A true ‘Day 1’ legend, Rob Stewart’s association with the Belfast Giants stretches all the way back to the club’s inception in 2000.
A part of every single Belfast Giants Championship to date, ‘Ol’ Golden Skates’ was awarded his Testimonial in 2013, on a night where his famous No.16 jersey number was raised to the rafters of the SSE Arena and retired.
Along with Head Coach Dave Whistle, Stewart helped the Giants to the league title in only the 2nd season of the Giants existence in 2002. That season, Stewart was voted to the First All-Star Team, his 3rd All-Star Selection of his career. The following season, Stewart again starred for the Giants as they won their first Playoff Championship.
The following year, during a turbulent era for the club, Stewart took over the Giants as Coach and led the team to a top 4 finish against the odds. During an injury spell in 2005/06, Stewart re-joined the Giants playing staff as injury cover and again helped the organisation to another league championship.
He moved back to play and coach with the Romford Raiders in 2006/07 before eventually returning to the Giants as an Assistant Coach when Steve Thornton took over for the 2008/09 season, where he has remained ever since.
In that time, Stewart has added another six Championships to his tally, and 23 years later he remains unquestionably engrained in the history of the Belfast Giants.
In 2012, he was inducted into the Ice Hockey Journalists Hall of Fame.
Following a successful treble winning 22/23 season behind the bench for the Giants, Stewart joined head coach Adam Keefe as an assistant coach alongside Rob Stewart for the 2023/24 season and will continue to play a key role of the Giants bench throughout the 2024/25 season.
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