BELFAST Giants defenceman Gabe Bast believes that they still have so much more to offer despite making a positive start to their Elite League title defence.
Adam Keefe's side have won five of their opening seven games and, although they sit 11 points behind leaders the Guildford Flames, they have played five games less than the early pace-setters.
However, even with their strong record, they have struggled to put together a full 60-minute performance this season, with Wednesday's 3-2 win over the Dundee Stars needing a shootout to separate the two teams despite the Giants dominating for the vast majority of the night.
"I think there's still a lot more," says 25-year-old Canadian defenceman Bast.
"It matters more where you are in April, you don't want to peak now in October, you want to gradually build and be at your best and win games along the way in time for the end of the season.
"Right now we're finding ways to win even though we're not at our peak performance. Having that team success gives us confidence to never have a doubt in the room, we can always find ways of winning. Everything's a learning experience.
"There's a lot of guys who have played a lot of games and when it comes down to the end of the season we're going to have to find ways to win games no matter what. It's good we've already learned how to do it."
Bast has been a large part of the Giants' early season success, putting up five goals and 17 points in 13 games as well as helping keep the puck out of their own net at the other end.
The former University of North Dakota stand-out was expected to be one of the best puck-handling blue-liners in the Elite League this season, but even the Canadian himself admits he wasn't anticipating having such a hot start to his time at the SSE Arena.
"I'm in a little groove right now. A lot of guys have been making good plays to me, I haven't been doing much of the work. I guess I could say I'm feeling pretty good right now and I'll try and continue it," he smiled.
"I don't know if I've scored one from the point this year! When you're struggling to find offense, sometimes you have to go to the dirty areas and get lucky.
"Any time you can contribute to your team offensively is awesome, especially from the back end. But I'm a defenceman, I still have to keep the puck out of my own net. I didn't have many expectations coming into the year but I'm glad that we're off to a good start.
"The systems that Keefer has put in place has allowed me to be successful on the ice and us as a team. If we follow those systems and structure then we'll have a lot of success this year."
The Giants are in Kirkcaldy tonight to take on the Fife Flyers in their latest League game (7.15pm) before returning to the SSE Arena tomorrow to welcome the Glasgow Clan (4pm) and Bast is eager for them to remain in the moment to try and pick up another two wins.
"We can't dwell on past games. We have to look at what happens tomorrow and in the next games," he added. "We need to stick to our systems, get four points this weekend and we'll be happy with that."
The Giants are hopeful that forward Darik Angeli will be back for the weekend's double-header after injury, but defenceman Kevin Raine is still considered day-to-day.
