00:00 So first off, Mark, thanks for joining us. I know it's early morning with you back over
00:12 in Toronto, so really appreciate you coming on this week call with me over here in Belfast
00:18 this afternoon. So you've re-signed for the Giants for third season, you must be really
00:24 looking forward to getting back over here again? Yeah, no, I can't wait. I was unsure
00:32 whether I wanted to kind of retire from hockey and look at other options, kind of after last
00:39 season after the incredible three trophies, but ultimately, like Belfast has felt like
00:46 home for my girlfriend and I, and we really like it and we wanted to come back and see
00:57 if we can build on kind of the last two years as our teams kind of won a bunch in a row
01:05 and hopefully continue the good trends in this upcoming season. So how has your summer
01:12 been since you returned back home to Canada from Belfast? It's been good, busy. When you're
01:20 only home for three months a year, you got to see all your friends and family. So the
01:25 weekends have been busy and I've been training, I've been playing in a men's league with some
01:31 of my buddies, men's hockey league, it's been fun. And that's kind of it, just relaxing
01:38 as much as possible before the grind of the season kind of hits off. Yeah, as you say,
01:44 you're back home for three months and then you're back here for nearly nine months. How
01:52 do you find splitting your time between Canada and Northern Ireland? It's different. You're
02:01 obviously only back here in the summers, which you get the good months of Canada, so that's
02:07 great. But it's different. I've been doing this my whole life, or at least since I moved
02:14 away when I was 19. So I'm used to living in two places, but one of the things we wanted
02:24 to do is potentially make Belfast more of a permanent place. So that's kind of what
02:30 our plan is. So we'll see where next summer goes. But it's fun. It's weird switching up
02:41 there and there, here and there. But overall, you get to see lots of friends and the people
02:46 I grew up with. So it's awesome. Yeah. So tell me a little about the decision to return
02:51 over here to Belfast. How did that come about? Has there been discussions over the last couple
02:57 of months with Kiefer and the team back here in Belfast? Yeah, I just kind of stayed in
03:04 touch with Steve and Kiefer. I really wasn't sure, and I think they were ready to move
03:13 on. Not move on, but I was ready to maybe shut it down hockey-wise. And then I had some
03:24 chats with some family and friends and wasn't quite ready. So I reached out to Kiefer and
03:30 Thorts and then we agreed on some good stuff and couldn't be more excited to be coming
03:40 back in August and starting off in Champions League and hopefully getting another treble.
03:45 So obviously, looking back at last season, it was a massive season for you. It was a
03:51 massive season for the Giants. How do you prepare to come back and build upon that?
04:00 Yeah, I think we have a good core group coming back with Longer, Laker, Whistle, Besko, Garside.
04:11 Hopefully I got everyone. Dicko. But I think the core group's essential and we've set the
04:18 bar since, I guess, post-COVID or the re-round of the Giants that winning is kind of what
04:26 we do. We've set the bar, we've set the standard, and I think that with those core group coming
04:35 back, we're losing a bit of offense with Conway, Goodwin, and Howery. But last year we lost
04:44 Picknitch and Howery stepped in and did great. So there will be replacements and I think
04:54 the team we've put together so far, it's really exciting and can't wait to meet the guys in
05:01 August and then hit the ice, I guess, against Cardiff would be our first game.
05:08 So obviously with the season coming up, there'll be a lot of teams in the HL who will be looking
05:15 to pinch a trophy or two from you guys. You know that they're going to come hot for you
05:21 for the Giants this season?
05:23 Yeah, we kind of had a target on our back last year and especially at the start when
05:32 we had a slow start last year. But we had a target on our back and it's a privilege
05:39 to have that, you know, it obviously means you've had success in the past. So I think
05:46 we're used to it and we're ready for anyone. We love the rivalries, but I know those other
05:52 teams want to take points from us as well. So it'll be exciting and lots to look forward
06:01 to.
06:02 And as you alluded to earlier on there, with teams, with the sport, you know, across the
06:09 world, guys come and guys go. It's just part of life of being a member of a hockey team?
06:16 Yeah, yeah. You meet a lot of good people and they're sometimes just nine-month friendships
06:27 but they extend into multiple seasons. I've met some of my best friends in hockey, even
06:35 if I've only played for them for nine months. But it's come and go. It's the business we
06:43 live in and we just make do. And I know Keith and Thortz are extremely good recruiters.
06:53 So I'm sure they're putting together a great bunch of guys and they do their homework on
07:00 guys. So I'm excited to see and meet everyone.
07:05 And obviously we've lost Goody this year. That's a big loss because he was such a great
07:13 leader. What are your thoughts on David and him going on elsewhere?
07:25 David is one of my good buddies. We actually roomed together my first year in Belfast and
07:31 we became great friends and we're a good support system for each other. So I definitely will
07:41 keep in touch with him throughout the year. But he'll definitely be missed. He's an incredible
07:47 captain and a great leader. He was a major part of why we were so successful the last
07:54 two seasons.
