Images (c) Jo Loat
Final score: Basingstoke Bison 1-2 Peterborough Phantoms (League)
By Matthew Church
Saturday 17th December 2022
Refs: Korsaks and Solovjovs – Linos: MacPhee and Sitch-Cunningham
For the final time before Christmas, the GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison took to home ice as they welcomed the Peterborough Phantoms to town.
Games between the two teams are usually closely-fought affairs, which see the tactical skills of both sets of coaches tested to the limit and tonight was no different. The early pressure came from the visitors, who were full of confidence due to their 2nd place in the league standings, as they sent waves of attack towards the Bison net. Thankfully, the Herd held firm and as the first period approached the halfway point, they switched the momentum in their favour and began to test Jordan Marr in the Phantoms net with Zac Milton and George Norcliffe narrowly missing the target.
Failure to convert that pressure into a goal was soon punished by the away side as they opened the scoring on the powerplay at 15:36, when a face-off win was passed back to Ales Padelek (assisted by Buglass and Speirs) who moved into space by the right circle and fired home with precision for a 0-1 lead. The Bison pushed hard to find the equaliser before the first period break but were unable to do so, leaving them trailing after 20 minutes.
Knowing that a quick start was required in the middle frame, the Herd were left shell shocked as the visitors moved two goals in front, less than two minutes into the period. Duncan Speirs (Padelek, Bowering) took advantage of disorder within the defensive zone to slot home from close range at 21:49 and give the Phantoms a 0-2 lead, much to the frustration of the home crowd.
As the game neared the halfway stage, the Bison finally opened their scoring for the night and it was unquestionably worth the wait. A 2-on-1 break saw Jay King surge forward with the puck down the left wing before sending a sublime saucer pass to Gaël Lubwele (King, Kelly), who moved the puck from forehand to backhand and around netminder Marr before tucking home at 28:45, bringing the Herd back within a single goal.
In the ascendency, the home side continued to search for an equaliser with Zac Milton going coast-to-coast before barely missing the net at the last second, shortly followed by Edgars Landsbergs having a near post effort saved by Jordan Marr.
Despite being so close to tying the game towards the end of the middle frame, the Bison failed to truly carry that momentum through the final period and multiple fractious moments did not help their cause at all.
The visitors continued to look solid defensively and stifled every attack that came their way, which combined with having more shots on goal in the last 20 minutes of the game meant that the Herd were fighting an uphill battle. Pulling netminder Alex Mettam in the dying moments for the extra attacker was a gamble that unfortunately did not pay off, leaving the final buzzer to sound and handing the Phantoms a hard-fought 1-2 victory.
Next up at home for the Herd, a Boxing Day battle against Swindon Wildcats! See you all there but more importantly, a very merry Christmas to the whole Bison family!
Match Stats:
Bison stats: Kelly 0+1, King 0+1, Lubwele 1+0
Netminder: Mettam 24/26 (92.31%)
Phantoms stats: Padelek 1+1, Speirs 1+1, Bowering 0+1, Buglass 0+1
Netminder: Jordan Marr 25/26 (96.15%)
PIM: Bison 19 – Phantoms 16. SOG: Bison 26 – Phantoms 26.
Bison MOM: King – Phantoms MOM: Billing
Tickets for Boxing Day’s game versus the Swindon Wildcats faces off at 5.30pm and tickets can be purchased from the following link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison?Reference=Bison-Website
