January 7th – Slough Jets Programme

Welcome to tonight’s game against the Manchester Phoenix, our second game of 2012.

What a fantastic turn out we enjoyed for our first game of the year. We ran a kids for a quid promotion against Swindon on New Year’s Day and we really enjoyed good support to start the year. The Jets played their part too in rewarding the large crowd with a good win and hopefully it sets us off on a good note for support in the New Year.

Last Sunday was a sad day for the club as we said farewell to Tom Carlon. Tom’s a really gent and took the news as well as anybody could in the circumstances. It’s a real shame he wasn’t able to complete the season with us and I wish him all the best with the Phantoms for the remainder of this season.

Tonight we welcome back the Phoenix to the Hangar. Last time they came down it was a 9-0 shut-out in our favour and what a game that was. Lots of action for Jets TV on that night and a happy way to close down home game action before Christmas. The Phoenix are yet to ice their full squad all at the same time this season through injury and by any standards that’s bad luck! I’m certain they will be out to avenge that 9-0 game so tonight’s action will be good.

Speaking of action what about last weekend with the Wildcats and the extra action by/on the Wildcats bench? Having watched it in HD and in slow motion it’s clear to see what happened and the unfortunate thing is that due to the camera following the play as it should have then the original slash from the bench which started it all isn’t shown. What is shown though is a real melee in front of the Wildcats bench and it’s certainly not great to see their bench official, a registered level 2 coach getting involved dragging Aaron over the boards by his jersey. Good to see Joe Baird get involved and move him back but that’s not something that should that should have happened.

Each referee tends to call the game in their own way. We don’t often get to see Anthony Decaux at the Hangar so his is not a style we’re used to. Certainly that 2+2+5+game + game calls aren’t something that we’re used to seeing. Refereeing is a difficult task, that’s why the NHL have used the two referee, two linesmen system for a number of years now. In the UK we cannot afford either financially or resource wise to run a two+two officiating system for every senior hockey game and consequently things will always be missed. I know it’s frustrating when what we see as a blatant call is missed but the only thing I will say is that I know of no official who goes out to do a bad job. Each referee and linesmen turns up at their allocated game and does their job to the best of their ability and the truth is that they are human, they only have two forward facing eyes and sometimes penalties will get missed, or off-sides will be missed but I over the course of the season everything evens up and a bad call against will probably be levelled up by a bad call for.

Anyway, let’s get down to action tonight. The Jets fans were loud and proud last weekend so I’m hoping for more of the same tonight. And, if you happen to see Peter Tyler tonight make sure you wish him a Happy Birthday. Our Zamboni driving legend celebrated his birthday on Thursday!

Enjoy the game

My team, your team, OUR TEAM

Mark