Bison enjoy four point weekend

BASINGSTOKE, UK- The Basingstoke Bison signed off 2009 in the best possible fashion with a four point weekend, their first since the middle of October.
A home victory over the Swindon Wildcats 6-1 was followed up by a road win 7-3 at the Romford Raiders. The victory at Rom Valley Way proved to be an eventful one as the Bison found themselves 3-0 down to the bottom placed side after Frankie Harvey, Dean Tonks and Dallas Costanzo had all found the net.
The Herd hit back as defenseman Tony Redmond, once again playing as a forward as Canadian import Joe Ciccarello was out of the line-up, grabbed his second goal of the weekend and his third of the campaign.
A shorthanded marker from Steve Moria reduced to the Romford lead to one by the second hooter.
Then for the second time this season Basingstoke rattled off a 5-0 final period at Romford to cruise to victory. This was thanks to strikes from Mindy Kieras, Nicky Chinn, Moria, Chris Wiggins and Redmond.
“It was a great way to finish and the four point weekend was just what we were looking for from the two games,” said player-coach Steve Moria
On the previous night, Basingstoke netminder Davey Lawrence produced a great game and limited the visiting Swindon Wildcats to one goal from Jozef Kohut. By the time the ‘Cats man scored the Herd had a 3-0 lead as Wiggins, Ondrej Lauko and Redmond.
The home side cruised to victory in the final 20 minutes as Jamie Line scored shorthanded and then Moria and Ollie Bronnimann wrapped up the scoring. 
The game saw captain Nicky Chinn back in the line-up as was defenseman Sam Oakford back from the World Championships where he won gold with Great Britain under-20s.
“We did not play as we can against Swindon and Davey (Lawrence) certainly came up some big saves for us, “ said Moria.
This weekend, the Bison not for the first time this season face a tough weekend as they entertain the Manchester Phoenix who have won the previous four encounters.
Then there is the trip to local rivals Guildford Flames who are looking to put themselves well and truly into the title race.  
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com