BASINGSTOKE, UK – Just a fortnight ago the Bison and Sheffield Steeldogs played ot a dress rehearsal for this weekend’s play-off quarter-final double header encounter.
On that occassion the Herd lost 6-2 on home ice and then won on the road 2-1 after a penalty shoot-out.
In the game in Basingstoke, the home side got off to a good start with Daniel Volrab pinging the pipework in the opening minute and then Steve Moria netted.
However, by the first buzzer, they trailed 3-1 after Pavel Gomeniuk, Janis Ozolins and Ben Morgan all scored.
The second session saw the Bison dominate with Moria scoring again, while Viktor Kubenko hit the post.
Even if the home side were a goal down as the teams went to th dressing room at the second break, they were very much still in the contest.
The final 20 minutes proved a real let down as Ashley Calvert edged them into a 4-2 lead at which point Coach of the Year Andre Payette called a time-out to keep his side firmly focussed on the job at hand.
They started to trap further up the ice and the Bison stopped playing as a team and became a bunch of individuals.
A shorthanded strike from the EPL Player of the Year Ozolins extended the lead and then a lovely passing move saw the Latvian complete his hat-trick for a 6-2 win.
“We were the better team for 40 minutes, but failed to show up in the third and that cost us,” said Bison player/coach Moria.
The following night in Ice Sheffield was a different story as the Herd maintained their excellent road form with 2-1 shoot-out victory.
Sheffield scored the only goal of the second period from Lloyd Gibson with the Herd getting their equaliser from Moria, with his third from a very fruitful weekend.
That was how it stayed until the final buzzer and then overtime failed to split the down.
It came down to Bison man-of-the-match Liam Chong to win the match with the only one of 12 penalty shots to be scored.
“This game was a real dual on the night between too great goaltenders Ben Bowns and Stephen Wall. Both came up with huge saves and that is reflected in the low scoring nature of the game,” said Moria.
In those games the Bison were minus defensive duo Dan Harris and Sam Oakford as well as Ollie Bronnimann, but all three will be back for this weekend’s games with the opener in Basingstoke followed by a trip to Sheffield.
Confidence will be high in the Bison camp ahead of the game after for the second time this season they snapped a four game losing streak on home ice with victory over the league champions Guildford
Moria scored a dramatic game winning penalty shot 15 seconds from the end of overtime to claim the victory 4-3.
However, it did not start well for the Herd as the visitors took a 2-0 lead by the first break as Jozef Kohut and Curtis Huppe both scored.
The Bison levelled the game thanks to Volrab and Chong, only for Guildford’s David Savage to make it 3-2 at the second break.
With four minutes remaining in the game the home side tied the game again from Miller, before Moria grabbed their overtime winner.
“Winning over Guildford was just what we needed ahead of the play-off. We know that the game against Sheffield is going to be physical and we will be ready for that.
“We want to make it to Coventry and the last four as much as they do. We have worked all season to get to this point and now want to get to the final four,” said Moria.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
