Images (C) Flyfifer Photography
FINAL SCORE : PITBULLS 4 BISON 7 (4-0, 0-3, 0-4)
By Nigel Simmonds
Saturday 19th November 2022
Refs : Mr Ions & Mr Pickett
Lino’s : Mr Arnold & Miss Stanley
After Friday evenings heavy home defeat at the hands of the MK Lightning, your GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison travelled to Bristol, to take on the Pitbulls, hoping that they could end this ever growing run of losses.
On Friday, the club announced that Ryan Sutton & Adrian Dusznik had both asked Coach Tait, for their release from the team, with immediate effect, which was granted for both players. This left Bison down to the bare bones, with long term injury Adam Jones still missing, with no real end in sight, to when he may don a Bison jersey again. Josh Kelly & Roman Cathcart missed the game through injury & Liam Morris is a couple of games into a 10 match suspension.
Bison, coming into the game on a ever growing run of losses, really needed to try and get something going, if it was to come to an end.
Will Kerlin & Alex Mettam, both getting the nod as their teams starting netminders.
A good crowd was in attendance, especially the travelling Bison fans, who had sold out the away block.
From the drop of the puck, it would be Bristol that looked the brighter.
An early coming together led to the first penalties of the evening. Paul Petts mis-timing a hit and dumping the Pitbulls player into the boards. Mason Lipsey took an exception and went after Petts, leading to a bout of fisticuffs.
Petts picked up a 5 Min Boarding call and both him & Lipsey also picking up 5 min Fighting majors too ((1.57). Thus giving Pitbulls a 5 min powerplay.
Bison held out for a few minutes, but Owen Sobchak gave the home fans something to cheer, when he picked up the puck behind the goal and skated forward at pace, dodging the Bison attempts to stop him, he managed to get through quite easily and slotted the puck past Mettam for the opening goal (6.55), unassisted.
Within 40 secs of the restart, Bristol would score again, with Morgan Clarke-Pizzo (Elias) netting over Mettam’s blocker (7.35).
This would make Coach Tait, call his “Time Out”, where he barked out his displeasure at the teams poor start and tried to get them, back on the gameplan.
Bristol really were moving the puck around well and looked firmly in control of the game. But, Tamas Elias gave Bison a glimmer of hope, when he picked up an Interference call (9.50).
A freakish bit of good luck, would hand the Pitbulls another goal.
The puck taking a weird bounce off the boards and with Mettam already out of his net to try and play it, gave Luke Smital an easy tap in, for a shorthanded goal (11.08). When your lucks not in, it’s just so painful to take that.
Pitbulls Reece Kelly, would get given an Interference call (13.34), but Bison’s powerplay was cut short, when Zack Milton, picked up a Slashing call, just 8 secs later (13.42). Both teams managed to kill their penalties successfully.
A few minutes later and Bison would get another powerplay opportunity, when Bristol’s Christian Mohr, was awarded an Interference call (17.26). But Luke Smital, would put Bison to the sword, with another shorthanded goal (17.44), as he netted past Mettam, after pretty much waltzing through the Bison team. This was some savage watching as a travelling fan.
Thankfully, the period came to an end, with Pitbulls in complete control and Bison looking shell-shocked with what had transpired on that period.
It was going to take Coach Tait, one hell of a team talk to get these guys back on track.
Both teams came out for the 2nd period and instantly, Bison found themselves on the powerplay, with Ed Bradley picking up a Cross-Checking penalty (20.18).
But, Pitbulls would kill the penalty and return to full strength.
A few minutes later and Hallam Wilson & Luke Smital, would both get called for Interference (26.38).
Almost a minute later and Pitbulls newest signing, Bayley Harewood would get called for Cross-Checking (27.26), giving Bison another powerplay chance.
The Bison really needed the man advantage to start paying dividends, as their recent efforts had been very poor, with at least 7 chances going begging, the previous evening against MK.
The PP unit came out and had a couple of early chances, but Kerlin stood firm. Then a quick release from Alex Mettam, set Marcel Balaz off up ice with purpose. As he entered the Pitbulls zone, he found Gaël Lubwele and with a quick wrist shot, the puck found it’s target, opening the scoring for the Bison (28.24). Gaël really needed that, as he’s been a little goal starved, for a few games.
A few minutes later on and Bison would get another powerplay opportunity, when Pitbulls Jay Warren, picked up a Hooking call (30.40). Sadly, Bristol would kill the penalty successfully and return to full strength.
