

The Giants return to home ice tonight when they take on the Fife Flyers (7pm), who they defeated in the final game of their road trip last Sunday, although it needed a Slater Doggett equaliser with just 1:27 remaining that allowed them to snatch the 3-2 win in the shoot-out.

“We’re looking forward to facing Fife again after a week’s rest. Last Sunday we were definitely a bit fatigued after four games in five days and we did really well to pull it back so late — we’re more confident with a few days off under our belts this time around,” added Garside.