BASINGSTOKE, UK – A three point weekend sent the Bison to the summit of the EPL for the first time in their history.
Coming into the weekend the Herd were second to last season’s champions Guildford Flames.
Both sides reeled off 5-0 wins on Saturday night, the Bison beating the Milton Keynes Lightning and the Flames downing the Slough Jets.
Guildford look set to stay at the top as they led 4-0 and 5-2 over the Bracknell Bees, but their Berkshire rivals stung back winning 6-5.
Meanwhile in Milton Keynes the Bison having taken the lead thanks to a Joe Greener strike were pegged back when Lukas Zatopek equalized.
With no further scoring in the final period and overtime the game went to a shoot-out with Adam Brittle getting the winner for MK.
However, the point from taking the game to overtime was enough to send the Bison to the top of the pile.
They now can extend their lead on Wednesday night when the Swindon Wildcats travel to Basingstoke.
The ‘Cats have suffered three one goal game losses on the road so far and arrive to face a Bison team who have enjoyed back-to-back shut-outs on home ice for the first time in their history.
After a 4-0 victory over Peterborough, they followed that up with a 5-0 success over Milton Keynes as Stevie Lyle once again back stopped them to victory.
The shot stopper is in great form at the moment having given up six goals in his first 365 minutes of the season at an awesome 96 per cent save percentage.
The Welshmen who played in Basingstoke when the club were in the Elite League is certainly enjoyed his second spell in a Bison jersey.
“It is going really well at the moment, but shut-outs are a team thing and the guys in front of me are playing there part,” said Lyle.
The home win over Milton Keynes saw both Joe Greener and Joe Rand score a brace each, before Greg Owen finished off the scoring.
“I was happy with the three points from the weekend and I felt the home game was our best performance yet,” said Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard.
Canadian Rand was then forced to sit out the last period and also was a scratch in the return game at MK.
It is shame as the player was having his best game since joining the Herd from the Wightlink Raiders in the summer.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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