Today’s piece comes form Damien Currie, who, as he goes into his 7th season with the Giants, cant give the game up!
Over the years I’ve seen people write that they have either fallen out of love with hockey or with the Giants. I’ve been through several periods (excuse the pun) where I thought that I could move on without hockey.
I was wrong.
I can’t give it up. For me it’s like a drug. You can’t get enough.
Whether you win a cup, or throw a game away (Cardiff Devils, Jan 2017, still not over that) we all share the same jubilation/frustration as friends and fans.
I read an article from Stephen Smeeth and he got it bang on. On game day, the euphoria starts in work. I usually wear my jersey to work, bore the absolute tits off the employees. Play novocaine or song 2 on the speakers. Talk constantly for the days following about how Colin Shields scored an absolute cracking goal to get us back in the game. The whole Fretter/Goulakos incident was explained in so many videos and tweets that most of my friends who have no interest in hockey probably know more about it than they’d like.
Away trips are a different kettle of fish altogether. The friendships I have made from other organisations are incredible. From Shelly, Tom and Sam in Manchester to Lewis, Daniel and Bonji in Coventry, hockey fans really are the friendliest of people.
I remember a quote from the Great Robby Sandrock: “Love the fans, hate the team.” That’s something that has very much stuck by me. I despise the Sheffield Steelers, however that didn’t stop me buying a few Steelers fans a beer after they got tickets in our section at playoffs. The excitement for me never ends. And although Saturday sees us in a pre-season friendly, I cannot wait to see those friends who I haven’t seen all summer, reminisce and drink until the early hours of the morning.
This will be my seventh season in a row as a Giants fan. I remember my first proper jersey that I purchased was an away Sandrock and it’s currently being washed for a rare outing this Saturday. It’s been a relatively long off season. But with a long off season, follows a very exciting hockey season.
Here’s to Belfast Giants 2018/2019.
Damien got in touch with us to share his thoughts by e-mailing us a KotG. If you’d like to get involved, please just drop us a line at articles@kingdomofthegiants.com . We want to be your platform for Belfast Giants and Hockey opinions.
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