BELFAST Giants general manager John Elliott has announced a £700,000 deal and a major new shareholder on the way for the ice hockey club.

Elliott confirmed: "This is a fantastic piece of news for our club, for all Giants fans and indeed for sport in Northern Ireland. We are in the final stages with our legal team in a complex investment deal which, when completed, will see Jim Yaworski, a Canadian software businessman based in Calgary, as a new shareholder in the Giants business.

"Jim Yaworski has kept a very keen eye on the Belfast Giants ever since he met player Shane Johnson on a plane a few years back. When the opportunity arose to start discussions about investment, Jim was very positive about the image the Belfast Giants have both here in N Ireland and across the globe. Yaworski is a hockey purist who was used to seeing the bad side of N Ireland portrayed through the international media. That was until he saw a documentary on Canadian Television that confirmed the Belfast Giants as a truly inclusive sporting team which reaches out to all sections of our community. On behalf of the other owners, I'm delighted to welcome Jim Yaworski onto our team, we now know we can take the Giants forward into the future with confidence."

"This confidence in the Belfast Giants and ice hockey as a growing sport in the UK and in Ireland, is mirrored by the impressive interest from across the globe, which I have received in the Coaching position. I have been working tirelessly to secure the many elements required to bring a team onto the Odyssey ice and I hope to confirm both the name of the new Coach and an exciting fixture list in the coming days and weeks. Ice hockey is one of the most expensive sports to manage and with the demise of MG Rover earlier this year, I had grave concerns as to our ability to continue.

However, there continues to be several options and the arrival of Jim Yaworski is certainly a firm basis to be building upon. We will still need to be prudent in our business and are continuing to renew and develop discussions with potential new sponsors. I am confident the business people of Northern Ireland will again realise the benefits to be gained in association with the Belfast Giants and 4000 screaming fans at our home games."

The fixtures for next season's Elite League have been discussed and agreed and are now subject to approval by the Elite League Board. Elliott went on to comment on the decision that the Giants will not participate in this years Challenge Cup, a competition which runs alongside Elite League games during the season.

"The Odyssey is fully booked with a major production in late February and early March. The Challenge Cup will be completed by late November meaning that we would have to put our players through a gruelling run of 4 weeks where they would have to play 2 home games and 1 away game in 4 nights each week. As the Giants travel more than any other Elite League team, squeezing Challenge Cup home and away games into the fixture list just didn't make sense. We looked at other options such as playing double header games for league and challenge cup but these were rejected by the league. I'd rather give the the Coach and players the best chance at the League title and Play Offs and the home fixtures are shaping up to ensure a great pattern of dates for the fans."

Elliott added that the Coach may also benefit from Jim Yaworski's Canadian ice hockey connections. "Jim is respected in the Canadian ice hockey fraternity and we are currently working on developing an affiliation with a major NHL team. I am sure that we will be able to bring Jim's experience and connections back to Belfast for the benefit of the team and the fans. The biggest challenge for an ice hockey coach is putting his team together during the summer and the extra information and assistance will ease some of that pressure on whomever gets the job."