EVERYTHING BROKE. IT WAS AWESOME!

Everything Broke. It Was Awesome.

Friday night’s home opener was a solid B+.

But not the type of B+ you’re upset about. The type of B+ you get when you walk into an exam thinking you might fail it.

Friday night was my first game ever in Jets history strictly being off the ice and watching what happens. For the past five years, I’ve spent 99% of Jets games on the bench or on the ice. I know how much work goes into a game from a player and hockey operations standpoint. I thought I knew how much work went into the off-ice side of the Jets too.

I didn’t.

Friday night, I saw a thousand things that likely happen every single game that I had no idea were part of the Jets experience.

I saw Nancy and Becky and Emily welcoming people into the lobby as early as 5:45. Jets fans who just couldn’t wait to get into the rink, showing up that early. Each one of them greeted by the kindest welcome. 

I saw Alexandria and Maeve setting up the welcome balloons with precision and care, helping to create the first impression we were striving for. Walking down the orange carpet after D.Jay and Jessica scanned them in, was more exciting thanks to them.

I saw Juanita directing traffic, creating atmosphere with signage she made and figuring out problems on the fly. All while coming off an extremely busy week and heading into an even busier weekend. The complete control and understanding of the bigger picture was incredible to see. And then, she stepped into the timekeepers box and learned a completely new game sheet system in seconds. The rest of the league needed three dedicated training sessions.

I also saw new people come into our existing organization and very quickly understand what the Jets are all about.

Maira and the rest of the bar staff were incredible. It was busier than we expected. We tried new things like the Alan Jackson karaoke discounts. We struggled to log into some of our debit machines, and they pivoted on the spot. They made beer runs look like high speed traffic on the 401, running up and down the Blue Pad at Gemini. And the whole time, they had smiles on their faces. Every single person who left the bar seemed happier - and not just because they had a beer in their hand.

Jake, Valentina, Lloyd, Drew, Naomi, Bill and our SDCI students ran a complex orchestra of digital broadcasting. We had five cameras in the building Friday night. Three of them broke before the game started. Our grand entrance didn’t even get off the ground. Our stream and play-by-play didn’t work for one second despite hours of set up by Bill. One of our cameras overheated - in a freezing cold arena! We had so much new equipment, so many new ideas and so little time to train, that everything probably should have broke.

Most of it did.

But the pieces that were left got put together in such a brilliant way that I visibly saw an excitement in the crowd that I don’t know if I’ve ever seen at a Strathroy Jets game.

A thousand things could have gone a thousand times better.

And they will.

We can fix everything that broke.

But the one thing that doesn’t need to be fixed is the spirit, the professionalism and the community that the Strathroy Jets who aren’t on the ice have created off the ice for the past five years.

So thank you for being the one thing that has been constant.

Thank you for putting out fires before they happen and as they pop up.

And thank you for being there when everything broke.

It was awesome!

Matthew Laberge | Strathroy Jets