BASINGSTOKE,U.K- A week can be a long time in any sport, but for the Basingstoke Bison in the space of seven days the teams fought back fears of folding to hit the ice for their season opener against the Coventry Blaze.
The Herd may have not been the complete package due to visa and work permits keeping some of their star players on the other side of the Atlantic, but to the Bison faithful that did not matter as their team were on the ice.
The problem for the Bison all started when the low cost transatlantic airline Zoom sponsors of the players flights went bust and in turn another sponsor pulled out thinking that the Bison would not have a team.
It then became a race again time to shore up the finances, with owner Tomas Enerston who saved the Bison last November needing £30,000 to put his team back on a stable footing.
That plea went out on the Thursday and two days later supporters from right across the country had raised £10,000 and then at an emergency meeting on that night a further £9,000 was added to the total in two hours.
The future did not look so bleak, with only six days to go to the scheduled start of the season.
The rescue package was completed by a knight in shining armour called Matt Burge owner of the Cardiff Devils – one of the Bison’s Elite League rivals. He put in a five figure sum to make sure that Basingstoke’s great rivalry with his own Devils team would continue.
“I am delighted to be able to help the Bison as without them the impact on the Elite League would have been severe, I have met with Tomas and feel the team is going in the right direction.
“I really love the sport of ice hockey and being involved with Cardiff. In the past my club has gone through some tough times and Basingstoke have helped out. So this is our chance to help them out,” said Devils owner Burge said.
“I would like to thank every single person for what has be done to keep this club alive and look forward to an exciting season,” commented Basingstoke owner Enerston.
Despite tickets only going on sale two days before the opening game, the net result was a great crowd of over a thousand to witness the Bison’s opening game against the Coventry Blaze in the Challenge Cup. A depleted Herd minus five of their 11 imports put up a spirited show before going down 4-2.
“It is fantastic to be playing and it was a fantastic game, especially considering we did not have our whole team, t he attendance tonight was great and in those terms, it is one
Bison enforcer Jeremy Cornish (Photo by Mark Tredgold)
Bison Player-coach Ryan Aldridge was also delighted to see his players on the ice. “Whenever we need help the fans dig deep they help us out, we have got the best fans not just in British hockey but possibly world-wide,” Aldridge said “It’s a great crowd for an opening night and might even be a record If we can have this sort of attendance regularly, it will be a big help,”
Aldridge continued. “It’s great to be out there and playing, I have gone from being a grumpy man to a happy man now we are back on the ice It’s great to have everything sorted.”
At the forefront of the campaign to save the Bison were the Supporters Club and it problems came like a bolt out of the blue for them as hey looked to get ready for the new season. Then suddenly that looked like it was not going to happen.
Chairman of the supporters club Stewart Little spoke of his relief at seeing the club survive. “It was very worrying and the situation looked bleak If we had not raised that money we would not have been on the ice tonight, just to see the guys out there is brilliant,” Little said
“It just goes to show what type of people ice hockey fans are, we have had fantastic help from all over the Elite League and I would like to say a big thanks to everyone.”
During all this turmoil the Bison found out one of their imports Austin Sutter had decided to stay in Texas and re-sign for Amarillo Gorillas, leaving Bison boss Aldridge hunting for two forwards not just the one centre for his top line. Contact the author at Graham.merry@prohockeynews.com
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