Saturday 8th February – Slough Jets Programme

Good evening and welcome to tonight’s game against the Bracknell Bees. They were our opponents last Sunday and that enabled me to make a rare road trip. Finishing work at 5pm on Sundays precludes most trips but that’s one I managed. I noted still the clock isn’t working on all four faces and that caused me to wonder how does the goal judge know what time the net is empty, or when netminders changed. These facts it is the goal judge’s duty to record on their sheet so being able to see the game clock is a pretty essential thing I’d think.

Let’s look back to the happier part of last weekend, our home win over the Phantoms. It was a great night, nice to see old friends again who have now moved on but most importantly great to get the result. The Hangar rocked all night long, the team rocked all night long and everything came together. It’s nice to see Craig getting his team to enjoy the benefits of their hard work and get the results they deserve. This season hasn’t been the success we all hoped for but we are playing with heads held high, we will finish the season the very best we can with 100% in every game and next season we will be back a full force to be reckoned with but also with the benefit of all the hard work done this season and all the development of our younger players.

Last week I got asked a question while I was changing batteries on one of the Jets TV goal cam that I didn’t really have a chance to answer other than “no, not really”. On reflection that probably wasn’t the best answer I could have given but due to rushing it was the answer I gave! The question was could I play something else when we scored our next goal and the answer I should have given was a bit longer than “no, not really”. In short every senior hockey team has their own goal celebration song. If you look on Youtube you’ll find all the videos of the NHL teams goal celebration songs. Together with the goal horns they’re anthemic to every teams’ fans. In the UK we don’t have the physical ship’s horns but every team has it’s own goal anthem that’s played every time the home team score. It’s instantly recognisable as your team’s goal anthem and is hopefully something that the team’s fans can celebrate along to. It’s not just a random piece of music that can be changed every goal, it’s a celebration anthem that’s unique to every team. That’s probably the answer I should have given last weekend when asked and for not giving it at the time I apologise.

The tricky part in picking a goal anthem is that there are 9 other teams in the league to compete with for the best tunes. Guildford use the Rangers anthem, Bracknell and Basingstoke use Chelsea Dagger, Peterborough use Match o the Day. Our is Joe Satriani’s Crowd Chant for anyone that wants to get hold of it..

Enjoy tonight’s game against the local rivals. Let’s rock the Hangar just like we did last weekend and let’s lift the team to two more home points tonight. It will be tough but it’s possible.

Enjoy the game

My team, your team, OUR TEAM

Mark