BASINGSTOKE UK: The Basingstoke Bison retired only the second jersey in the club’s history on Saturday night and that honour went to their founding father Don Yewchin. The Canadian sharp shooter second in the all-time Basingstoke scoring list with 302 goals from 90 games flew in especially for the evening with his wife Anita. He may have only spent three years with the club, but the foundations he laid have since held the Basingstoke club in good stead. His number 12 jersey then proved the inspiration for the current Basingstoke Bison played as they knocked in 12 without reply against their local rivals the Bracknell Bees. That was the club’s biggest home success since January 2002, when they beat the Cardiff Devils 18-0 in the old British National League.
Ollie Bronnimann led the Bison scoring stampede with a hat-trick, while fellow Brit pack member Andrew Hemmings grabbed a brace for his first goals of the season.
“I am really pleased to finally score. I think it is something that has been playing on my mind. So for sure it is great relief to get that off my back and I could have had a hat-trick tonight, ” said Hemmings
The other Bison goal getters against Bracknell were Joe Ciccarello, Steve Moria, Nicky Chinn, Tom Long, Chris Wiggins, Mindy Kieras with his first league goal and Ondrej Lauko. It was Lauko’s goal after 35 seconds that gave the Bison the best possible start.
“I think we just built on Lauko’s early goal and got better and better as the game went on. All the guys were focussed and I knew we would come out strong. I didn’t expect to score 12 goals, but it was fitting in a kind of a way being Don’s number,” said player/coach Steve Moria.
Netminder Davey Lawrence also enjoyed a good night as he turned away all 25 shots he faced for a shut-out – the club’s first in over a season. Defenseman Kurt Reynolds also had a great night returning an unbelievable plus nine for his evening’s work.
The game also saw the return of Jamie Line to the ice after missing the most of the early campaign due to a face injury. He had expected to use only sparingly, but an injury to Scott Spearing saw him slot on to the Herd’s all British forward line alongside Andrew Hemmings and Tom Long early in the game.
On Sunday, The Herd travelled to Slough Jets for what on looked a very difficult trip. Added extra spice to the game was that four of last season’s Jets Moria, Chinn, Ciccarello and Tony Redmond were in the Bison line-up. A fifth ex-Jet Scott Spearing was able to play due to a knee injury picked up the night before and then in the second period in Slough, Redmond was also forced out of the game after falling awkwardly.
In a close contest, the scores were tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes, with Bison’s Bronnimann netting both for a five goal weekend. In reply Carl Thompson and James Knight found a way pass Tom Annetts. The netminder picked up an assist on the next Bison goal to mean every player now has at least a point this season, a Lawrence grabbed a brace of helpers the night before. That was scored by Lauko, who continued his goal scoring streak and just 75 seconds later, the Bison had added two more goals from Moria and Line with his first goal since returning from injury.
Ollie Bronnimann
The victory made it a magnificent seventh on the trot for the Herd and makes them joint top in the English Premier League with Manchester and Milton Keynes. The Bison now look forward to another testing weekend as they entertain Guildford on Saturday, before the trip north to Manchester on Sunday.
Contact the author graham.merry@prohockeynews.com
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