Billingham Bombers 27-9-08

Last Saturday saw the Jets travel to Newcastle for an 11.30 AM face-off! The lads were up for this one and were keen to get their first points on the board against a side which lost 10-0 to arch rivals Whitley Bay in mid-week. The jets fought hard and travelled back with a much deserved 6-4 win. Jeffo was again amongst the goals, in a win which saw 6 different goal scorers.

Sunday saw us back on home ice for the first ENL Cup game of the new season after last seasons semi-final appearance. The boys were really up for this and keen to see a repeat of last season’s quite phenomenal achievement. However, it just wasn’t to be. The boys hustled and hustled and grabbed 4 goals in under 10 minutes late on but it wasn’t enough and the much experienced Barons held on for an 8-6 win.

Other games around the league and cup saw Billingham run out 6-1 victors over Newcastle at The Forum, Nottingham won 4-3 at Blackburn and early title favourites Whitley drew 1-1 with Coventry at Hillheads.

Another interesting result from around the country saw last seasons Cup semi-final opponents Peterborough Islanders lose 6-3 at home to Oxford. The Islanders went all of last year’s regular season undefeated but after 3 games the Southern Champions are still looking for their first win.

This is the first of four meetings with the Bombers this season and if it’s anything like last seasons bouts fasten your seatbelts!

Last season’s home game saw the Bombers arrive in Hull wary of our ‘never say die’ attitude, and this was proved to be right as we came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw.

The away game saw just ten skaters make the trip to the Forum, to face a full strength Bombers team in front of a noisy crowd. Period scores of 1-1 & 2-1 saw us enter the last period behind 3-2. And when Ward scored at 46-17 with Craig Elliott in the penalty box, Bombers knew it was too early to start their celebrations. Jeffcock scored 3 minutes later for 4-3. Cooper assisted on a Florence goal at 55-09, and Jets were in with a chance. Bombers pushed hard and when a lucky bounce off Coopers’ stick flashed across the crease, Moutrey was there to skilfully convert the waist high puck to win the game 5-4.

The Bombers supporters were very appreciative of this display from the Jets team which finished the game with just 9 skaters. Anything like that display at full strength tonight will create a real spectacle.

Go Jets!

Clint.

Ps… we’re in Solihull tomorrow night for our second cup game of the season and back here to face Coventry Blaze a week tomorrow. Face-off is at 5pm.

Jets beat Vipers to record first points

Jets earned their first points of the season with an away victory against Newcastle Vipers ENL.

The game started at a frantic pace with Ben Lowe going close off the opening face off before Newcastle opened the scoring off the counter attack through Callum Davies netting after 32 seconds.

The Jets reply came just two shifts later, when Adam Elliott tied the game up, on the power play after 1.17 on a feed from his brother Craig Elliott after some hard work down low.

Kingston continued to pile pressure on the Vipers net throughout the first period and were duly rewarded on 10.35 when defenseman Jordan Davies fired home a wrist shot, assisted by Dan Sayer and Richard Haggar. Shots after the first period were 17-6 in favour of the Jets.

The second period continued in a similar way the first, with the Jets dominating for a large proportion of the period. Richard Haggar added Kingston’s third goal after 27 minutes with a wrap around goal assisted by Dan Hackford and Mark Florence.

Ben Milhench extended the Jets lead to three goals, firing past the Vipers netminder with a wrist shot from the hash marks just before the end of the second period (39.18). Just twenty seconds later the Vipers reduced the deficit back to two after a defensive mix-up saw Graeme Robson poke the puck through Jets netminder Tristain Rodgers legs.

Newcastle came out early in the third period looking to catch the Jets on the back foot. However it was the Jets who opened the periods scoring with Dan Sayer ripping home a shot, assisted by Richard Haggar and Mark Florence.

The Vipers persistence finally paid off when Matt Hinkley scored two goals (45.26 & 50.30) setting up an interesting final ten minutes. Coach Andy Daintith called a time out to try and settle his team and help them reorganise.

Any potential nerves were settled four minutes later when Matt Jeffcock scored in front of the net on a Craig Elliott assist from behind the net.

The final four minutes saw chances for both sides however Jets saw out and danger to record their first win of the season.

Captain Ben Milhench on the game, “I thought we were disciplined out there, which helped us win the game following some of the penalty trouble we got into last week. I thought we dominated for large periods of the game and fully deserved the two points. The score didn’t fully reflect how we played as we should of put away a few more of our chances.”

Mark Florence added, “Its good to get our first win under our belts, hopefully we can build on this and add two points the cup tomorrow against Solihull.”

The news image was kindly provided by http://www.vipersmedia.co.uk view the site for more images from the game.

