01-07-2025
‘It fuels my motivation even more': Belfast Giants' MVP goaltender eyeing silverware after inking return
Netminder Jackson Whistle, the son of the organisation's first-ever head coach Dave Whistle, has signed up for a seventh campaign with the team off the back of another exceptional year that saw him lead the team to the double.
The 30-year-old Great Britain international had been expecting to duel it out with Tom McCollum for the starter's jersey last season but instead quickly assumed the role of starter and thrived.
In 37 games last season, Whistle kept an outstanding .928 save percentage and conceded just 1.98 goals per game on average which, unsurprisingly, saw him named the team's MVP in April.
With that success at his back, particularly coming off the back of a 23/24 season where he took the starter's jersey off Giants hero Tyler Beskorowany, it is clear to see why the Giants wanted to bring him back and the feeling was mutual.
'It means a lot to be back in Belfast. Being named MVP was a real honour, and it fuels my motivation even more for what's ahead,' commented Whistle.
"This club and this city have become home for me, and I'm focused on helping the Giants secure more silverware. The fans deserve that, and I'm ready to do everything I can to deliver.'
Whistle first joined the Giants as a 21-year-old straight out of the junior Western Hockey League in Canada, where he played for the Kelowna Rockets, and after one season as back-up to Stephen Murphy led the team to Challenge Cup glory in 2018 as the starter.
The Kelowna-born netminder, who grew up in Belfast with father Dave and brother Brandon, would move to the Sheffield Steelers the following season and then on to the Nottingham Panthers the season after that, which was curtailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before making his return to Belfast in 2021.
And since then he has excelled, keeping a combined .924 save percentage and conceded an average of 2.04 goals per game in 121 appearances since, operating as an essential part of the team's dominance since the turn of the decade.
His first two seasons, the first of which yielded a League and Cup double and then the Grand Slam a season later, were largely spent as the second choice to Beskorowany, but once he edged out the Canadian for the latter half of the 2023/24 campaign, Whistle would not look back.
Last season was arguably his best yet as not only did the statistics prove his value but he delivered in the big games, too, keeping a shut-out in the Challenge Cup Final against the Cardiff Devils to win one trophy and then making a string of remarkable saves on the final weekend of the season against the Nottingham Panthers to clinch the League.
On the international stage, Whistle has battled it out with Devils hero Ben Bowns since making his debut in 2018, the pair forming a strong tandem, with the Belfast star making 30 appearances for his country, including two at the recent World Championship Division 1A that saw Great Britain promoted back to the top tier.
