Exciting game for Bison

BASINGSTOKE, UK – The Basingstoke Bison welcomed back assistant coach and experienced defensemen Tony Redmond from injury last weekend, but British power forward Chris Wiggins was forced to sit out.
So to that end, the Herd were minus their customary three players again as they faced the Peterborough Phantoms at home and a road trip to the Sheffield Scimitars.
The clash with the Phantoms saw an extraordinary final two minutes in which four goals were scored and visiting netminder Stephen Wall was pulled three times.
The game had seen the Herd in control for the most part until the final minutes which proved a real grandstand finish.  
When Wall was pulled for the first time, Tom Carlon grabbed a goal to make it 5-4. However, Joe Ciccarello picked the puck off the stick of James Morgan seconds later to restore the two goal advantage.
Once again, Wall headed to the bench and with 63 seconds left and Brent Gough’s tip from Morgan’s blue line shot, saw the Bison lead narrow to one again with 31.7 seconds left.
The Phantoms went heading for a game tying goal, but with Wall again pulled it was the Herd who found the empty net as Ciccarello scored his second marker in 64 seconds to seal the win.
Earlier in the contest, the Bison had raced to a 3-0 lead thanks to Mindy Kieras’ powerplay goal, a superb breakaway shorthanded strike from Jamie Line and Tom Long.
The second period was shared 2-2 as Ollie Bronnimann and man-of-the-match Long got his second, while in reply Peterborough’s James Knight and Shaun Yardley scored.
The final session saw Maris Ziedins reduce the lead to 5-3 and then the crazy last two minutes saw the game finish with a 7-5 scoreline.

“That was a mad final two minutes which I don’t want to happen again. But for sure I was pleased we won as that was important. At the moment we have to pick up as many points as we can while we have players out of the line-up,” said Basingstoke player/coach Steve Moria.  
Sunday night saw the Bison again suffer at the hands of the Scimitars for the second time this season at Ice Sheffield, as their young guns ran out 7-2 winners.
Basingstoke’s goals came from Bronnimann and the league’s leading scorer Ondrej Lauko, but the home side domination was led by braces from James Archer and Robert Farmer, while Matt Haywood, Stephen Wallace and Tom Squires netted singles.
“We were out played and out worked in the game. So far we have failed to play a good game in Sheffield this season,” said Moria.
This weekend, the Bison face big guns Guildford at home and then Manchester away. The Flames snapped a three game losing streak last weekend, as their offensive clout clicked with a 9-2 thrashing of the Swindon Wildcats.
The Phoenix having suffered the shock result of the season losing at Romford, bounced back with a home win over Milton Keynes, so it will once again prove a tough trip for the Bison. Contact the author Graham.Merry@prohockeynews.com