BASINGSTOKE, UK: Bison netminder Dean Skinns will set another new record this weekend when he becomes the first Basingstoke goalie to reach 10,000 league minutes in goal for the Herd.
Ironically it will be against one of his former teams the Swindon Wildcats with whom he shut the Bison out with three seasons ago.
For the past two seasons, Skinns has played every minute of every league game and this seems to keep him at his sharpest.
He made his debut in 2001 as a back-up to Stephen Foster and had a baptism of fire in game the Bison had to win in Slough to progress in the Findus Challenge Cup.
Foster was taken ill after tow periods with the score at 2-0 and the 16-year-old as he was then came off the bench and completed the shut-out.
Earlier, this season he equaled the club record for seven shut-outs when he blanked the Bracknell Bees.
“It is great to reach another milestone for my home town team and it is a very important game for us,” said Skinns.
At the moment the Basingstoke are locked in battle with Swindon for third place in the EPL and the sides clash twice in the space of eight days.
With the series locked at 2-2 and only three points between the teams, there is everything to play for.
The Wildcats have won the last two encounters when they iced four import forwards and no doubt Wildcats head coach Ryan Aldridge will be keen to do this again on Saturday, but will have to wait on the fitness of defenseman Shane Moore, before he makes his final decision.
The Bison will still have Tomas Karpov, Matt Selby and Brendan Baird out for the game, but last weekend welcomed back Grant Rounding and Aaron Connolly.
It was Rounding’s first game of 2015 after a leg injury had left him sidelined and he had a dream return to action as he scored the winning penalty shot in a shoot-out win over Guildford.
Connolly who had missed one weekend helped himself to a brace of goals on his return to the Bison line-up in the 5-4 win.
After Saturday’s game against Swindon, the Bison face a road game away at local rivals the Bracknell Bees at the Hive.
The Bees are sure to be up for the game and will out to repeat their win over the Herd in the opening game of the season in Bracknell.
A four point weekend for the Bison will go a long way in making sure they finished in third sport.
“It is another big weekend for us and we know both games are going to be tough, but we have to make sure we out work our opponents on both nights, ” said Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.
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