BASINGSTOKE, UK – Basingstoke Bison continued their clean sweep so far over their local rivals the Bracknell Bees thanks to an 8-5 victory.
However, the Herd did not have it all their own way as Bees hot shot import forward Jaroslav Cesky grabbed a first period hat-trick, this after the home side had opened the scoring on the powerplay thanks to Mindy Kieras.
An early powerplay in the second period proved to be the turning point in the game, as Steve Moria scored and from there the Bison stampeded to a 6-3 lead. Adam Marashi in the Bees net faced 22 shots in the onslaught with Chris Wiggins superb strike tying the scores. Ollie Bronnimann, Joe Ciccarello and Wiggins again put them in the driving seat for what looked to be a comfortable win.
However, the Bees are a changed side from the one that slumped to a 12-0 defeat in their first league encounter in Basingstoke and Andrius Kaminskas, with only their second shot of session, narrowed the advantage by the second hooter.
Having been swarmed in the middle period, the Bees held their own in the final 20 minutes and former Basingstoke player Nicky Watt got them right back in the game six minutes in. Cesky then looked to have tied the game, but referee Blaine Evans washed it out as the net was off the moorings.
Bison netminder Davey Lawrence who had been a spectator for most of the second period, then produced the save of the game to deny Watt from close range. It proved to be a massive stop, as seconds later Bronnimann grabbed his second of the game and Moria did likewise soon after to seal the victory.
Bison captain Nicky Chinn could not buy a goal on the night, hitting the post and crossbar in two different offensive rushes to the net in the space of a minute, but was happy to see his side win without him having to light the lamp.
“That was a big win for us tonight as they are an improving team and did well to comeback after the first period. My luck was just not there tonight in front of goal ,” said Chinn.
The second session saw the Bison reshuffle their forward lines with the Chinn, Bronnimann and Ondrej Lauko line reunited. A unit which had done so much damage for the Bison in the opening weeks of the season.
“Sometimes you have to mix things up especially if you are losing. We were on fire as a line early on this season. Changing things around often freshens things up and lets hope that this game will start that happening again.”
The Bison will now focus on the Milton Keynes Lightning who they play twice in the space of three days. First in a Planet Ice Shield encounter on Thursday night at the Basingstoke, followed by a road trip in a league and Premier Cup tie on Saturday. With Guildford defeat in Manchester last weekend, the Herd can still make the semi-finals, but need to win on their first visit to Milton Keynes this season.
One Bison player looking forward to the trip is Jamie Line who lives in the Buckinghamshire town, so for him it will be the shortest road trip of the season, while the rest of the team travel from Hampshire. Contact graham.merry@prohockeynews.com
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