The Bison season is around the corner! At this time of the year, I am extremely busy making sure that everything is organized. This is the time when all paperwork and registrations are completed. There always seems to be problems with teams “releasing” players, which eventually will be resolved. Equipment, travel and housing are huge issues as well as taking care of the players needs. The “out of town” guys arrived over the weekend and we skated as a team for the first time on Sunday evening. Ondrej arrived from Slovakia whilst Mindy flew in from Lithuania. Sam Zajac and Davey Lawrence are northerners: Sam from the northeast and Davey in the Sheffield region.

We do not have much time to prepare for our first games, having 3-4 training sessions before next weekend’s Bracknell games. One thing is definite and that is the players are hungry and excited about playing.

Craig Moran will be the bench coach for the Bison. He was with me in Slough over the last few years and we worked well together. Nicky Chinn will be the captain with Tom Long and Sam Oakford the assistant captains. Strong leadership is crucial throughout the course of a season. We will need to be consistent throughout the year and leadership will play a crucial part in this.

The preparations throughout the summer have been excellent. Planet Ice are fully behind the team and are excited about having their own team in the EPL.

Paul West has been very busy helping in an organizational role and involved with almost everything regarding the Club. The Own and Loan scheme has been a huge success. I think there might only be 2 or 3 shirts left.

Hopefully I will be able to get out for a game of golf next week with some of the guys. The course at Test Valley is excellent.

That’s it for now. I think I am going to sneak over to see Roy at Grosvenor Carpets to find a claret or partially claret coloured rug.