When the Belfast Giants kicked off their season with a 7-3 win at the Dundee Stars, perhaps the most surprising stat from the entire game was the identity of the only Giants forward to finish without a point to his name.
JJ Piccinich. Zero goals. Zero assists. Zero points.
It was a line that Giants fans aren’t used to seeing from the American winger, who scored 43 goals and 98 points in 68 games in his last spell at the SSE Arena in the 2021/22 season, nor was it one that Piccinich expected from himself.
But, in many ways, that outing was a blessing in disguise. Being held off the scoresheet in Dundee lit a fire under the New Jersey native and, since then, he’s been back to his electric top form with two goals and four assists in his next three games — including a 1+2 rebound performance against the Stars last Sunday — to sit joint-third in team scoring after four Challenge Cup games.
“Ideally, you want to have as many goals as you can, so I did come off after the first game thinking, ‘I wish I’d scored, I wish I’d done better with that chance’,” confesses the 28-year-old.
“But the beauty of hockey is there’s so many games, so I was able to have a big performance in the following game and contribute with two assists and keep going from there.
“I suppose you don’t know how the first game is going to go, but I’m ecstatic I’ve been able to contribute what I have offensively. That part feels great. But I’m just as proud that I’m contributing defensively where I can and being able to do things at both ends of the ice.
“It was really important I’ve hit the ground running. We need a lot of guys going so, in that respect, it’s huge.”
So far it’s not just Piccinich who has hit the ground running. The Giants are currently firing on all cylinders throughout the line-up and it’s paying dividends.
Jordan Kawaguchi may be the one stealing the headlines so far as the team’s leading goalscorer with five in four games, as well as a team-leading eight points, but every forward who has played more than one game thus far has recorded at least two points, with seven scoring better than a point-a-game.
It’s early days, yes, but 22 goals in just four games represents a red-hot start in front of goal and shows that unlike in Piccinich’s first season in Belfast, where the Giants relied on the top line trio of himself, Scott Conway and David Goodwin for the lion’s share of their offense, this team has goals in stacks throughout their forward lines.
“We have contributions coming from everywhere,” confirms Piccinich.
“Guch is having an excellent start and we need him to keep going. He’s a huge part of our offence. Getting Cons back and having him hit the ground running has been great.
“We have a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net and make plays and we’re going to need that. It’s not going to be the same guy every night and that’s what makes us dangerous. Anyone can take charge of a game and that’s what can be special about our group.
“We can feed off each other, and we have guys who can back-fill if someone else isn’t putting away chances. We can attack from so many angles, we’re not a one-trick pony. Other teams can’t take a shift off.”
They will particularly need that this weekend when they start their Elite League campaign away to the Manchester Storm on Saturday before heading to the defending champion Sheffield Steelers on Sunday, but Piccinich insists they are getting ahead of themselves despite their unbeaten start.
“I don’t think (our confidence) has gone any higher or any lower. We’ve been at the same confidence level,” he maintains.
“There will be more adversity coming our way, no doubt about it. There is every season. It will be a challenge to maintain our confidence so we need to stay even and have that confidence in our game to deal with adversity.
“Sheffield has been playing great and we will have our hands full, but that’s a good thing. We want their best because they’re going to get our best. It should be a great game. It will be a good gauge for where we’re at. Same goes for Manchester.
“This will be a great weekend for us, no question.”