Opening weekend review

After the end of 2006-07 season the Solihull Barons dropped from the EPL to ENL South A division. They managed just 4 wins from 16 league games, but they managed to score a very impressive 81 league goals while conceding 89.
Four wins, and a draw from 10 cup games saw them finish joint third out of a six team group.

Last Sunday, they won 4-2 at home to Telford and will be keen to keep the winning start going. The return cup fixture is in Solihull next Sunday at 6-15pm.

Last Saturday saw us lose by the odd goal 5-4 at home against Blackburn. We played well and were worth at least a draw. Stuart Head was injured on his debut, and will be out for both games this weekend. Thankfully, it is not too serious, so he will be back in the line-up next week.

Sunday saw us lose 4-3 away to last years ENL Champions Nottingham Lions. This was a bit of a farce really, with a Ben Lowe goal being ruled out by the ‘goal judge’ and the winner being assisted by their sixth player, and scored by their seventh! Too many players on the ice? Not in the opinion of the referee and that’s what cost us!
Bitter? You bet I am!

Interestingly, the first weekend of the season saw no team win 2 games.
Whitley beat Sheffield, Newcastle beat Blackburn, Sheffield beat Nottingham, Coventry beat Newcastle.

Billingham have yet to play, while Whitley and Coventry have only played one game. However, we are the only team to have lost both games.

My tip for the title: Whitley Bay Warriors. A much strengthened squad, a tough rink (despite the improvements), and a long road trip for us!

We scored some great goals last weekend, and made some great challenges. However most of the team need a couple of games to get used to their line-mates.

The dressing room has a familiar buzz again, but that particular toy has now been confiscated! Seriously though, the lads have returned very determined, and have clearly benefitted from the extra training night on Mondays.

Tristan was very disappointed to get beaten with a couple of shots on Saturday, but as I told him, every lad in that team knows he’s a solid goalie. The opponents came through 5 others to get to him. We signed him because we know he’s a good goalie. We train as a team, play as a team, and win, lose or draw as a team.
Matt Jeffcock looks sharper than last year and will be amongst the goals this season. Ben Lowe (with a broken hand) and Richard Haggar are as fast as ever, and love to close down the opposing defensemen to cries of “Hustle!” from myself and Andy.

Dunny now eats black bananas.
Flo still chuckles.
Adam is still Ziggy.
Jordan has more piercings.
Haggar has all the socks.
Spurge attracts the ladies…(apparently).
Tristan is hair!

And what about Ethan Daintith…what a star…high fiving the players at the start of every period!

So sit back & enjoy this evenings’ game.
Cheer the lads on!

Thanks for being with us!

Go Jets!

Clint.

Ps…see you next Saturday as we welcome Billingham Bombers. Face-off is at 5pm.

Jets lose away at Nottingham

After Saturday’s good performance but no points, Jets first away trip was at league champions Nottingham Lions.

Nottingham had suffered a surprising defeat on the previous night at Sheffield losing 4-1, so both sides were looking for their first victories of the season.

The Jets started the better of the two sides with Ben Lowe converting a well worked move between himself and Jamie Cobley after seven minutes. This appeared to wake the Lions bench up, who capitalised on two power play chances on the 12 and 16 minute mark through Ben Bliss and Simon Harrison respectively. Nine seconds after the go ahead goal Lions added another to further stretch the lead, this time through Stuart Bliss. The Jets appeared on the rack, however managed to see the end of the period out without any further damage caused to the score line.

The second period started with the Jets taking advantage of a power play with Ben Milhench scoring a slapshot from the top of the circle on twenty three minutes. The period also saw a Ben Lowe strike controversially ruled out despite clearly crossing the line and hitting the roof of the net, after the goal judge and the referee hadn’t seen it go in.

Jets misery was further compounded when Lions fourth goal was added on forty eight minutes despite protestations about a missed too many men on the ice call prior to the goal being scored. Craig Elliott added a third for Kingston after Mark Florence had slid the puck through Richard Griffiths legs. Jets continued to push for the elusive forth, pulling netminder Karl Holmes for the last minute, however the Lions continually iced the puck and saw the game out.

Coach Andy Daintith on the game, “From our point of view the lads once again played very well. However some of the calls were very dubious on both sides and once again the referee spoiled a good game. The missed call on the disallowed goal cost of the chance of taking anything out of the game.”

Jets lose to Hawks in opener

Kingston Jets started their season against the Blackburn Hawks who had gone through some managerial changes through the summer. Having not beaten the Hawks last year the Jets were expecting a tough game.

Jets started strongly laying Baxendale’s net under intense pressure in the first period putting 22 shots on the Blackburn goal. Matt Jeffcock scored the Jets first goal of the season after 19 minutes to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

The second period started with more Jets pressure before Hawks player coach put levelled proceedings with a shorthanded tally on 24 minutes. The Jets then ran into some serious penalty trouble spending the majority of the last twelve minutes of the period shorthanded through a series of minor penalties. Blackburn capitalised on a power play with Andy Dunn sitting in the box after 34 minutes to take the lead for the first time in the game.

