The Friendship Series?

There are always teams who play in U SPORTS that head over to Europe to play a little hockey, do some team bonding, and see some of the sights offered by the cities in which they play. From what I understand, the Regina Cougars women's team will spend some time in Finland in August, and it seems a couple more U SPORTS teams are going to make the jump across the pond for a little hockey action. Announced today by the EIHL's Belfast Giants, they'll host and play the OUA's Carleton Ravens and Canada West's Alberta Golden Bears in preseason action in late August and early September this year as all three teams get ready for their respective leagues' action in the 2024-25 season.

According to the release put out by the "Stena Line Belfast Giants", the Giants will play the Carleton Ravens on Friday, August 30 at 7pm local time before taking Saturday off to watch Carleton and Alberta tangle at 7pm local time. On Sunday, they'll be back on the ice to play the Golden Bears at 4pm local time, and this game to finish off the three-team weekend should be a beauty based on how Alberta builds their teams.

Both teams have personnel loosely tied to the EIHL and Belfast. Ravens' Head Coach Mark Cavallin was a Belfast Giant from 2000-02 while Golden Bears' General Manager Stan Marple spent ten years skating for the Guildford Flames. As we know if you're a reader of this blog or listen to The Hockey Show, there are a pile of U SPORTS players who skate in the EIHL currently, so this might be a good primer for Belfast if they're looking for late-season additions once the university season in Canada ends for both Carleton and Alberta.

Steve Thornton, Group Head of Commercial and Hockey at The Odyssey Trust, said, "Over the last few seasons, we've had a lot of success recruiting players who have played in U Sports, including Kendall McFaull, Josh Roach, Steve Owre, and Sam Ruopp, so the quality of the league is clear to see. In addition to the Friendship Four, these games will be the ideal opportunity to showcase our great city and the fantastic setup we have here at the Giants."

Spelling and grammatical mistakes in their release aside, the Giants are a well-run club over in Northern Ireland, and the squad finished in third-place last season with a 28-15-4-7 record before falling in the EIHL championship to the Sheffield Steelers. They are one of the most successful professional hockey clubs in all of the UK, having won six EIHL regular season titles and two playoff championships. As Thornton pointed out, this may be a tryout for the Giants when it comes to some of the players looking at their future as well.

What shouldn't be overlooked is that the Golden Bears missed out on a U Cup berth last season after being a perennial attendee at the National Championship, so I'd expect a hungry, talented Bears team to land in Belfast a few days before August 30. They'll get their legs under them, get a skate or two in, and then get down to business.

They may have their hands full with Belfast who seemingly are reloading in this offseason as well. They added former Detroit Red Wings netminder Tom McCollum, UND standout and Milwaukee Admirals forward Grant Mismash, and former UMD Bulldogs forward Kyle Osterberg already. Joe Cassetti and Zak Galambos from Western Michigan University signed with the club two weeks ago, and former Saskatchewan Huskies defender Josh Roach will wear Giants colours once again. In short, the Giants could win both games with the talent they have, and they still need to fill other key spots in their lineup!

Keep your eyes peeled for social media information on how these games can be watched. I'm hopeful the Giants will broadcast all three games so we can get an early fix of U SPORTS hockey, but we'll have to see what's available come August 30. What I can be sure of, though, is that three teams who have goals of winning their league's respective championships will compete to see who owns Northern Ireland for at least one weekend!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!