BASINGSTOKE, UK – The Bison stampede is gathering momentum week by week as once again the Herd enjoyed a four point weekend with victories in two local derby games.
Having ended the Guildford Flames red hot streak of 10 straight wins on Saturday night on home ice with a 4-3 success, on Sunday, the Bison made their first trip to the Hive in over two months and skated away to a 5-2 victory over the Bracknell Bees.
The visitors were never ahead in the contest where the first was an even affair which ended 2-2.
The Bison scored through Ollie Bronnimann – the British forward had a superb five point weekend- and Joe Ciccarello, only for Czech mates Michal Pinc and Jaroslav Cesky to cancel them out.
After that Basingstoke dominated the game as man-of-the-match Ondrej Lauko and Tony Redmond on the powerplay made it 4-2 at the second break, which also saw Steve Moria score just as the buzzer sounded.
The game as a contest was killed off at 43:12 as Lauko struck again.
After the team’s success against Guildford it was important that the Bison won against the Bracknell who are below them in the standings.
“The victory over Guildford was probably one of our best wins of the season, but it would have counted for nothing if we had then gone and lost in Bracknell. There I felt we controlled the game in the last two periods after no playing so well in the first. It was important win as it keeps our little run going, “ said Bison player-coach Moria
The previous night, the Bison won for the first time this season on home ice against Guildford having lost the last two games by a single goal and in a controversial penalty shoot-out.
The Basingstoke game winner was ironically engineered by two former Guildford players as Bronnimann set up the chance for Andy Hemmings to sweep the puck home.
“I enjoyed scoring the game winner and it was a great pass from Ollie and both of us being ex-Guildford players made it that little bit special,” said game winning scorer Hemmings
The game itself saw Guildford decide to rest recent import signing Adrian Saul meaning fellow Canadian Nathan Rempel returned from injury.
The Surrey side opened the scoring as Martin Masa finished a nice counter attack, but the Bison were level by the first buzzer as Moria found the unmarked Lauko. The Slovak leaving the Basingstoke-born and former Bison netminder Dean Skinns no chance.
The visitors were then given a powerplay, but continued their awful record against the Herd, as they failed to score making it just one success in 31 attempts this season against the Basingstoke PK.
The Bison then took the lead at 31:28 as Ciccarello was allowed to skate around the Flames end zone and off loaded for Mindy Kieras to drill the puck home.
The lead was short lived as Guildford equalized 37 seconds later thanks to nice wrist shot from Lukas Smital. The Bison then showed how to score on the powerplay as Moria netted from close range on their first PP of the game.
The home side extended the advantage to 4-2 as Hemmings grabbed the goal of the game and despite Masa scoring five minutes from time it was not enough.
It was a true battling performance from the first drop of the puck and no more typified by man-of-the-match Tom Long.
“The boys worked really hard tonight. Guildford are a fast skating team so it made for a very quick game which I like and I felt we deserved the win,” said Long.
This weekend the Bison, with seven wins from their last eight starts, will look to keep the run going as they entertain the Sheffield Scimitars on home ice in the first meeting between the clubs in two months.
That will not be easy against the most hard working outfit in the league and then on Sunday the Bison make the trip to leaders Milton Keynes Lightning, looking to end their winless record against the current league top dogs.
Contact Graham.Merry@prohockeynews.com
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