BASINGSTOKE,U.K-The short staffed Basingstoke Bison continue to upset the form book in recent weeks, as both big guns Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers were beaten in the Bison barn.
The Herd ship looked to be sinking about six weeks ago, but is now back on an even keel. However, the cub are finding it hard to recruit the missing four import spots on their roster.
The inclusion of a few more bodies would surely make the Bison chances of a qualifying for the play-offs a certainty and they might even cause a few upsets once they got there.
The first of the two great recent wins for the club came in the Challenge Cup as the Panthers travelled to Basingstoke looking to book a semi-final place. That objective looked very much on track as they led 3-0 at the first buzzer.
However, the Bison hit back to tie the game just five minutes into the middle session and went on to win the game 5-3, which knocked the big cats from Nottingham out of the competition and kept alive the Herd’s hopes of a first ever final four place in the competition.
The victory was even sweeter for British star and Nottingham native Warren Tait as on his debut for the Bison he scored against his home town team. That was the second time this season he had achieved that feat, as earlier in the campaign he iced for the first time for Newcastle Vipers and again found the net against the Panthers.
A week later and back in the Elite League, the leaders Sheffield Steelers were in town, which meant an emotional return for former fans favourite and Bison captain Brad Cruikshank. His three and a bit season at the Herd were honoured with a presentation before the game.
Once again the Bison found themselves behind the eight ball losing 3-1 and with a roster of just 10 out skaters with forward Shaun Thompson moved back to the blue line.
The Herd fought their way back into the contest with Danny Stewart’s shorthanded marker tied the game. Overtime failed to split the teams so the game went to a penalty shoot-out – which proved to be the longest in Basingstoke history.
The game being won on shot number 18 from Greg Chambers, after team mate Brent Hughes had earlier twice scored.
“This is another victory which shows the true character of this team and this will stop saying teams just have a bad night when they come to victory,” Bison player-coach Eric Braff said.
One man in the thick of the action all night and especially in the penalty shoot-out was Kevin Reiter. The Pittsburgh-born netminder voted the top IHL goalie of last year was beaten just twice in 18 shots.
“The shoot-out was difficult as I have never played against any of those guys and you just did not know what they were going to do, I had to just stay focussed and it was great to get the win,” Reiter said
Twice a scorer in the shoot-out Toronto native Brent Hughes who also scored the winner in the Bison’s previous penalty shot win. He admitted it became more difficult as the shoot-out went into its third round of shots for the three shooters.
“You have a favourite move which you look to execute on the first one, but after that you want to keep the goalie guessing and for sure it is not so easy to score when you try something different, ” Hughes said.
The Bison have another big weekend coming up with back-to-back games with Hull Stingrays both in the league and Challenge Cup. Anything other than a defeat by three or more goals in the Cup would book them their first semi-final place. Contact the author at Graham.merry@prohockeynews.com
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