Jets rallied late in the period with Matt Jeffcock adding his second tally on a feed from Adam Elliott and Dan Sayer. Shortly after the tying goal Kingston netminder Karl Holmes had to leave the ice suffering from cramp to be replaced by Tristain Rodgers. After two periods the scores were tied at 2-2.

The third period saw the Hawks come out strong and take advantage of the netminder change scoring after a minute through Wayne Slater’s second goal to take the lead for the second time. Jets responded 4 minutes later through a Ben Lowe strike assisted by Mark Florence and Dan Hackford. Disaster struck again for the Jets on 49 minutes conceding another shorthanded goal this time from an Anthony Kinder shot. Shortly after netminder Karl Holmes returned between the pipes having recovered from cramp.

The game looked to be beyond Jets when Wayne Slater added his hattrick goal 3 minutes later to extend the Hawks lead to 5-3. However Jamie Cobley marked his return to the Jets with a goal 40 seconds later to set up a tense finish.

The Jets pressed for the tying goal pulling Holmes for the final minute however despite their efforts they couldn’t find the net. Karl Holmes was awarded player of the game for Kingston facing 50 shots in his first game back in a Jets jersey.

Coach Andy Daintith: “Obviously I’m disappointed to come away from the game with nothing. The lads put in a great deal of effort and I feel we were good enough to get at least a point out of this game if not the win.”

Jets announce Captain and Alternatives

Prior to their league opening game with Blackburn on Saturday, Kingston Jets have announced their Captain and Alternative Captains for the forthcoming season.

Captain for the 2008/09 will be forward Benjamin Milhench with Andy Dunn and Alex Foreman named as alternative captains.

Coach Andy Daintith on the appointments: “We have got a great deal of skill and hockey experience amongst our leaders in the team and I expect this to rub off on the other players.”

Florence returns for another season

Andy Daintith announced last night that Mark Florence would be playing for Kingston Jets for the upcoming season.

Coach Daintith on announcing the news: “Mark is a massive signing for this team. He will be an asset both on and off the ice, especially with the junior players in the team.”

“A few people seem to think we are favourites for relegation this season, however I am confident the team we have put together this season will suprise a few people.”

The start of a new season

Welcome to today’s game; the first league game of our 2008-09 season.
The season ahead will see us play at least 36 games, with 8 of these in the cup competition.
The league (ENIHL North 1) will see us play away twice, and home twice, against each of Whitley, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Blackburn, Billingham & Coventry.
Here’s how the season will work…

ENIHL Championship - to be awarded at a one game final to be played between the winners of the two Division 1s; that game to be played at the EPIHL Play Off weekend in Coventry scheduled for Saturday
and Sunday 11 and 12 April, 2009.

ENIHL Play Offs - to start on Saturday 21 March and end on Sunday 5 April; format to be N1vN4 and
N2vN3 in the North Division 1 while the same (S1vS4 and S2vS3) in South Division 1. The winners of N1vN4 and N2vN3 to meet in one of the semi-finals (see below) while the winners of S1vS4 and S2vS3
to meet in the other semi-final.

ENIHL Play Off Weekend - to be held on Saturday and Sunday 18 and 19 April at Coventry Skydome -
Saturday to see the two North teams meet in the first semi-final while the two South teams meet in the second semi-final, thus guaranteeing a North v South final on Sunday 19 April. The U18 championship
game will take place on Sunday 19 April as a leader to the ENIHL Play Off final.

Promotion/Relegation between Conference Divisions 1 and 2 (to be applied to both North and South Conferences) – the winner of Division 2 be automatically promoted to Division 1 and the team finishing last in Division 1 be automatically relegated to Division 2; in addition, the team placed 2nd bottom in Division 1 and the team finishing 2nd in Division 2 play home and away to decide who plays the
following season in Division 1 and who plays in Division 2.

So, as you can see, the ENIHL now have our own Play Off Weekend…get the dates in the diary. The long hard season has given us eleven weekends with 2 ‘back to back’ games. And there are just three full weekends with no game.

The season opener today is against Blackburn Hawks, and on behalf of everyone at KJIHC, we extend a warm welcome to players, officials & supporters.
The game will see the return of our friends The Arnones & The Slaters.
Andy Slater has taken over as Manager, and sons Carl & Wayne are expected to be in the line-up this evening. I’m pretty sure they’ll be joined by my curry partner Anita too.
You’re always welcome here…all of you.
This game will be a really tough opener. The Hawks will have ex-Kingston player Tim McKay, a recent signing from Solway Sharks in the squad, along with Jonathan Tindall. Ex-Sheffield player Jonathan has long been regarded as one of the countrys’ best young netminders, and is well known to many in Hull.
Our games with the Hawks last year were all lost, although we eventually progressed in the Cup at their expense. The Hawks are always tough and hard hitting, we’ll need to be at our very best to take anything from the game.

