BASINGSTOKE, UK- Following a great four point weekend for Basingstoke Bison came news on Monday morning that British forward Andy Hemmings had been released and looks set to join the Herd’s local rivals the Guildford Flames. The 22-year-old nicknamed Hemmer was in his second season with Hampshire side and was an important part of their all Brit line. He is now set to do the same job for the Flames replacing long term injury victim Rob Lamey linking up with Ricky Plant and Stuart Potts. In 88 league games in a Bison jersey, the well liked and hard working Hemmings scored 19 times in a point total of 43. Before joining Basingstoke, he spent two seasons in Bracknell, but started his career with his home town team which is the Guildford Flames. His departure does not make life any easier for the Herd who still have Sam Oakford, Tony Redmond and Ciaran Long out injured, especially when you are about to face the top two in the standings the Manchester Phoenix and Guildford Flames this weekend. The series between the Bison and Phoenix is currently tied at 2-2 with the Herd having won the last two encounters. If they are going to win again on home ice they will have to stop the hottest scoring line in the EPL made up of Tony Hand, Curtis Huppe and Marcus Kristofferson. When last time in Basingstoke, Redmond was given the job of marking Hand out of the game which he did really well, but unfortunately the Scot will be missing from the home side’s line-up this time around. Which is great news for Hand the best player maker in the league, but not for the Herd who will be looking to play a very solid defensive game as they look to build on last Saturday’s excellent 5-2 victory over Guildford. “That was a great team performance and probably our best win of the season so far,” said Bison player/coach Steve Moria. Ollie Bronnimann led the scoring with a hat-trick his third of the campaign, while Moria and captain Nicky Chinn with a cheeky back flip completed the scoring. The most bizarre aspect of the game was that the visiting Flames ended up playing two lines and only icing four D, leaving a number of players to bench warm. They also messed around with their import quartet giving Canadian defenceman Jeremy Van Hook his debut in front of import netminder Miro Hala, while leaving the team with just two import forwards in Nathan Rempel and Martin Masa. They had two strong forward lines in which Ricky Plant was the pick of them and Rempel scored a great solo goal against the Bison all Brit line as the Herd continued to play three lines. That being the only occasion that Hemmings, Chris Wiggins and Callum Best were scored on. It has to be said it was a very strange considering that Guildford had just enjoyed their best weekend of the season so far with a double success over the leaders Manchester. ‘If It is not broke don’t fix it’ is a phrase often coined by winning coaches, but in Guildford’s case they well and truly broke it. Some praise for the Bison’s victory over the Flames should go to their man-of-the-match British netminder Dean Skinns certainly out shone his Slovak counterpart Hala. The Basingstoke-born goalie played in Guildford last season so the victory was that much sweeter for him. “It is always nice to beat Guildford and for me it was great to get win 14 of the season and get me off that unlucky 13 which I have been on for a couple of games,” said Basingstoke cageman Skinns. After that loss the Flames switched their imports for Sunday night’s clash with Slough, but lost again. This Sunday they will certainly be out for revenge against Basingstoke, but first face a trip to the in-form EPL side of the moment the Milton Keynes Lightning. A third defeat on the trot will add even more pressure on the home side as the Bison come to town. As well as victory on Saturday night which ended a three game losing streak, the Bison also won on the road in Telford the following evening.
However, they did not have it all their own way as the Tigers roared into a 3-1 lead at the first buzzer as defenceman Kurt Reynolds scored the visitor’s opening goal. Further strikes from Mindy Kieras and the club’s leading scorer Viktor Kubenko tied the game going into the final 20 minutes. The hat-trick hero from the night before Bronnimann grabbed the game winner to take the British forward’s Bison’s league goal tally to 49. “Telford are a hard working team and deserved their lead at the first break, but I felt we controlled the game for the final two periods,” said Moria. Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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