As the games come thick and fast during a hectic and intense Christmas and New Year period — the Belfast Giants play almost every other day until next Sunday — practice time is almost non-existent for Adam Keefe and his coaching staff.
With plenty of thinking time on trips back and forward across the Irish Sea during the busiest time of the season the Giants coach has plenty of time to ponder where he can strengthen his team’s Elite League challenge.
When you’ve just lost for the first time after a superb seven-match winning streak that thrust the Giants into second place in the table there isn’t much to concern Keefe, although he is always demanding more from his players.
He is well aware of one thing, which has often been the Achilles heel of many would-be champions down the years.
The Giants spent almost half of the first period on the powerplay in Glasgow on Boxing Day — they played eight minutes out of the 20 with an extra skater — and rather than making the most of their numerical advantage they found themselves trailing 1-0 to the Clan.
Remedying that and doing so quickly, is a priority for Keefe ahead of the return game in the annual post-Christmas double-header with the Glaswegians.
Adam Keefe has urged his side to be more ruthless with the man advantage
Although the Giants lost 5-1 a momentum shifting goal might have prolonged the winning run, instead the chance to capitalise after table-toppers the Cardiff Devils fell to Coventry Blaze was lost.
“We have to score on a powerplay there,” said Keefe.
“We had eight minute of powerplay in the first period and you get one there of you get a timely goal on one of our scoring chances it’s probably a different hockey game, but we didn’t and that’s why you lose.”
Saturday night’s clash pits together two of the most in-form teams in the League. Thursday’s win was Glasgow’s seventh in eight games and they come to the SSE Arena knowing that the Giants have made their home ice something of a fortress this season, losing just once in the League so far and that was way back in mid-October.
The fine lines that made the difference, missed chances and being one pass away from creating golden opportunities as well as that misfiring powerplay unit, in Glasgow were very clear to a frustrated Keefe, although he isn’t about to rip up the plans that have been working for so long.
Only scoring once in a game is a rarity for the Giants and there is still full faith in Elijiah Barriga, Scott Conway and Mark Cooper, who have all hit double figures so far — Barriga is in the League’s top 10 — to deliver more goals.
“We came out well in Glasgow and working hard, we’d plenty of good looks ourselves,” said Keefe.
“I thought we completed, but I thought Glasgow probably competed harder in the dirty areas, they scored on their scoring opportunities and we didn’t.
“We needed to do a little more to break them down and we didn’t do it.
“We had some real poor execution from maybe a handful of our guys that we gave up too much.”
One thing that the Giants were able to match the Clan in was their physicality, particularly in the face of Glasgow being full-on in their approach and it is unlikely there will be any change in the sequel.
“They were coming quite hard at us, I thought our guys responded well obviously sticking up for each other,” said Keefe.