Welcome to the Hangar for what promises to be a couple of cracking games. We’ve got the opening leg of the Premier Cup semi final on Wednesday against the Guildford Flames and on Saturday we’re back playing against the Manchester Phoenix in the league.
The semi-final game against the Flames has been brought forward by 7 days at short notice so I’m hoping we still get a good turn out from both sides given the importance of the game. I know some people have booked leave for the original date and have been unable to change it but I hope that hasn’t affected too many and the Hangar will be rocking for this fixture.
We’ve had some good games against the Flames in recent memory and there’s no reason to expect anything different for this game. The semi-final is contested over two legs with the winner going on to face either the Basingstoke Bison or Manchester Phoenix who contest the other leg. We’re opening the fixture tonight and it will be finalised in Guildford on March 2nd so we’ll be looking not only to rack up a win tonight but to do it in style.
Given that we also play Guildford on Sunday in the league competition at their place tonight is about firstly playing a good game, picking up from the last game at the Speccy a couple of week ago, secondly securing a win and thirdly retaining momentum ahead of Sunday’s league clash and the second leg of the cup semi-final.
On Saturday we play Tony Hand and his Manchester Phoenix. Last weekend the spark disappeared somewhere on the trip to Manchester I expect and despite Doug Sheppard getting us off to a great start with a goal just 22 seconds in his turned out to be the only Jets goal against five Phoenix goals.
The team know that they are capable of a better performance and I know they’ll be keen to put things right on home ice in front of the Hangar faithful. Sure the Phoenix are a good side but so are any number of teams in the EPL. So far the Phoenix have been the most consistent team and are therefore at the top of the table but on our day there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be confident of a good performance against them.
So looking back to last weekend and the Jets took on the MK Lightning and what a fantastic game it was. Jets dominated the game for about 50 of the 60 minutes and I’d say the result went the way it should. The support in the rink was phenomenal (I can spell that word but I’ve never been able to say it!) with both sets of supporters roaring on their teams all through the game. I think it was the most vocal home support we’ve had so far this season and MK, who are a noisy travelling bunch, were out-shouted for large parts of the game. It’s a great basis to build forward from as the regular season enters it’s final phase and the play-offs take place.
Let’s hope that “extra man in the stands” carries on into these two games as I’m sure both will be tough match ups.
Enjoy the games
My team, your team, OUR TEAM.
Mark
