As we enter into a new year, the GalxC Cooling Services Basingstoke Bison are pleased to announce that the vastly experienced defender Neil Liddiard has agreed to join the Herd for the rest of the 2022/23 season.
Liddiard made over 100 BNL appearances for the Bison, before joining Guildford Flames where he stayed for 12 seasons, appearing in over 500 EPL/NIHL games and becoming one of the cornerstones of their defence.
More recently he spent 6 seasons with his home town club the Swindon Wildcats, making 262 league appearances.
With the continuing absence of Adam Jones, this signing gives the Herd the type of D-man who will be invaluable in our pursuit of a play-off berth.
Bison Head Coach Ashley Tait commented on the signing said,
“Being able to bring lidds in at this stage is massive for us. I don’t think there’s a d man with more experience around and with such a young D that’s what we’ve lacked at times. Looking at the schedule this month we play all the teams around us so this will hopefully give us the jump we need in our pursuit to gain a Play Off position come April”.
Liddiard himself had this to say on joining the Herd,
“Last year I tried to retire from the sport but I ultimately couldn’t live without it. Hockey is everything to me and I feel so very fortunate to have been given a chance to play for Basingstoke Bison for a second time in my career, twenty years after my first stint here. I had three great years here in the early 2000s and I’m really excited to put the Bison shirt back on. I’m really looking forward to meeting the lads and getting started with helping the club to achieve their goals and get into a Play Off come April”.
We would like to thank everyone connected with the Chelmsford Chieftians fro making this transfer happen as quickly as it has.
Neil will wear the number 4 jersey for the Herd and his light, dark and home warm-up jerseys are now available for supporters to have the opportunity to purchase and loan back to the club Neil’s jersey through our ever popular Jersey “Own & Loan” scheme, if you are interested in applying for one of Neil’s jerseys please send your application to hello@bstokebison.co.uk
All of Neil’s jerseys are available on a first come first basis now!
Priced at £100.00 for the Light & Dark jersey & £85.00 for the Home Warm Up jersey.
Neil’s first game for the Herd and home debut will be on Saturday evening against our local rivals Bees IHC when we are also pleased to welcome back overseas forward Marcel Balaz and Defenceman Brendan Baird from their respective suspensions.
To purchase tickets for this key game please click on the following link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison/event-tickets/?event_id=6501&stage=1
Image (C) Swindonwildcats.com
