Christmas Update

Hello All,

Everything is positive leading up to Christmas, and what has Santa delivered to the Blue Tongues already before even coming down the chimney?!!

SPONSORSHIPS

Bartercard have already agreed to the Naming Rights sponsorship for 2009. Quite simply without Bartercard's major sponsorship the Blue Tongues would not exist. We at the Blue Tongues again thank Brian Hall and all the team at Bartercard for their support. If you are not a Bartercard member already, I would strongly recommend you email me directly, and don't waste anytime in finding out how Bartercard can truely boost your business! We will make sure your inquiry gets put forth to the best person at Bartercard!!

As sponsor's totally interested in the success of the Blue Tongues, Bartercard have kept the door open for any company to take over the Naming Rights sponsorship for 2009, and they (Bartercard) will still honour their financial contribution for 2009, and continue on as a major sponsor.

In other sponsorship news, Jeff Maher has upgraded his sponsorship in 2009 from Import sponsor to a Major sponsor including the $12,500 donation. Thank you Jeff much appreciated! We have also started to receive renewals for our Club 500 membership/donations. Congratulations to Dianne Laycock for being the first renewal for 2009, and it is no surprise our joint Fan of the Year in 2008 Craig "Bluey" Duncan was the second to renew! Finally, in the sponsorship section a very big thank you to Sam and Wendy Hansen who have again agreed to look after the website for 2009. The Blue Tongues, thanks to Sam and Wendy are definitely Number 1 in the AIHL when it comes to website presence and content..Great job!!!

REMINDER TO ALL OF YOU!

There are great incentives to get your memberships/donations/and sponsorship applications in before 31 December, 2008, and there are only a limited number of signage sponsorhips this year... be quick!
Remember last year's Club 500 and Signage sponsors are being given the opportunity to receive $1000 off this year's Signage sponsorship if you register before 31 December, 2008!!

NEW PLAYERS IN 2009

We have confirmed two Swedish imports for 2009 Andre Selander and Henrik Ivarsson! Both players have played alot of their amateur and professional hockey together and the guys are currently playing in the Central Hockey League with the Arizona Sun Dogs.

Andre and Henrik are very excited with the opportunity to play in the AIHL and in particular the Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues. Henrik's sister and brother in law already live in Surfers Paradise, and this will be a great opportunity for the boys to excel in friendly and comfortable surrounds.

Both players come with experince in the top league in Holland as well games in Division 1 and 2 in Sweden. We are very confident their brand of team hockey will lift what is looking like a very much improved Blue Tongue roster in 2009. We will organise an opportunity shortly for supporters to ask questions to both Andre and Henrik through the Hockey Pulse Forum.

Goalies galore!!!

We have Reese Kalleitner who has played 4 years in the Canadian University league (CIS) for the University of Windsor, and last year in Japan. Reese has just arrived in Brisbane to complete his Masters degree at the University of Queensland for the next two years, and with his experience at CIS level will certainly be one of the best goalies in the league in 2009.

We also welcome back to the Gold Coast, Luke Fiveash. Luke played nets for the Canberra Knights last year, and has come back home to pursue Uni and work in the family business.

Of course we also have Billy Crumm returning "knee heeled" in 2009 along with Chris Martin and Chris Kerr. Judging from our email inbox we are sure to have other walk on imports vying for import spots come ice training in February.

Do watch this space for other news breaking information on new Australian signings for the Blue Tongues in 2009!!!

PRE-SEASON TRAINING

There is not enough words to describe the fun and pain our guys on going through at the PCYC, and in particular the beach sessions on Saturday mornings. An enormous thank you again to Craig Dixon who is doing fantastic work with the guys, and is mixing up the program to everyones delight!

With Coach Kevin Sands and yours truely leading the way ( or rather bringing up the rear) the Blue Tongues are sure to have the fittest Coach / GM combination in the league!!!

In every way this year's motto "TO BE A WINNER ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GIVE ALL YOU HAVE" is running true , and we hope and trust you get on board with us again this year...the team needs your support now.

Until next time...

Kind Regards,
Dave Emblem