BASINGSTOKE, UK- The Bison’s hopes of a semi-final place in the EPL Cup looked to be fading fast as they trailed 3-1 with five minutes to go in Sunday night’s homer against the Milton Keynes Lightning.
However, the Herd who had re-shuffled their lines for the final session threw everything but the kitchen sink at the MK goal and finally got their reward as Steve Moria’s brace tied the game sending it into overtime.
Moria then did all the spade work for Ondrej Lauko to score the winner and keep the Bison stampeding towards a final four place.
Earlier in contest, the visitors had scored either side of the first break from Andre Smulter and Matt Towalski.
The Bison pulled a goal back from man-of-the-match Lauko, but a double powerplay saw Leigh Jamieson make it 3-1. A lead they were good value for, but it was all to change in the final 20 minutes as the game turned on its head.
Bison boss Moria had a hand on every goal on the night and reached another milestone in his career at Basingstoke now in its fourth season as the goal tieing strike was his 100th league goal for the club.
He is one of only eight players to reach three figures and the sixth Canadian behind Kevin Conway, Don Yewchin, Tim Salmon, Mario Belanger and Mike Ellis.
The two Brits on the list are Moria’s current team mate Tony Redmond who has 143 and Nicky Iandoli the next man the Bison player/coach should pass on 106.
The previous night in MK was very different story as the home side raced away to a 3-0 advantage as Michael Wales helped himself to a brace of powerplay goals either side of a Grant McPherson scrambled in effort.
The visitors did get the puck in the net from Lauko in the second period, but neither the goal judge or referee Dave Cloutman saw it.
The home side then finished off the job thanks to Jacob Heron and Gary Clarke.
Barry Hollyhead recorded the 38 shot shut-out as Basingstoke were blanked for the first time this season.
“The way we lost in MK was unacceptable. We has a meeting about what we could do to put it right and I was very pleased with the way the guys responded in the win on home ice.
“I thought we played well for the whole game but we just were being frustrated, hence why we changed things up in the final period. Just to get that spark we needed and it worked. Once we got it back to 3-2 I felt we could go on and win the game,” said Moria.
After the weekend’s games it still looks like a three horse race for the final two qualifying spots with fourth placed Basingstoke just a point behind Slough with both sides having three games left, while Milton Keynes are three points behind the Bison with two games in hand.
However, MK still have to meet the Slough twice and that could well be the deciding factor. This weekend, the Herd have a league only double header against EPL top dogs Manchester Phoenix.
The league leaders won both the early season encounters and will prove a tough nut to crack again this weekend, but the Bison are determined to build on their success over MK.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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