Opening weekend review

September 17, 2008 by clint · Leave a Comment 

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.

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The start of a new season

September 12, 2008 by clint · Leave a Comment 

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

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Get ready for take off

September 11, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment 

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

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