Image (C) Jo Loat
14th/15th/16th October
By Anthony Russell
It was a tough weekend for the Bison last time out though they certainly gave Leeds something to think about.
Friday
Friday saw the Battle of the South West take flight for the season in BS10 as the Pitbulls welcomed the Wildcats. Bristol started the better as Alex Roberts had the hosts ahead. Colby Tower would tie the game at 1-1 before Ed Bradley made it 2-1 before the first break and Bradley’s second of the game made it 3-1 early in the second. The Wildcats would come back into the game as Aaron Nell and a second from Tower made the game 3-3 in the 39th minute but a late powerplay goal from Sean Morris made it 4-3 to the hosts at the second break. The third period saw the Pitbulls really sink their teeth into the visitors. Owen Sobchak scored on the powerplay and a second of the night from Roberts made it 6-3. The Wildcats pulled their netminder late but when Sobchak broke out, he was hauled down by Edgars Bebris and the home fans treated to the rarity of an awarded goal. The South West was blue with the 7-3 win.
Saturday
The following night Swindon had to head home, lick their wounds and then face the unenviable task of facing the unbeaten MK Lightning. The Cats started well, Chris Jones netting just 99 seconds into the game but Callum Field tied the scores in the 8th minute. Sean Norris put the Lightning ahead late in the frame but a second from Jones at 19.11 tied the game at 2-2 as the teams hit the first break. The hosts took the lead just 22 seconds into the middle period as Colby Tower scored on the powerplay and that held through into the third. MK had the chance to level on the powerplay bit a shorthanded goal from Tomasz Malasinski made it 4-2 with just over 15 minutes to play and the Lightning had no answer. The unbeaten record had gone and after their Friday night defeat, Aaron Nell’s side could revel in a massive win.
Near the foot of the table, the Raiders and Hull did battle in Essex. Tommy Hugget put the hosts ahead in the 4th minute . Ashley Jackson doubled the advantage and a goal from Mikey Power made it 3-0 at the first intermission. The second would be a tense, scoreless affair and a goal from Sam Towner to put Hull on the board to put a bit of nervous energy into the home fans. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, they would fall short again and the Raiders eked out the 3-1 victory.
The Steeldogs and the Bees met at Ice Sheffield and it was something of an unusual affair as neither side scored in the first 40 minute. It was a back and forth but yielded no goals. Eventually the deadlock was broken in the third by Jason Hewitt but nearly immediately answered by Dominik Gabaj. With just under 10 minutes to go Vlads Vulkanovs put the Steeldogs ahead and whilst Adam Goss saved a penalty shot he couldn’t stop Matt Bissonnette from making it 3-1 and wrap up two more points for the playoff champions.
Telford and Peterborough met in Shropshire and it was an unlikely goalscorer to start things off as Peterborough went ahead through Joe Gretton. The scores would be level at the end of the first period as Brodie Jesson levelled things up. The teams battled their way through a scoreless second period that battle went on into the third before a powerplay goal from Phantoms’ captain Will Weldon made it 2-1.The Tigers pressed for an equaliser but found none as Peterborough headed home with the two points.
Sunday
After their respective wins on the Saturday, Peterborough welcomed the Raiders and there were early goals in both directions as Lukas Sladkovsky and Tommy Hugget found the net before Ales Padelek made it 2-1 to the Phantoms to end a roller-coaster opening 5 minutes. Brad Bowering made it 3-1 just before the 8 minute mark before goals from Corey McEwen and Glenn Billing made it 5-1 and ended the night of Ethan James in the Raiders’ net. Brad Windebank made his way into the game for the visitors as the Phantoms swapped out Jordan Marr for Ryan Bainborough to get both backups some ice time. Erik Piatak got one goal back for the Raiders before Jasper Foster made it 6-2 late in the second. Late in the third, a flurry of Raiders goals gave the Phantoms something to think about. Harry Gulliver and Brandon Ayliffe both scored to make it 6-4 but a late empty net goal from Nathan Pollard ended the night with a 7-4 win for the Phantoms and another 4 point weekend for Slava Koulikov’s men.
Two sides that lost on Saturday met at The Hanger as Telford headed to play the Bees. To say it didn’t go well for the Bees early on would be an understatement. Jason Silverthorn and Corey Goodison made it 2-0 by 5.32 which saw Adam Goss replaced by Dan Weller-Evans. The Bees responded as Juha Lindgren made it 2-1 and the Tigers proceeded to swat the Bees. Rhodes Mitchell-King, Rick Plant, Finley Howells, Tom Byrne and Vladimir Luca all scored to make it 7-1 by 14.28 and Weller-Evans was replaced as Goss returned to the net. Josh Martin got one goal back for the Bees early in the second and Brendan Walkom made it 7-3 just after the halfway mark. The Tigers were holding the game at bay still and added an 8th through Bayley Harewood. Dominik Gabaj got the last word on the scoresheet but an 8-4 final score saw the Tigers head home the happier of the two sides.
After their meeting in Sheffield, the Seahawks and Steeldogs reconvened in Hull. Matt Bissonnette put the visitors ahead before Declan Balmer got one for the hosts but Alex Graham had Greg Wood’s side 2-1 to the good after 20 minutes. Hull put the pressure on in the second but hockey is cruel as James Spurr beat Jordan McLaughlin to make it 3-1 by the time the second buzzer went. The Seahawks got one more back as James Archer beat Dmitri Zimozdra to make it 3-2 but a Steeldogs goal credited to Henry Adams (our friends from the Steeldogs social media team weren’t convinced it was him) made it 4-2. The Seahawks pulled the goalie for the extra attacker only for Graham to put his second of the night into the empty net for a 5-2 Steeldogs win.
MK and Bristol went to battle for the first time at the Thunderdome. The teams were even through the opening part of the first period before Mack Stewart put the hosts ahead and a penalty shot goal from Tim Wallace made it 2-0 at the end of the first. Rio Grinnel-Park made it 3-0 before a powerplay goal from Jay Warren got Bristol into the game. However Callum Field continued his recent good scoring run to make it 4-1 at the second break. Owen Sobchak made it 4-2 with a shorthanded goal to start the third period but a second of the night from Wallace and a late goal from Bobby Chamberlain saw the Lightning get back to winning ways with a 6-2 victory.
This weekend the Herd only play one game away against the Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday 22nd (Face Off 7.30pm). the Herd’s next home game is on Wednesday 26th October (Face Off 8pm) when we welcome the league’s Southern new boys the Bristol Pitbulls to Basingstoke for the second round of Planet Ice National League action, tickets are available to purchase by clicking this link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison?Reference=Bison-Website
Anthony Russell is the writer of Banners On The Wall (http://bannersonthewall.wordpress.com) which has covered the Bison and British hockey for the last 11 years. He hosts the BOTW What’s Current Stream, the NIHL’s live show for news and views, Wednesday night at 8pm at Twitter.com/BannersOTW
