It said a lot that when the Challenge Cup trophy was paraded around after the Belfast Giants’ victory over the Cardiff Devils that Jackson Whistle received the biggest cheer of the lot when he got his chance to skate around with it.
The netminder wouldn’t be the most well known player on the Giants roster but on Wednesday night, as he has been for a lot of this season, he was certainly the most important.
Thirty-seven shots were rained on his net across three periods by the Devils. Thirty-seven were turned away by Whistle. While Belfast poured the goals in at the other end, their triumph was just as much down to the shut-out that was produced at the other end.
For many years the Great Britain international has had to watch from the bench as Tyler Beskorowany led the Giants to trophy after trophy. This one was his and his alone, and he excelled when he was needed most to help his side claim the first bit of silverware of the Elite League campaign.
“I’m pumped for it. Super happy for the guys. Any time you get the chance to lift a trophy on home ice it’s a special feeling. Love to be able to do it here in front of the fans,” beamed Whistle.
“It’s nice to get a shut-out but any time you do it really is a team effort and I thought the guys played fantastic tonight. For me, the whole thing with Cardiff is they’re a really good team and it’s about trying not to give them any life. They came out hard in the first period but we weathered it and in the second and third we took over.”
Whistle has been outstanding all season for the Giants, his .925 save percentage ranking fourth in the entire League, and he has emerged as the team’s bona fide starter after duelling for the first half of the campaign with Tom McCollum.
On Wednesday night, he justified that and then some. From a superb reaction save to deny Bradley Schoonbaert at the end of the first period with the score 1-0 to two jaw-dropping saves to prevent Zach O’Brien from getting a consolation at the end of both the second and third periods, the 29-year-old was on top form – this was no armchair ride shut-out.
That allowed Ciaran Long to put the Giants ahead early in the first period. And for J.J. Piccinich to double their advantage just before the first intermission. And then for Jordan Kawaguchi and Mark Cooper to strike 66 seconds apart inside the first three minutes of the second period to end the game as a contest.
But it all started from the back.
Belfast Giants’ celebrate after defeating Cardiff Devils in Wednesday night’s Final at the SSE Arena
“We shut a lot of things down but when we weren’t able to, because Cardiff has a great group of forwards, he was there to stand on his head. He was collected and had that calm swagger all night,” beamed captain Mark Cooper.
Defenceman Gabe Bast concurred, commenting: “Whis was fantastic back there.
“As soon as we built that lead, we knew they would start cheating and we managed the game the best we have all year. Not a ton of chances for them in the second and third period.
“I’m super proud of this group.”
Of course, the job isn’t done. The Giants have one trophy in the bag but there are still two more up for grabs, starting with closing out their three-point lead at the top of the Elite League standings with nine games remaining.
Belfast will enjoy this one for the next couple of days but the games come back around quickly, starting with a Scottish double-header against Fife and Glasgow this weekend. But when you have a netminder who is capable of winning you trophies, it does give you a distinct advantage.
“I thought Jackson was great when we had any breakdowns,” praised head coach Adam Keefe. “That’s exactly how you win. The number one thing was not to worry about scoring goals, it was worrying about how to prevent them. He did that for us.”