We have had a few shuffles across our squad.
At this early stage, Tristan Rodgers and Carl Holmes look set to return as our goalies, following Jasczyks’ move up to The Stingrays.
‘Jash’ has enjoyed his years with us. Often the source of dressing room banter, he’ll be missed. We thank him for his efforts, and all the lads wish him a successful season at the top of the British game.

We have signed Stuart Head from Grimsby Redwings, and most of last years’ team have returned.

Dunny has returned to the line-up. It’s great to see the former captain back in a Jets shirt, after a difficult year on the ice (& personally) last year. Today will be his first game for us since he broke his ankle in the Manchester rink back in December.

Sam Cooper has not re-signed. As part of the small group of junior players who stepped up to Jets some years ago, 18 year old Sam had probably his best season so far last year. Sam listened to Andy Daintith and grew as a player. The penalty minutes dropped, and Sam worked hard on his fitness. However, he has just left school with a clutch of A levels, and has spent the summer months with BBC Radio Sheffields’ sports team. Desperate for a permanent sports reporter position, Sam feels he cannot give the club his full commitment, particularly at weekends. He really is upset to be walking away from hockey, having first played (for Sheffield) aged just five. He then moved into Hulls’ Sunday morning sessions, and transferred across. We’ve spoken with him long and hard about trying to move things around to make practise and games, but Sam himself has decided that (as ever) it’s full commitment or nothing…and Carole & I know that we need to support that view.
So, at least for the time being, the boots are hung up.

The pre-season practise has gone well, with several players looking very sharp indeed. However, several teams in the league have made big signings and this year sees us start as many peoples’ favourites for the drop. However, there were many who wrote us off last year at their peril…and we love it when they do.

So, thanks for joining us…enjoy the game!
Go Jets!

Clint.
Ps…we’re in Nottingham tomorrow against the league title holders. Face off 7.30pm

Get ready for take off

This summer has been filled with speculation regarding potential departures, but we have managed to keep the majority of players from last season. Those players that have departed include puck-dodger Andy Jaszczyk, defenseman James Robinson (most famous for missing an open net from inside the crease), and enforcer Sam Cooper.

To replace Jaszczyk, we have signed both Karl Holmes and Tristan Rodgers. These boys have returned to the Jets after a few seasons away: Karl spent the previous season with Grimsby, whereas Tristan took a break from ice hockey to concentrate on pig farming. Seriously.

Other signings include forward Jamie Cobley, who spent the previous season with Newcastle Vipers ENL; and former Grimsby defenseman Stuart Head, who will become our new enforcer!

These signings (coupled with a more slim-line Ben Milhench) give the Jets a much stronger team than last season. We will need this strength due to the new league structure, in which we will be competing with the top teams in the north and midlands. Relegation has been introduced this season, and I believe that we will be the favourites to go down – based solely on the fact that we finished lower than any of our rivals did last season. It will certainly be a difficult season, however, I do not believe that we will be involved in a relegation dog-fight. On paper, we have one of the best teams in the league; and if we play to our ability then we should finish at the top-end of the table!

Once again, we will be competing in the ENL Cup. Last season, we reached the semi-final, in which were marginally beaten by the Peterborough Islanders. We did not play a competitive match for six weeks prior to this semi-final, whereas Peterborough had been playing regularly in the playoffs. If we had similar match practice, I believe we would have won the semi-final and gone on to lift the cup!

Ben Spurgeon

Jets for Life

Jaszczyk signs for Stingrays

Netminder Andrew Jaszczyk has signed for Hull Stingrays Elite.

Stingrays Head Coach Rick Strachan said: “Not many guys want to be a back-up but Andrew wants an opportunity to learn and he will do that with us. It will be a stepping stone for him, he will practice with us four times a week and if we need him to play he will play. It will be a stepping stone for him.”

“Not many guys want to be a back-up but Andrew wants an opportunity to learn and he will do that with us. It will be a stepping stone for him, he will practice with us four times a week and if we need him to play he will play.”

Jets Manager Clint Cooper added: “Jash’ has enjoyed his years with us. Often the source of dressing room banter, he’ll be missed. We thank him for his efforts, and all the lads wish him a successful season at the top of the British game”

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ENL1 Standings

	Team	GP	PTS
	Nottingham Lions	16	26
	Sheffield Scimitars	19	25
	Whitley Warriors	12	17
	Telford Titans	15	15
	Coventry Blaze ENL	14	12
	Trafford Metros	14	10
	Blackburn Hawks	13	7
	Kingston Jets	13	4