Weekend Review 27th 28th December

THE Basingstoke Bison made it three wins on the trot, as they beat the Romford Raiders 3-2 in front of a full house last Saturday.

The Herd welcomed back to their line-up import defenceman Zach Shankar, but were minus British forwards captain George Norcliffe and Evan Nauth, as well as Canadian netminder Max Wright.

Therefore, teenager Ben Clarke-Leach continued in goal, while one of the Bison’s favourite sons Dean Skinns, returned as back-up.

The Herd dominated from the start and so it was no surprise when they took the lead after just 99 seconds.

Good work from man of the match Tom Relf saw him find Adam Harding and he scored with a shot which went in off the Romford netminder Cole Ceci.

Luke Spadafora nearly doubled the lead soon after, but was denied by a great save.

However, the Bison did make it 2-0 at 7:52 as Alex Sampford found Brendan Sellan and his pass from behind the net, was met by the on rushing Relf who fired home for his sixth goal of the season, which is a career high for the defenceman.

At this point the Raiders called a time out and forced their way back to contest, as a nice move saw Tjay Anderson set-up Shaun Miller and he made no mistake as the first period finished 2-1.

The second period saw Romford’s Ewan Hill hit the post, before the Bison increased their lead, as Spadafora won the puck at the blue line and set-up Sellan to score.

As the period came to a close Reece Cochrane picked up four minutes for high sticks.

The Raiders went close on the powerplay from Jarrett Baker, before Sellan robbed the same player and skated in alone, but Ceci came up with a great save to deny him a shorthanded strike.

So the Bison started the final session with a three minute penalty kill which they did successfully.

Romford then made it 3-2, thanks to a lovely finish from Baker from just inside the blue line at 47:12.

After this the Bison had the better chances both Sampford and Spadafora went close on the same shift, before Shankar nearly capped his return with a goal after a great pass from Sellan.

With just over five minutes left, Bison’s Adam Harding took exception to a hit from Brandon Ayliffe and traded punches which earned both five minutes for fighting.

With just under two minutes left, the Herd’s Ollie Hemmings-Maher picked off a cross ice pass and nearly capped a great performance with a goal, but Ceci made the save.

With 40 seconds left in the game, the Raiders pulled their netminder, but were unable to force an equaliser as the Herd held for a deserved 3-2 victory.

On Sunday night in Romford, the Bison had the better of the first period thanks to three powerplays, but fell behind 44 seconds into the middle session as Jake Sylvester struck.

The Herd levelled things up as Adam Harding hit the roof of the net from a nice pass from Zack Milton.

Bison man of the match Clarke-Leach then saved two shorthanded breakaway chances from Ayliffe and Austin Osborn. However, it was third time lucky for the Raiders as Anderson shorthanded, netted in the final minute of the period.

On the same powerplay, it looked like Sellan had equalised, but his effort went in as the buzzer sounded. The forward was then crushed into boards which earned Elliott Dewey a five minute boarding penalty.

The Herd made the most of the extra man as they equalised again 66 seconds into the final period, as Harding found Reece Cochrane and he scored his first ever Bison goal from the blue line.

After this both sides traded chances until Romford man of the match Baker fired home at 50:44.

This goal was not without a hint of controversy as Bison netminder Clarke-Leach was laid flat out in the goal crease after being knocked over by Adam Laishram, who had been cross checked by Cochrane.

After a long discussion there was nothing the Bison’s Stuart Mogg or head coach Jeff Flanagan could say to change the officials’ minds.

The Herd’s hopes were then dashed with just over five minutes remaining when Hemmings-Maher received a five plus game for boarding.

The Raiders took advantage of the extra man to seal the win as a nice move on the powerplay, saw Sylvester net his second of the game at 56:05.  

Next up for Basingstoke is a trip to the Swindon Wildcats on New Year’s Day (4pm).

Then on Saturday (6.30pm) they are at home to the Peterborough Phantoms before the following day travelling north to face the Leeds Knights in a game which starts at 5.15pm.