Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, folks!  Hope you all had fab time, cheering in 2015!

But to us hockey fans, the New Year does not start in January, as it does for those unfortunate many that do not follow our wonderful sport.  No, for us, the New Year starts in the Autumn, when it is just starting to get cold and the trees are orange (but not that nasty shade of orange that the Squeelers wear!!).

Now that the ‘actual’ New Year has come around, perhaps it’s time to look back on how far we’ve come.  So much has happened, both in terms of hockey and in life in general, since the start of the season that it is almost unbelievable that only three months has passed since the 2014-2015 season started.

Down in Cardiff, we were greeted with the welcome news that our precious club was to be rescued by Steve King and his partners from the hockey homeland.  After a terrible season the previous year, we were all looking forward to what this new conglomerate could bring to the Bay!  With the involvement of Todd Kelman and the promotion of Andrew Lord to player/coach, things were certainly looking up for us.

And what a team we have!  While familiar faces such as Josh Batch, Tyson Marsh and Mark Richardson all remained with the club, Lord and Kelman, with the help of long standing Bench Coach and former Devils’ player Neil Francis, worked tirelessly to bring new talent to the Welsh Capital.

Amongst the newcomers were now-crowd favourites Doug Clarkson and Trevor Hendrikx, as well as sharp shooters Brent Walton (and his little one, Colby, too) and Joey Haddad.  To help Richie and Batch on the blueline, Carl Hudson and Andrew Hotham (my personal favourite!) were drafted in.   And last, but certainly in no means least, GB netminders Ben Bowns and Mike Will were fitted between the pipes, bringing not only immense skill and dedication to this outlook, but also the Bownsy Wave!!! Where would we be without that after a hard-fought win?!

Now, of course, there are several other guys who joined the team, as well as several who remained from previous years, but if I got started on talking about them all, we’d be here all day!  I could go on for days, and that’s just talking about what great guys they are – without even mentioning their hockey talent!

Of course, we have to remember those we’ve lost – although most of them have hung around the league!  At the beginning of the season, we welcomed back Gerad Adams and Phil Hill back to the Tent, with their new Sque- I mean Steelers team.  Crowd favourites such as Chris Blight,

A lot of critics were cautious about this new team of ours, but the boys have certainly proved, week in and week out, that we are here to stay.  Just like in days gone passed, the BBT is once again a placed to be feared by visiting teams!  No longer can the likes of Adam Keefe and Darryl Lloyd (yuck!) come waltzing into our place and push us around; Heno has certainly seen to that!

With loud renditions of ‘you got battered’ ringing throughout the bay, I can truly say I am proud to be a Devils’ fan.  Our boys stand up and take names wherever they go.  And the Red Army are behind them 100% of the way.

At this point, I’m pretty sure Coventry’s Brian Stewart gears up extremely reluctantly before every Devils’ game, no matter which Planet Ice arena they are playing in – he must be havin nightmares of @WildthingJ74’s ‘stewwwwwwart’ taunts by now!

Now, as we move forward into 2015, with wins against both the Hull Stingrays and the Fife Flyers in our opening games of the New Year, our team sits joint 2^nd in the League, with three games in hand over the league leading Braehead Clan .  With our guys proving there is nothing they can’t do, there are no words to describe how excited I am for what is to come!

Happy New Year, folks!  Hope you all had fab time, cheering in 2015!

But to us hockey fans, the New Year does not start in January, as it does for those unfortunate many that do not follow our wonderful sport.  No, for us, the New Year starts in the Autumn, when it is just starting to get cold and the trees are orange (but not that nasty shade of orange that the Squeelers wear!!).

Now that the ‘actual’ New Year has come around, perhaps it’s time to look back on how far we’ve come.  So much has happened, both in terms of hockey and in life in general, since the start of the season that it is almost unbelievable that only three months has passed since the 2014-2015 season started.

Down in Cardiff, we were greeted with the welcome news that our precious club was to be rescued by Steve King and his partners from the hockey homeland.  After a terrible season the previous year, we were all looking forward to what this new conglomerate could bring to the Bay!  With the involvement of Todd Kelman and the promotion of Andrew Lord to player/coach, things were certainly looking up for us.

And what a team we have!  While familiar faces such as Josh Batch, Tyson Marsh and Mark Richardson all remained with the club, Lord and Kelman, with the help of long standing Bench Coach and former Devils’ player Neil Francis, worked tirelessly to bring new talent to the Welsh Capital.

Amongst the newcomers were now-crowd favourites Doug Clarkson and Trevor Hendrikx, as well as sharp shooters Brent Walton (and his little one, Colby, too) and Joey Haddad.  To help Richie and Batch on the blueline, Carl Hudson and Andrew Hotham (my personal favourite!) were drafted in.   And last, but certainly in no means least, GB netminders Ben Bowns and Mike Will were fitted between the pipes, bringing not only immense skill and dedication to this outlook, but also the Bownsy Wave!!! Where would we be without that after a hard-fought win?!

Now, of course, there are several other guys who joined the team, as well as several who remained from previous years, but if I got started on talking about them all, we’d be here all day!  I could go on for days, and that’s just talking about what great guys they are – without even mentioning their hockey talent!

Of course, we have to remember those we’ve lost – although most of them have hung around the league!  At the beginning of the season, we welcomed back Gerad Adams and Phil Hill back to the Tent, with their new Sque- I mean Steelers team.  Crowd favourites such as Chris Blight,

A lot of critics were cautious about this new team of ours, but the boys have certainly proved, week in and week out, that we are here to stay.  Just like in days gone passed, the BBT is once again a placed to be feared by visiting teams!  No longer can the likes of Adam Keefe and Darryl Lloyd (yuck!) come waltzing into our place and push us around; Heno has certainly seen to that!

With loud renditions of ‘you got battered’ ringing throughout the bay, I can truly say I am proud to be a Devils’ fan.  Our boys stand up and take names wherever they go.  And the Red Army are behind them 100% of the way.

At this point, I’m pretty sure Coventry’s Brian Stewart gears up extremely reluctantly before every Devils’ game, no matter which Planet Ice arena they are playing in – he must be havin nightmares of @WildthingJ74’s ‘stewwwwwwart’ taunts by now!

Now, as we move forward into 2015, with wins against both the Hull Stingrays and the Fife Flyers in our opening games of the New Year, our team sits joint 2^nd in the League, with three games in hand over the league leading Braehead Clan .  With our guys proving there is nothing they can’t do, there are no words to describe how excited I am for what is to come!