BASINGSTOKE, UK – Hot on the heels of winning their special season opener, the Oliveira 4-on-4 Challenge Cup, the Basingstoke Bison enjoyed a double success over many pundits favourites for the EPL title, the Guildford Flames. It was the ideal way to set themselves for the new league campaign which starts at home against their local rivals the Bracknell Bees on Saturday. The Herd have not opened their league campaign with a victory since 2005 which gives them a current record of 9-10-4 from first league games of the season. One of those 10 defeats came in 1993 and a 6-4 reverse when Basingstoke played Bracknell in a home season opener. This time the Herd will look to do better and complete a clean sweep over their local rivals last year on home ice. Both sides come into the contest full of confidence after double winning weekends the Bees beating their Berkshire rivals Slough Jets, while the Herd were just as impressive beating Guildford twice by the same 4-3 score line. In the opening game, goals from player/coach Steve Moria with a brace and Ollie Bronnimann and Slovak Marek Dubec on his debut gave them victory.
The following night in Basingstoke, a double from new Slovak defenseman Marcel Petran and one each for Liam Chong and Dubec saw the Herd. Czech forward Daniel Volrab had two goals washed out as he was the only Bison import who failed to score. In both games, the Bison netminders Dean Skinns in the first game and Matt Colclough in the second picked up the man-of-the-match awards. “There is a lot of excitement in the dressing room and everyone is looking forward to the season. Bracknell will be a much improved team, but we want to start our campaign off on a winning note,“ said player/coach Moria. Having seen all his new imports in action for first time last weekend, the Bison boss was pleased with what he saw of center man Volrab, winger Dubec and defenseman Petran. “Volrab is a two-way center man I was looking for. He has good vision. He plays a North American style so I think the English game will suit him.
“Petran is a strong physical player has a big shot and is just what we need back there. Dubec is our skill player, who skates well, handles the puck well and will score a lot of goals for us,” said Moria. Many had tipped the Bison who were fourth in last year’s standings to do no better this time around, but after the first two weekends of the season, many may now be rethinking where the Herd are likely to finish. “If we do not have a lot of injuries as we have in the past two years, I think we can challenge all the way. My aim this year is to win a trophy,” Moria added. On Sunday night, the Bison are on for the road for their second league outing as they face reigning champions Manchester Phoenix. This is sure to be another tough test, but is a place which has proved a happy hunting ground for the Herd in recent years. Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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