BASINGSTOKE, UK – The second weekend of the English Premier League campaign proved to be a mixed one for the Bison as they beat the Sheffield Steeldogs 3-2 on home ice and then lost at the Hive 7-3 to the Bracknell Bees.
The victory over the ‘Dogs the early season leaders was a hard fought physical affair. The visitors took the first period 1-0 thanks to a goal from their player/coach Andre Payette at 7:34.
The Bison reshuffled their top two lines and that paid dividends as Steve Moria equalised and then Bison’s man-of-the-match Slovakian defenseman Marcel Petran scored with a blue line bullet.
However, the lead was short lived as Sheffield star forward Janis Ozolins levelled the game going into the final period. It was left to the Bison’s leading scorer Joe Miller to net the game winner at 46:53.
“We created a lot of offence in this game with 60 shots and I felt we were the better team and deserved the win,” said Bison player/coach Moria.
The following night, the Herd were beaten by the Bracknell Bees which for the Herd was only their second league defeat against their oldest local rivals since they have joined the EPL.
However, the evening started well for the Bison as Moria scored after 61 seconds and then Daniel Volrab made it 2-0 inside the first four minutes.
The visitors then saw Chris Wiggins dismissed on match penalty for roughing after an altercation with Scott Spearing, following a slash on Moria as referee Blaine Evans let a lot of stick work go unpunished.
This gave the Bees the upper hand and they buzzed back as Peter Jasik and Martin Masa levelled the match 2-2 at the first break.
After the interval, Bracknell’s Lukas Smital and Matt Foord put Bracknell 4-2 up, before Miller netted his fifth in four games to keep the Herd in the contest at the second buzzer.
However, in the final period the Bison’s chance suffered a blow when the lynchpin of their defence Petran was forced out of the contest with a leg injury sustained in the first period.
From there the Bees skated away to a comfortable victory as Masa netted his second and then Bracknell’s man-of-the-match Rob Lamey scored a brace.
“They out worked us it was as simple as that, “ said Moria
The Herd will look to bounce back this weekend when they entertain another local rival in the Slough Jets. T hey are now coached by Doug Sheppard who is a former Bison player/coach and in fact guided them to their best ever finish in the Elite League.
He was one of six players in the Slough line-up that have worn Basingstoke jerseys over the years. Most recently was import Mindy Kieras who made the switch to the Jets during the summer.
The other four players are the Greener brothers Joe and Adam, Ryan Watt and Mark Galazzi.
Basingstoke will be without Chris Wiggins as he sits out a one game suspension after picking up a match penalty against Bracknell.
However, Petran is fit to play as is fellow defenseman Kurt Reynolds who only had a few shifts last weekend.
Then on Sunday night, the Bison travel to Ice Sheffield which has not been a happy hunting ground for the team to face the Steeldogs.
They are sure to be looking for revenge after the defeat in Basingstoke last Saturday.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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