BASINGSTOKE UK: The Bison maintained their perfect start to their South One campaign, despite having top British scorer Ivan Antonov, Grant Rounding, Sam Brooks and Stuart Mogg all out of their line-up for a double header encounter with the Cardiff Fire.
The first game was on home ice and saw the Herd come out 5-1 winners, as Jordan Lawday between the pipes for the Fire made 47 saves.
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The cageman is a Basingstoke-born goalie and had trained with Bison, before heading state side to play for the Soo Indians.
He certainly kept the score out of double figures. Man of the match Tomas Karpov led the Bison scoring with hat-trick, while Ryan Sutton continued his scoring streak and Dan Davies back in the line-up from injury completed the scoring.
The game also saw the debut of teenager Oscar Evans, another product of the Basingstoke junior programme, and he did everthing but score on his first outing forthe Herd.
The following night, the Bison recorded their biggest win of the campaign with a 12-2 success in Wales.
Hallam Wilson and Kurt Reynolds scored their first markers of the season and Lawday lasted just one period having given up five goals from 15 shots.
Once again, Kaprov led the scoring with a hat-trick, while Wilson and captain Aaron Connolly both bagged braces and there were single markers for Reynolds, Dan Scott, Josh Smith, Sutton and Davies. Roman Malinik returned three helpers and Elliott Dewey got two, as every out skater except for Joe Baird picked up a point.
“We could not ask for anything more from the weekend. Four points and plenty of goals. It was nice to see Dan Davies back in the line-up and the young players did well,” said Bison head coach Doug Sheppard.
The only minus from the weekend, was an injury to forward Paul Petts. However, the Herd are hoping both Antonov and Rounding will be back for Saturday’s home game against the Milton Keynes Thunder.
The visitors include a number of ex-Bison players which should add some spice to the game as the Bison now third in the standings, take on the side two places below them.
Then on Sunday, the Herd will be hoping to repair some of the damage done earlier in the campaign, when they return to National Cup action, with a road trip to the Telford Tigers.
After winning their last eight games, head coach Sheppard feels his side are now playing a lot better.
“We played Telford earlier in the season and we are now a different team. So we will be good to see how far this side has come in the last month,” said Sheppard.
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