Joint award for Kirkcaldy Ice Hockey Club stalwarts Jim and John

Jim Taylor and John Paterson have both given over 50 years of combined service to the club and were jointly awarded the Edith Page Vase for Outstanding Contribution as both have decided to leave this summer.

Ian Keddie, KIHC Chairman gave praise to both men, saying that they were unsung heroes.

“The stuff that they both do is important to the club,” he said.

“But because it’s all behind the scenes, many of the kids and the parents don’t know them and don’t appreciate what they do and how they help the club run.

“Jim has been part of our hockey club for over 30 years.

“Prior to that he played for the Flyers but he’s been the Treasurer for us all that time.

“We used to have our Hockey UK tournament at the end of every season which we ran for many years and Jim was heavily involved in that.

“He has also been fixture secretary for Scottish Ice Hockey for many years.

“John has been involved for 25 years working on the stats, for both Kirkcaldy and Scottish Ice Hockey.

“We now have a monthly magazine that we publish with all the goals, assists, appearances etc, and if it wasn’t for John we wouldn’t have that.

“Another important thing he does is he keeps us right with players penalty minutes.

“If a player has accrued sufficient penalty minutes to be suspended for a game John lets us know about that, otherwise we could put a player on the ice who’s not supposed to be there.

“With the Hockey UK stuff John was there keeping the scores right and compiling the league tables, helping to diffuse arguments about who finished where.”

Both Jim and John are to stay with Scottish Ice Hockey for one more season but Ian said it was important to mark their departure from KIHC.

“They will be missed and it’s not just what they do, it’s the knowledge they hold, but I know they will be there for us to call upon should we need to,” he said.

For a full list of award winners go to the Kirkcaldy Ice Hockey Club Facebook page.