07:55 Yeah, and obviously Sam has gone off to Germany. He was huge in defence, quite literally huge
08:01 in defence. And also probably the nicest fellow you could ever meet. He'll be hard to replace.
08:09 Yeah, Sammy is one of my good buddies I've met in professional hockey too. He's a great
08:16 guy. He's just a really good person and he'll definitely be missed. A good player, definitely
08:25 be missed as a guy and definitely as a player. He had a really breakout season last year.
08:31 But I think he'll do great in Germany and I'm excited to see where his career goes.
08:39 And then obviously there has been much lamenting of the loss of Scott Conway to Slovakia. It
08:49 didn't come as a surprise but that firepower, he'll be missed but you have to wish him well
08:58 going off to Slovakia.
08:59 Yeah, I guess back to back 100 point seasons will be very hard to replace. But Scott's
09:07 an incredibly competitive guy practising games and I think he set the tone for a lot of games,
09:13 scoring early and scoring big goals. So he'll definitely be missed. He was a great team-mate,
09:20 a great guy. So that's a tough one to swallow but we do wish him luck or wish him success
09:29 in Slovakia. He's a great player and he'll find success wherever he goes.
09:35 Yeah, and as you've mentioned, Kiefer and Thornts and the team back here in Belfast,
09:42 they've been putting together a really exciting new look team. There's a lot of returning
09:51 guys, core guys who are returning but there's a lot of really, really interesting players
09:56 coming over like Brega, Sato. Even the big defence guys that were signed a couple of
10:08 weeks ago, they're all very interesting additions to the Giants.
10:14 Yeah, I played with and against Travis Brown and against Jacob Friend and they're both
10:20 great defenders. Jacob Friend's really hard to play against. I was really glad to see
10:26 him join our team versus another team. And then Travis Brown, he's an extremely skilled
10:32 guy and I played with him briefly in San Antonio just for a couple of games but he seems like
10:40 a really good guy. I think our defence core is definitely going to be one of our strengths
10:47 next year. Sorry, that's the garbage truck in the background picking up garbage.
10:56 It's exciting and then I think we're bringing in some high offensive guys with Brega. I've
11:01 heard Sato's got some great speed. So it's exciting. We'll see how everyone fits in together.
11:09 There'll definitely be some line shuffling and stuff but it's going to be a good year
11:16 and we've just got to hit the ground running and enjoy our time.
11:23 Obviously, Matty McLeod is back. He lit up the arena whenever he moved over in February.
11:33 We can only expect the same.
11:36 Yeah, he brought newfound energy to our team with his speed and as a guy. He's a great
11:46 guy and I'm really excited to have him back and see him flying around the ice. It's lots
11:52 of fun to watch.
11:54 And obviously, before the season kicks off, you have a bit of pre-season with Glasgow
12:03 and Cardiff. But then obviously you've got the CHL again this season. That must be something
12:10 that you're looking forward to, getting a chance to play in the CHL again.
12:15 Yeah, for sure. I think the new format might suit us well actually, just being the underdog.
12:25 I think it's exciting that. And then we get that trip to Finland early in the year. It'll
12:29 be a good team building trip, playing some really good teams. I think the CHL actually
12:36 helped us last year. Maybe it didn't seem like it just because of our slow start to
12:40 the season, but I think it pushed us in the long run to become a better team and some
12:46 good team building as well with the travel and stuff like that.
12:50 And obviously you're going to get to play the CHL Champions, Pampara, in Finland. That's
12:58 massive to get to go to Nokia Arena and get to play those guys.
13:02 Yeah, I've heard that arena is incredible from the GB guys who played there at the last
13:09 World Championships. And that's going to be a really cool experience. And we'll see how
13:19 we fare against them. I think last year, the CHL, we struggled on the special teams, but
13:25 five on five, we hung in there with most of those teams. So maybe a focus on that and
13:31 just seeing where we match up against the best in Europe.
13:34 Yeah, and obviously you've got Bolzano at home and you've got Salzburg as well from
13:41 Austria. Teams that, whenever they come into the SSE, might get a bit of a surprise with
13:50 the power of the Giants.
13:52 Yeah, I agree. I think last year, the three home games we had, we came out physical and
14:01 kind of set the tone early. And I know our fans will be screaming and chanting the whole
14:07 game. So it's exciting. Hopefully we can make some noise in the CHL this year, get more
14:13 than one shootout victory like we did last year.
14:17 And finally, this is just a wee opportunity for you to, if you want to say anything to
14:23 the fans who might be watching this video over the next couple of weeks, have you any
14:29 message for everybody back here in Belfast?
14:32 Yeah, just super excited to come back and play in front of you guys. The hospitality
14:41 away from the rink of the people of Belfast and then the support from the fans on the
14:47 ice has been incredible the past two years. And it's a major reason why we've decided
14:53 to come back and extremely excited and can't wait to get things going.
14:57 Great.
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