As the Elite League enters the business end of the season, American defenceman Jeff Baum believes the Belfast Giants have what it takes to leapfrog league leaders, Cardiff Devils.
As his side prepare to face Sheffield Steelers and Manchester Storm in Belfast this weekend, the message from Baum to his team-mates is clear: ‘focus on ourselves’.
Indeed, much is made of the Belfast Giants’ rivalry with last season’s grand slam champions, Sheffield Steelers especially given recent history between the sides.
Last season, the Steelers took all three of the Giants’ trophies and, in doing so, placed a target firmly on their backs according to Baum.
“The rivalry against Sheffield is intense and it has been there for years.” Baum explains.
“It obviously has heated up in the past season with their success and every side in the league is now gunning for them, trying to replicate that success.
“They demonstrated how good they were last season and, after a slight dip in form this season, they have managed to recapture some really good form. We know this is going to be a really good test for us and a useful measuring stick to see where we’re at against them.”
The Giants come into the weekend off the back two wins in their home double-header against Nottingham Panthers.
Baum believes the run of home fixtures has come at the perfect time for his side, crediting the Giants supporters with helping them get over the line in last weekend’s hard-fought wins.
“The run of home fixtures at the minute is fortunate for us and great for our fans because we try to put on a show for everyone and the buzz in the crowd at the SSE arena fills us with confidence.” Baum explains.
“We want to make our building a fortress - somewhere opposition sides know they are going to experience a difficult day at the office. The home fans were awesome last weekend against Nottingham and kept us going across the entire weekend.
“We are just focused on playing our own game because we know that if we can impose our style and our game plan then it makes it very difficult for the other side to get any offence in.
“We had a bit of a slip up two weeks ago at a really crucial time, so it was really important for us to get back on track last weekend against Nottingham.
“It was a big step in the right direction and hopefully we can keep building on that and keep moving the right way.”
Indeed, Adam Keefe’s side have demonstrated a recent ability to secure results while not necessarily playing their best hockey.
That said, the Elite league’s standard and competition has consistently gone up in quality as reflected by the fact there are five or six teams still very much in the race for the top spots.
The Giants are in a good position, currently sitting in second place on 41 points - just 3 points behind league leaders, Cardiff Devils.
“Every game is so important that you can’t stand still - you have to keep working on the small details and seek out those marginal gains that can keep you ahead of the competition.” Baum says.
“Of course, we’re aware of the standings but we try not to get too fixated on them or the teams around us. It’s a more competitive league from the top to the bottom and we just need to stay focused on ourselves and keep getting the best out of each other day in and day out when we show up to practice.
We put in the work so we can play our best hockey and at this stage every point is so important as we aim to leapfrog Cardiff. We are under no doubt that getting into first place is a big challenge for us, so we take it one game at a time. Every game is a play-off game for us.”
The Giants have recently bolstered their roster with the re-signing of 2022/23 treble-winning captain David Goodwin. 32-year-old Goodwin will add experience and leadership to Adam Keefe’s side at a pivotal point in the season.
Baum is of the view that Goodwin will further add to the winning mentality the Giants coaches are trying to nurture.
“The coaches are trying to keep us focused and reinforcing that it is play-off hockey from every game here on out. Every game is like a final,” Baum says.
“The culture here is to win trophies and they have assembled a team of leaders and players who know what it takes to win.”
