BASINGSTOKE UK: The Basingstoke Bison’s pre-season series of games has give the Herd fans renewed optimism ahead of their team’s EPL campaign which starts on Saturday with a visit from the Manchester Phoenix.
The Bison saw off local rivals Bracknell Bees 6-1 and Guildford Flames 3-1 on home ice, before narrowing losing in the Flames’ barn last Sunday 3-2.
That game saw Basingstoke’s new Slovak import Victor Kubenko complete back-to-back man-of-the-match awards and he has certainly already made an impressive.
He is the only change to the Bison foreign legion replacing Canadian Joe Ciccarello and has done everything but score so far.
But that does not worry his player-coach and current linemate Steve Moria.
“He is big guy who fore checks well, back checks well and I am sure he would like score. That will come and no doubt he will then go on a streak. There is no pressure on him,” said Moria.
In his debut game against the Bees, Kubenko had half the shots that the Bison pounded on Adam Marashi net in the first period.
It was left to his countryman and last season top goal scorer Ondrej Lauko to break the deadlock, but just 36 seconds into the second period Bracknell were level thanks to Richard Facey.
Along with Ashley Calvert and James Galazzi, they were the three stand out Brits on the night for the visitors.
The Bison hit back from Lauko with a great shorthanded strike from a super long bomb pass from Carl Graham. He was on his debut for the team and went on to record an impressive +4 for the night.
Herd’s Player-coach Moria then got in on the act with a straight hat-trick as he converted rebounds from young Brits Callum Best and Daniel Lackey.
Best another new boy in the line-up certainly has a good engine on him as he linked up with Moria and Kubenko against the Bees.
Moria completed his hat-trick and then another debut boy Ciaran Long wrapped up the 6-1 scoreline.
Other summer signings, but not new to the Herd, Ricky Skene and Dean Skinns were in the line-up against Bracknell, but Skinns did not see any ice time as starting goalie Tom Annetts was between the pipes.
Before the Bison get too carried away with the victory it was against a Bracknell side minus new import defenseman Valdemar Pelikovsky, top British forward Nicky Watt and starting goalie Carl Ambler.
However, three days later the visiting Guildford Flames were unable to make the same excuse being at full strength.
They were even given a five minute powerplay when Tony Redmond purely accidental caught Lukas Smital with his stick and picked up a match penalty which saw him suspended from the following night’s fixture.
Last season, the Guildford powerplay was awful against the Herd and last weekend’s a tally of 0 from 14 showed there is still a lot of work to be done.
That said the Flames offensive looked very rusty with the killer play and play never coming off.
Despite this they still opened the scoring from Smital, on one of his final shifts of the game.
The Bison hit back to level from Lauko as he beat countryman Miro Hala the new and only import goalie in the EPL.
Sam Oakford who last season scored just once, opened his account with a low shot from the blue line to give the home side a 2-1 lead by the first buzzer.
That advantage was doubled thanks to a Moria shorthanded marker in the second session which proved the final goal of the game in a well earned 3-1 victory.
The return in Guildford 24 hours later saw Milos Melicherik in the line-up for Smital and the Herd minus the suspended Redmond.
Rob Lamey opened the scoring with a nice strike from the top of the circle, only for Sam Oakford to equalise to take his scoring streak to two games – a new record for him in a Bison shirt.
The Flames hit back to take a 3-1 lead thanks to Nathan Rempel and Martin Masa as they beat the former Flames netminder Dean Skinns, getting his first start in a Bison shirt since his summer’s switch.
The lead was cut to one by the first buzzer as Lauko continue his goal a game start to the season.
Amazingly that proved to be the final score as Skinns and Hala repelled everything that was throw at them from then.
“I think we were the better side on Saturday and deserved our win at home. On Sunday we tried to be too flashy early on and Guildford took advantage of that. Once we went back to basics. I felt once again we were he better side.
“The first three games have certainly proved very positive for us as we head into the league campaign.”
On Thursday night, The Bison complete their pre-season in Bracknell, before facing one of the favourites for the EPL crown the Manchester Phoenix on Saturday.
The following night, the Bison head to Telford for the first since March 1999, but will be unlikely to repeat the 12-1 success against a Tigers side which is sure to want to roar in front of his own fans as they return to EPL.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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