Good evening and welcome to the final home game of 2012 here at the Hangar as the Slough Jets take on the Manchester Phoenix.
2012 as a year has had it’s ups and downs with 2011/12 culminating in the win at Coventry making the Jets play-off champions. Then came the tough departures in the summer as Doug Sheppard left the club and Slava came in and picked up the reigns at a tough time with so many players already having committed to the Bison. We’ve built a good team, we have some great players and some great characters and from the early part of 2012/13 season we have secured ourselves a chance to move forward in the Cup competition with a semi-final place and a chance to compete for the trophy we won in 2011.
Let’s look back to the summer and we had the 25th Anniversary Celebration game as well. It was great to see so many Jets fans supporting the players and great to see so many players back in Jets jerseys for a night too. We made some money for Help For Heroes and SPICE, we caught up with some old friends and we saw the Hangar looking pretty full to celebrate something that’s been a part of Slough for over 25 years.
For me personally it was a great honour to be involved in the Steve Moria Testimonial this year. Mo is one of the great guys of hockey and in #19 announcing his retirement the sport lost a bit of greatness both on and off the ice. The testimonial was a great night for a great friend and I’m pleased that I was asked to be a part of it.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve eve, Monday is Christmas Eve and then the big day is upon us all on Tuesday. I hope everyone is ready for the big day, I hope you’ve done all your Christmas shopping but don’t forget to check out the supporters’ shop this evening for some last minute Jets themed Christmas presents.
Tonight we play the Manchester Phoenix who are competing for top spot with the Basingstoke Bison. Our last encounter with the Phoenix saw the result decided in our favour in penalty shots. Tony Hand always puts together a competitive team and I’m sure tonight will be great hockey to see out 2012 at the Hangar and hope for a positive winning result for our last game of 2012.
Thank you to all of your for your support in 2012. I hope you all have a fantastic festive season and look forward to seeing you all again in 2013 back to support the mighty Slough Jets.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
My team, your team, OUR TEAM
Mark
