Photo (C) Jo Loat
Final score: Basingstoke Bison 4-5 Bees IHC – after Overtime (League)
By Matthew Church
Saturday 22nd January 2022
In a hotly-anticipated local derby, the GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison played host to the Bees IHC, based in Slough, and were looking to make it three wins on the bounce.
Whilst the Herd controlled the opening minutes, against the run of play it would be the visitors who opened the night’s scoring at 4:17 when Ryan Webb (assisted by Harvey Stead and Edward Bradley) was perfectly placed to tip-in a long range shot. Back came the Bison and less than 5 minutes later they were level courtesy of D-man Adam Jones (Milton, Tait), who took a pass along the blue line and stepped forwards before rifling home at 8:56 for a 1-1 game. Despite it being a tense rivalry, the game was being played firmly but fairly and the officials were doing their best to let the game flow, with only 1 penalty being called in the first period. No further goals meant the contest remained level after 20 minutes.
A dominant middle frame for the Bison was to come, with the home side firing a total of 16 shots on Bees’ netminder Curtis Warburton and while he looked in fine form, at 28:56 there was nothing to be done that could have prevented the Herd from taking the lead of the game. Zack Milton (Tait, Roberts) produced a fine bit of skill, holding off defenders as he crossed the blue line laterally, before skating forwards toward the left circle and releasing a bullet that flew into the Bees net, handing the home side a 2-1 lead. The Herd continued to dominate their opponents and at 36:36 their endeavours paid off, when super forward George Norcliffe (King, Harding) extended the lead to 3-1 as he reacted quickest to a rebound from netminder Warburton and flicked the puck in to delight in the stands.
(C) Jo loat
This lead stood unchanged after 40 minutes as the second period break arrived.
However, in the third period it was the Bees who came out invigorated and barely 60 seconds had passed when former Bison player Stuart Mogg (Gabaj) slammed home at 41:09 after Gabaj had circled behind the net with ease, reducing the deficit to 3-2. Momentum was clearly with the visitors and they found themselves level at 45:25 through Ryan Webb (Martin) as he scored his second goal of the contest, a near post effort that somehow snuck through Jordan Lawday. A penalty on the Bees at 49:05 saw the Bison finally back on the powerplay and almost instantly, they took full advantage as Alex Roberts (Doughty) took a pass from the face off win and sniped home past Warburton at 49:11 before he could even react, putting the Herd 4-3 ahead. Sadly, a lack of concentration would undo the Herd’s hard work not long afterwards as import forward Dominik Gabaj (Rosbottom, H.Stead) worked his magic at 50:27 and restored parity at 4-4 before the home fans could really celebrate their most recent goal.
Despite an Interference penalty on James Galazzi of the Bees with just over one minute remaining in regulation time, the local derby that was full of fizz went to overtime, which was only fitting. Unfortunately, the Bison were unable to make the most of their man-advantage on the powerplay and at 62:01, disaster would strike.
The home team tried to break through the heart of the opposition but were caught at their own blue line and a mistake left Juha Lindgren (unassisted) all alone to skate in and fire past a helpless Lawday in net, to shock the Bison faithful and hand his Bees team an extremely hard-fought 4-5 win!
The Herd return home on Saturday 29th January and look to bounce back against the Sheffield Steeldogs, see you there!
Tickets for Sturdays game are available to book in advance online here.
Match Stats:
Bison stats: Milton 1+1, Roberts 1+1, Tait 0+2, Doughty 0+1, Harding 0+1, Jones 1+0, King 0+1, Norcliffe 1+0
Netminder: Jordan Lawday 31/5 (83.87%)
Bees stats: Gabaj 1+1, Martin 0+2, H.Stead 0+2, Webb 2+0, Bradley 0+1, Lindgren 1+0, Mogg 1+0, Rosbottom 0+1
Netminder: Curtis Warburton 34/4 (88.24%)
PIM: Bison 2 – Bees 6. SOG: Bison 34 – Bees 31.
Bison MOM: Zack Milton – Bees MOM: Ryan Webb
