Bees stung by Bison

BASINGSTOKE, UK- This weekend saw the Basingstoke Bison start life in the English Premier League with two challenge matches against major local rivals, Bracknell Bees. These games gave the Bison fans a first glimpse of their new-look squad in action. Additionally, it gave new Bison player-coach Steve Moria a chance to tinker with possible line combinations and get his players up to scratch ahead of the start of the clubs first EPL campaign in less than a weeks time. Moria stressed beforehand the importance of these two friendly encounters when he spoke to the local press pre-game, “We need these games for fitness. Because we have a lot of new players, we need to get a feel for each other as a unit. I have made it clear to the players that I want them to play hard this weekend.” In the end Moria’s men didn’t disappoint, as the Bison bagged two wins out of two against the Berkshire outfit and further cemented their status as one of the teams to beat in the up-coming season. Saturday night saw the Herd secure a 4-2 triumph and send the 900 or so Bison fans in attendance home happy. The Herd literally controlled much of the tempo throughout the entire contest, keeping Carl Ambler in the Bracknell net extremely busy. The Bees  managed to show minor glimpses of control, mainly in the first period and on the Power-play as expected. Nothing showed the dominance the Bison had over the Bees more so than the final shot count, which read 57-17 in favour of the Bison. In fairness to the visitors they only managed to ice three D-men all game and were more or less short benched the entire course of the match against an experienced and full strength Basingstoke squad. This eventually took a toll on the less experienced Bees players, who simply ran out of gas. Newcomer Ondrej Lauko had a perfect introduction in front of the Bison faithful by netting a brace and in doing so picking up the Bison’s man-of-the-match award. The Slovak displayed the exact skill level and creativity that coach Moria said he would bring to the table. The 27-year-old is a true positive signing for Basingstoke and looks to be a real diamond in the rough. Tom Long and Ollie Bronnimann had the home sides other markers, while ex-Bison man Nicky Watt, and speedy Czech forward Jaroslav Cesky had the Bees other replies. After the game a delighted Steve Moria said, “We played with a lot of energy tonight and I was very pleased with the performance as it was our first game. Every player on the ice has made a contribution and also had a shot on goal which is good to see.” The second game of the weekend saw the Bison make the short trip up the M3 for the return clash against the Bees. Before the game faced-off, a pre-game ceremony took place in order to honour the retirement of Matt Cote’s #8 jersey. The Bracknell Bees legend played parts in over 10 seasons with the Bees and was described by Steve Moria as “A true gentleman, a great team player who was extremely dedicated to the sport and his team.” All the pre-game shenanigans must have fuelled up Claude Dumas (he himself scored a brace) and his men, as the Bees that took to the ice on Sunday’s game looked an entirely different outfit to the one who iced the day before, displaying a lot more poise on the puck, especially in the second period. In the end though it wasn’t enough as once again the team from Hampshire just showed that much more skill and quality in front of the net and left ’The Hive’ with a respectable 6-4 victory. One Bison who stood out Sunday evening was Chris Wiggins, who last year played for the Bracknell organisation. When Nicky Chinn was removed from the game less than a minute in for bad-mouthing the referee, player-coach Moria chose Wiggins to fill the void left by the Welshman. It turned out to be an inspirational move by the 48-year-old as the towering forward more than embraced the enforcer role that was given to him, constantly shutting the home sides top forwards out and proving to be a real menace for all those who confronted him. This Saturday sees the Bison’s EPL title quest officially begin when they welcome Tony Hand and rival title challengers Manchester Phoenix to Planet Ice. This game should be a real treat for the Herd fans as two of the biggest players in British Hockey history face-off respectively. It will also be both teams first ever game in the EPL flight, as just like Basingstoke, Manchester themselves made the move from the EIHL to the EPL for similar reasons. Both teams will want to get off to a solid start, so this has all the ingredients to be a truly enticing encounter. The following evening the Bison will head off to the Spectrum to renew another old rivalry against EPL top-guns, Guildford Flames who have managed to retain much of the core of last years team and at the same time added two quality imports from the Czech Republic in Martin Masa and Martin Bouz. The clubs Brit pack was also further enhanced by the signing of Nathan Rempel from the treble-winning Peterborough Phantoms and last years top-scoring Brit Gary Clarke from Milton Keynes Lightning, meaning Moria’s boys will not have it easy in any way at all next weekend. Contact the author Sandro.berish@prohockeynews.com