BASINGSTOKE UK: The Bison have completed their skater line-up for the forthcoming season with the re-signing of thee more players and the addition of one new face.
The three returnees are Miroslav Vantroba, Shaun Thompson and Matt Towalski, with Lewis Turner being the brand new member of the Herd.
Slovak defenseman Vantroba will suit up for a fourth season for the Bison, having not played for any other team in Britain.
The 37-year-old who was used in the first two seasons to quarterback the powerplay unit, hence why last season he only scored three times in a 25 points haul.
However, it does take his tally past 100 points for the club and Spisska Nova Ves native is he final import to re-sign for the Bison’.
Top British defensive forward Thompson is back for another season and last year scored 14 times and collected 39 points in all games.
He is excellent player on the PK and certainly played an important part early on in the season with some important goals. He was used more in his capacity to stop players scoring later on in the campaign.
Veteran Towalski, who joined the Herd last Christmas, will suit for a full campaign with the club this time around and brings their number of forwards to 12.
Towalski who has played over 600 games in the EPL scored four times for the Bison last season. His addition gives the Herd their best set of forwards since joining the EPL.
New to Basingstoke is Bracknell Bees’ top British defenceman from last season Turner. The 23-year-old has played all his senior hockey in Bracknell and the stay at home blue liner picked up nine assists last term.
He brings the defense up to six players and all them can play at this level.
“I am very excited with the team with the team I have put together. We have plenty of depth in defense with the core guys all returning. This is the same with the forwards, and with six guys who can play centre, we are very deep down the middle.
“We want to retain our league title and this team will give us every chance of doing this,” said Bison head coach Doug Sheppard.
There is only a British back-up goalie to sign to complete the roster.
After four pre-season challenge games split between Swindon and Guildford, the Bison start their league defense on home ice against the Telford Tigers, the previous year’s champions
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