Is Fournier Giants “Ace In the Hole”?

by UK American Sports Fans

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Now on any good team sport squad you certainly need your goal scorers, not forgetting your defenders and in hockey whether it be on ice or a pitch there is that all important goaltender.

Well Doug Christiansen, Belfast Giants coach has put together another mouth-watering group of players to excite the Belfast fans in the Odyssey Arena again this season. In a season where there are now two conferences with the Northern Teams playing in the Gardiner Conference.

The Giants ice in the Erhardt Conference, which might be, renamed the Group of Death as they compete with the other four top contenders. Those being Cardiff, Coventry, Sheffield and Nottingham all trying to lift the Elite league’s title off of Belfast.

The Giants’ as always, have a very strong lineup on paper which makes impressive reading. However, to make a team function you need a playmaker. He is that guy that’s happy to pass the puck and let others score forgetting himself at times. Doug may have found just that ace in the hole with the signing of Andrew Fournier

The twenty-four year old Canadian winger Fournier is the Giants last forward signing. Andrew played for Olofstroms IK in Sweden last season, where he notched 27 goals and 53 points in 40 games, while leading the league in plus/minus.

He is a high scoring winger who iced with both Darryl Lloyd and Will Colbert on previous teams during his professional career. Andrew has scored over 70 points twice in the East Coast Hockey League. He had his best ECHL season in 2010-11, when he finished 3rd in the league in goals helping the Kalamazoo K-Wings to the ECHL Finals.

Fournier is another Giants player who has worn the captain’s ‘C’ on his jersey in the past when he captained the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League in 2007-08, and he’ll wear number 9 for the Giants this season. Doug Christiansen commented on his final forward signing of the off-season:

“Andrew is an extremely talented offensive player. He is extremely skilled with a great pair of hands and good playmaking vision. Andrew has a knack for scoring big goals. He has been on a number of very good teams and knows what it takes to win.

I expect him to be an impact player for us from day one. I really believe we unearthed a gem here late in the off-season.” Christiansen has finished his forward line and believes he has an excellent offensive group stating,

“I think we have a lot of great players coming into the Giants this season. In Lloyd and Keefe, we have two of the most physical players in the league and I don’t think Greg Stewart will be far behind.

Our British forwards are among the best in the league. Craig Peacock is coming off the best season of his career and I am looking forward to him having an even better year. Garside is the best third line center in the league and I believe he should be a twenty-goal scorer this year”.

“Matt Towe will be a big part of our offense. He has great wheels and should be effective on the penalty kill. I expect his role to grow over the course of the season as his gets used to the pace of the EIHL game. Noah Clarke, Daymen Rycroft, Scott Champagne and Andrew Fournier should be excellent. They have speed, skill and creativity. Each of them has the ability to lead our team in scoring.”