Image (C) Jo Loat
Final score: Basingstoke Bison 6-3 Swindon Wildcats (League)
By Matthew Church
Monday 26th December 2022
Refs: Brooks and Matthews – Linos: MacPhee and Sore
Hoping to sprinkle some bonus festive cheer to the Christmas holidays, the GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison played host to the Swindon Wildcats for a Boxing Day battle that would surely prove eventful.
A noisy crowd took to their seats in anticipation of a tough contest but were silenced early on, as the Wildcats took the lead at just 3:15 when Balint Pakozdi (Malasinski, Bebris) gained entry to the O-zone with speed, out-manovered Jordan Lawday in net and wristed home.
The home fans soon found their voices again as the Bison responded almost immediately thanks to Zac Milton (Lubwele) at 4:45, who took the puck from a battle on the right wing and saw his shot deflect over netminder Dean Skinns and across the line for a 1-1 game. The two sides remained evenly matched during the remainder of the opening period and nobody could find the target before the first intermission arrived, leaving the teams tied after 20 minutes.
The visitors emerged from the break with an increased amount of energy and dominated the first half of the middle frame, at times seemingly camped down in the Bison defensive zone. Their constant pressure was rewarded at 27:34 when they re-took the lead, Balint Pakozdi (Bebris, Jones) scoring his second of the night from in tight after a goal-mouth scramble.
After taking a few minutes to compose themselves, the Herd fought back in style and would end the period ahead after two quickfire goals stunned the visitors. The equaliser came at 35:21 from import forward Gaël Lubwele (Baird), who sent the home fans wild as he burst towards goal, toe-dragged through the defence before shooting at Skinns and the puck crept over the line, for a 2-2 game. Barely a minute later and the Bison took their first lead of the night whilst on the powerplay, Edgars Landsbergs (King, Sampford) expertly tipped a blue-line blast past a stricken Skinns in net at 36:35, leaving the crowd delighted as the players left for the second period break a few minutes later.
With plenty of the line, the opening stages of the final frame were tense as the Bison went in search of a morale-boosting victory. Wildcats’ import forwards Tomasz Malasinski and Colby Tower continued to cause chaos as they both went close to levelling the contest, with the Bison having netminder Lawday to thank after a number of heroic saves. The crucial moment of the game came at 51:47 as young sensation Ollie Hemmings-Maher (Morris, Landsbergs) doubled the Herd’s lead with a superb game-winning goal, driving towards net from the left wing and flicking the puck home with finesse, which was met with the loudest cheer of the night.
Shell shocked, the visitors could do nothing to prevent the Bison from extending their lead to 5-2 moments later as Hallam Wilson (Milton, Lubwele) fired home from close range at 52:39 to essentially assure his team the win. A brief scare arrived at 58:42 when Russ Cowley (Jones) scored a powerplay goal for the Wildcats to bring his side back to 5-3 down, but thankfully they would not get any closer to the Bison and an empty net goal from Gaël Lubwele (Milton) at 59:42 sealed the deal and confirmed an extremely positive 6-3 victory, in the final home game of 2022!
Next up at home, a fierce battle against the high-flying Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday 1st January 2023. See you there, happy new year everyone!
Match Stats:
Bison stats: Lubwele 2+2, Milton 1+2, Landsbergs 1+1, Baird 0+1, Hemmings-Maher 1+0, Kelly 0+1, King 0+1, Morris 0+1, Sampford 0+1, Wilson 1+0
Netminder: Jordan Lawday 26/29 (89.66%)
Wildcats stats: Bebris 0+2, Jones 0+2, Pakozdi 2+0, Cowley 1+0, Malasinksi 0+1
Netminder: Dean Skinns 21/26 (80.77%) plus 1 shot on empty net
PIM: Bison 12 – Wildcats 10. SOG: Bison 27 – Wildcats 29.
Bison MOM: Lubwele – Wildcats MOM: Pakozdi
