Petr Cech may not see the ice, but it’s a PR masterclass from Belfast Giants

Then again, Petr Cech is no ordinary goalkeeper, and by playing ice hockey he is returning to his “first love”, as he has detailed in interviews before. And by linking up with the Belfast Giants, he is providing injury cover at a time when the club badly need it.

With Great Britain international Jackson Whistle still on the sidelines after being injured against the Glasgow Clan a few weeks ago and third choice Andrew Dickson now believed to be hurt too, head coach Adam Keefe was left with just Tyler Beskorowany to select from.

With Elite League regulations requiring a team to dress both a starter and back-up, the club were left in a bind.

In has stepped Cech, who joins on a short-term loan from the third division Oxford City Stars and will likely only stay in Belfast for a couple of weeks at most while Whistle returns from his brief spell out.

But while there will be those rightly excited by the prospect of Cech manning the crease for the Giants, there is a healthy dose of realism needed here. He may be providing a body in a key position at a crucial time for the Giants, but the chances of him starring for the club are slim.

His 5.17 goals against average and .900 save percentage in six games for the Stars are solid but that is at a level significantly lower than the Elite League despite there being only two divisions between them, and with Beskorowany still available for selection, the chance of Cech getting the nod over him in either game against the Sheffield Steelers or Manchester Storm is low.

However, bringing in the 124-times-capped Czech football international, a global superstar, is a significant PR boost for the Giants — not one that they necessarily needed but nevertheless a very much appreciated one.

Signing him to play in April’s Hockey Can’t Stop Tour game against Ukrainian side Dnipro Kherson was a masterstroke then, and it was that link which opened up the prospect of it happening again. On that occasion, Cech made 15 saves in playing half of the game and was undoubtedly the star attraction, and so he has proved again this time.

On ice hockey database Elite Prospects, Cech spent the majority of the day in their trending players, which are usually dominated by NHL stars such as Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid, suggesting that his signing not only made news headlines on this side of the pond but across it, too.

So while his stay with the Giants will more than likely be brief and muted, there were certainly worse players Keefe and head of hockey operations Steve Thornton could have recruited. Not for the first time, they have hit a home run when it comes to finding the right fit for the club.

Meanwhile, the Giants will be the Nottingham Panthers’ first competitive opponents since the death of forward Adam Johnson after the club confirmed they will return to action in their Elite League clash at the Motorpoint Arena on Sunday, November 26.

The Panthers have been inactive since Johnson’s tragic passing on October 28 and have since withdrawn from the Challenge Cup, but after a memorial game for Johnson against the Manchester Storm on Saturday, they will return to competitive action against the Giants a week on Sunday.