TEENAGE netminder Oscar Minton unexpectedly stepped off the bench for his Basingstoke Bison debut after import goalie Max Wright was injured, following a heavy collision in the goal crease last Saturday.


The 16-year old former Bison junior  goalie took over at 37:24 and received a superb reception from the Herd fans as he skated to the net to face the Hull Seahawks who already led 3-1 in the contest.


Minton was soon called into action to make a save from Emil Svec.


In the final period, the Basingstoke-based netminder was certainly the busier of the two goalies and Hull imports Svec and Owen Sobchak tested the young goalie early on.


Owen Bruton and Tom Stubley were next to test Minton and then Jason Hewitt pinged a shot of the pipework and Minton did really well to deny Lee Bonner with the rebound.


Hull added to their tally when Brendan Sellan gifted the puck to Bruton right by the goal and he rifled the puck home at 51:24.


The Seahawks completed the 5-1 scoreline a few minutes later as Svec surged down the left wing, beat the final defenceman and fired home.


Earlier in the contest, Hull took the lead at 7:41, after man of the match Bobby Chamberlain found Svec in the left corner and he scored with a shot which went in off the helmet of Wright.


The visitors doubled their advantage as Chamberlain again provided the pass this time to Johnny Corneil and he squeezed between two D men to net.


The Seahawks took less than two minutes of the second period to extend their lead to 3-0 as Chamberlain converted a rebound from Svec’s shot.


The Bison who lacked an offensive cutting edge all night did get on the score sheet after Noah Kaariainen failed to control a deep pass sent in by Luke Spadafora and Bison captain George Norcliffe was able to take full advantage and fire home.


After this, Hull added two more goals to complete the victory.  Minton deservedly was awarded the Bison man of the match.


The following night, teenager Minton made his first ever start for the Bison in Sheffield against the Steeldogs who are the leading goal scorers in the league.


The young goalie gave a good account of himself and it took the home side until the final minute of the first period to beat him as man of the match Ivan Bjorkly Nordstrom netted close in after a slick passing move.


Minton had denied the big forward earlier in the session with a superb out stretched leg pad save.


The Herd equalised early in the second session as Will Stead scored at the post after he was found by Evan Nauth following a pass from man of the match Brendan Sellan.


The Steeldogs replied with two clinical top corner strikes from Bjorkly Nordstrom and Jonathan Phillips which made it 3-1 at the second break.


Sheffield dominated the final 20 minutes as Minton nearly faced a shot a minute.


Bair Gendunov with some nice stick work netted just 66 seconds into the period, before Phillips then added his second of the night.


Liam Steele scored goal number six, which unfortunately for Minton came off his back skate, before Joonas Larinmaa completed the scoring.


There was still time for one last great save from Minton in the dying seconds as he denied Andras Kehl at close range.


The Bison had started their triple header weekend last Friday with a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to the Telford Tigers.


In the first period the closest anyone came to scoring was when Telford’s Patrick Brown’s shot hit the crossbar late on during a powerplay.


The Tigers broke the deadlock at 24:40 as Harry Ferguson fed David Thomson who made no mistake with the finish past Max Wright.


The Herd hit back and after going close on their first powerplay of the middle session, they equalised on the next.


Tom Relf found Spadafora and his pass to the back post was converted by man of the match Sellan.


The final period saw Telford man of the match Ben Norton come up with two big saves to keep the scoreline level.


The first saw Sellan denied at the back post after a lovely passing move involving Spadafora and the lively Ollie Hemmings-Maher.


The second came on a late powerplay as Norcliffe looked set to score from close range.


With no goals in the final 20 minutes and also in a tense overtime session the game went to penalty shots.


Telford were first to shoot and Scott McKenzie slotted through the five hole.


The Bison’s Sellan saw his effort saved and then Brynley Capps shot came back off the post.


Spadafora was the next Herd shooter but it was saved.


Telford’s Harry Ferguson could now win the game for the visitors, but Wright saved.


So it was left to Zack Milton who needed to score to send the shoot-out into sudden death, but once again Norton came up with the save to earn his side the extra point.   


The Bison this weekend face the Sheffield Steeldogs again this time on home ice on Saturday (6.30pm), before a trip on Sunday night (6pm) to the Telford Tigers.