First of all I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year, may it be a very good one!

Second and most important: Hockey!

The weekend that past saw the guys with only 1 game to play, a home game against Manchester, and to all of those of you who where there: "Is that value for money or what?" The hockey it self might not have been the cleanest I have seen, nor did we play our best game this season (we only had 10 guys on skates...) but it was a really entertaining game to watch! I think that most with me saw it as a tough game to win when Manchester made 3-4 in the last few minutes, but when Brad made it 4-4 we all screamed our hearts out and believed we would take it to OT, but we were all proven wrong, Brad made it 5-4 in no time! What a game, what a fantastic fan base! What an atmosphere in the rink! Now that is value for money!!!

On Sunday since we had no home game and no away game so I took the family to Cardiff ice rink and saw Devils vs Giants. Since I am now used to the visitors we have in Basingstoke it was a real surprise to go and watch a Devils game again, what happened? I remember the first match I saw at home with the Bison, it was against Giants and the weekend before I took over the club, both me and my wife said "A lot to do here, it is not as good atmosphere here as in Cardiff", but on now, wow are we ahead of them! The Bison fans are the loudest in the league, they scream more, they drum more and they cheer ALOT more. So not only do we have one of the best teams in the league (know anyone else who can beat anyone with only 10-12 skaters? No, I did not think so..) we also have the best and most active fan base in the league! Big thanks to all of you, it boosts team moral and it makes my job easier, not to mention that it is really really fun to go to a home game in Basingstoke!

This weekend we play the first match in the Knock Out Cup (kind reminder, it is not a season ticket game so if you want your normal seat, get on the phone and buy tickets now!) and we are doing some extra marketing on Friday and Saturday to raise attendance. On both the days we will be in Festival Place, on the main square and handing out flyers, showing games on the big screen and handing out some free "Beginners Guide to Hockey" and "Autograph folders" to anyone who is interested. Since I put Smarts & Fan club in motion on this and added Bavi & Co to get involved I am sure they will figure out loads of ways to make the maximum of this great opportunity! But they will need help, so if you have time, please contact them and offer your help, we need to get more people aware of the great hockey being played in our rink!

As I write this Ryan and Thornton are working hard on getting that much awaited replacement in for this weekend. Our first choice failed for reasons totally out of our control (the club he was released from actually took him back due to some new sponsorship money coming in. Their luck and our bad luck...).

We will need a new D guy in this weekend and we need Thornton on the ice too, it is a really important weekend, the first games in the Knock Out Cup, and both are against Cardiff Devils!

Greg Wood:

It was great to see some of our injured players back on the ice last Saturday. The previous week Greg Wood had joined the Bison fans watching the game in Sheffield. Still shaken after his concussion, he found time to chat about his season so far.

"We're very close as a team now, having come through so much together. I've learned a lot, fitting into the top lines when needed once Slava left. Steve Thornton helped me to see that I could use the short bench to my advantage as well as doing a job for the team. That guy's just the ultimate professional."

That's all for now! Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all on Saturday's game!

Tomas

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