BASINGSTOKE, UK- Derby day battles are coming thick and fast for the Basingstoke Bison currently.
Hot on the heels of a double-header encounter with the Slough, next up are matches against the Guildford Flames at home and then Bracknell Bees away.
Having shot down the Jets last weekend with a cup series win of three points to one, the Herd will be keen to repeat the same feat against the Flames on Saturday.
Guildford currently boost a nine game unbeaten start to the season, but a Bison victory over their Surrey rivals would put them in a great position to make the final four of the EPL Cup – which this missed out on last year.
All three league encounters last season were won by a single goal with Guildford winning the first two. Then of course come play-off time the Flames produced a red-hot performance as they crushed the Bison in Hampshire 6-0.
So far in this season’s league and cup campaign these sides have met just once in Guildford, where the home side won in overtime after a great performance from their goalie Miroslav Hala who made 47 saves on the night.
The Slovak will again be a key player again this Saturday, while his opposite number Tom Annetts is also in fine form after giving up just three goals to the very explosive Slough offense last weekend.
“Guildford have a strong team and have made a great start to the season. I felt we were the better team last time and their goalie was the man-of-the-match.
“Once again we are going to have to play smart and take our chances and hopefully this time come away with the win,” said Basingstoke player/coach Steve Moria.
Defenseman Sam Oakford is expected to return to the line-up after missing the last two games. He was suffering from slight concussion.
On Sunday night, the Bison travel to Bracknell who have so far posted just two wins from 10 starts.
However, being another derby game the Bees will be keen to sting the Bison a feat they failed to do last season, but did manage in a challenge last month.
The scoring kings Jaroslav Cesky and Michal Pinc will once again be the dangermen for the Berkshire side, but this match could well be the chance for the Basingstoke all Brit line of Andrew Hemmings, Chris Wiggins and Tony Redmond to shine again as they did against Telford.
“We have to make sure we are ready for the game. If we are not then they will beat us as happened last time. These are games we need to win if we are going to make the cup semi-finals.”
A four point weekend over Guildford and Bracknell you would think will give the Herd one foot in the final four with only double header weekend’s against Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Swindon to finish the group stage of the competition.
However, last year the Herd had an even better start to the campaign and then it all fell away in an injury ridden November.
Confidence is high in the camp after last weekend’s great success over Slough.
There was nothing really between these sides in both games with a lot of the players on show having donned jerseys for both clubs, adding extra spice to the encounter.
The first game played in the Bison barn finished with the visitors winning it after penalty-shots.
The match having finished 2-2 after Moria and Mindy Kieras scored for the Herd, while Darius Pliskauskas and Sheppard replied for the Jets.
That left r the game to be decided on penalty shots. Basingstoke went first and Lauko saw his effort saved by Gregg Rockman.
Next up was Slough’s Slava Koulikov shooting in place Jan Krajicek who was injured near the end of overtime.
The former Bison forward went out wide on the right, before skating in at an angle and scoring.
Moria replied for the home side with a great finish and then Sheppard tried to score on the back hand but his shot went over the bar.
Long scorer of a penalty shot in the win over Peterborough last month, tried again to stick handle his way to the net, but the puck bobbled at the wrong time and he failed to get a good shot away.
So it was left to Dan Davies to slot home win the game for the Jets as he also skated out to the right.
“Two of our shooters suffered from having the puck bobble. That makes you panic and from there you are just thinking I must got the shot on net. I think there is enough time before the shoot-out for the Zamboni to cut one strip straight down the centre of the ice that is what I would like to see,” said Moria.
The following night Basingstoke gained quick revenge at the Hangar with a come from behind 2-1 victory with the winner coming in the final two minutes.
The home side opened the scoring in the final period, thanks to a trio of former Bison players as Sheppard scored assisted by Shaun Thompson and Joe Greener.
The second session, saw both teams draw a blank and then for the final 20 minutes Moria swapped around the centreman on his top two lines.
That meant Moria linked up with Brits Ollie Bronnimann and Nicky Chinn, which soon paid dividends as Bronnimann scored.
It was left to the other top line of Ondrej Lauko, Victor Kubenko and Ciaran Long to combine for the game winner as Lauko netted from a tight angle.
“Changing things up can sometime make things happen and that proved to be the case in this game. I am delighted we got the three points as that has really helped our chances in the cup,” said Moria
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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