Bison were looking better going forward and all the Pitbulls pressure from the first period had eased up slightly.
Then, Bison would start to believe that they could possibly make a game of it, when they added another goal. A Pitbulls move ended with the puck reaching Mettam, who batted the puck down, Paul Petts then playing a lovely pass onto Alex Sampford and he strode forward with purpose, before unleashing an absolute exocet rocket of a shot, past Kerlin (37.47). He couldn’t have hit it any sweeter if he tried..
Momentum was definitely on Bison’s side now and they just kept plugging away. Bristol on the other hand, looked very ordinary now and the wind was disappearing from their sails.
That wasn’t helped by a very poor turnover, just in front if their own net and the puck fell to Lubwele, who despatched the puck past Kerlin (39.01), to bring the Bison right back into the game, that 20mins ago had looked completely unlikely.
This certainly had the travelling Bison fans up on their feet celebrating…
From the face off though, Bison would pick up a penalty, when Marcel Balaz picked up a Tripping call (39.07), giving the Pitbulls a late powerplay chance in the period.
Bison penalty killers managed to reach the end of the period safely.
At 40 mins on the clock, the scoreline was Pitbulls 4 Bison 3, with now very much all to play for in the 3rd period.
The 3rd period started with Pitbulls still on the powerplay, but Bison would see off the penalty successfully, gaining confidence with each passing minute.
Then, another poor turnover by Pitbulls in their own zone, gave the Bison another chance. Lubwele having a shot, but the block came in and the rebound found Zack Milton’s stick and he roofed the puck past Kerlin, to somehow tie the scoreline (46.54). The only noise now, was definately coming from the Bison players & their fans alike. What were we witnessing here…
A couple of minutes later on and for me a really dubious Bench penalty called on Bison, for Too Many Men (50.01). Aiden Doughty would sit the penalty. Mettam and his defence would face a barrage, but the Bison would continue to clear the zone, to kill the penalty off.
Bison now must’ve honestly believed, they could now go on and get a result, but also at the same time, remember that they needed to play smart because of the low numbers on the bench and tiredness was a factor.
Then another foray forward by the Bison, led to unbelievably, the game winning goal.. a couple of blocked shots, but the puck fell to Marcel Balaz and he fired the puck on net. Kerlin looked to have made the save, but the puck trickled out from behind him and crept over the line, to give the Bison the lead (52.43).
Major scenes now, on the Bison bench and by the travelling fans.. looking on in somewhat disbelief to watch we were witnessing.
A minute or so later, Gaël Lubwele would pick up a Tripping call (55.03), but that wouldn’t stop the Bison now. A few seconds into the powerplay for Bristol and Marcel Balaz was on hand to fire home again, after a good save by Kerlin (55.31) and he celebrated with a knee slid right by the Pitbulls bench, who were now crestfallen, that they could let a 4 goal lead slip away.
Brendan Baird, would pick up a lazy Hooking call (56.14), giving Pitbulls a great chance of getting back level, with a two man advantage in their favour. Pitbulls called their “Time Out” and with just over 3 mins to go, went all out attack, with Kerlin being replaced for an extra player on the ice.
Alex Mettam would face alot of shots, but he stayed composed, made the saves and the penalty killers would see off the first penalty OK… and then a few seconds later, managed to kill the second penalty off too and return to full strength.
Played was halted by a stoppage and Kerlin would return to his net, but as soon as play started up again, he was off again… Then Bison sealed the game, with an empty net goal and Marcel Balaz completed his & a straight Hat-Trick (59.48).
The final few seconds ran down and at the final buzzer, the Bison had pulled off the come back of all comebacks… unbelievable scenes..
After taking such a beating the previous evening and starting this game so poorly, to come out for 40 minutes and give absolutely everything, was an incredible feat and they thoroughly deserved the victory. Hopefully, this will give the guys some much needed confidence going forward and also really hoping this could be a turning point in our season.
Match Stats:
Pitbulls Stats : Smital 2+0, Clarke-Pizzo 1+0, Sobchak 1+0, Elias 0+1.
Nets : Kerlin (26/6) Empty Net (1/1)
Bison Stats : Balaz 3+1, Lubwele 2+1, Milton 1+1, Sampford 1+0, Mettam 0+2, Banner 0+1, Petts 0+1.
Nets : Mettam (49/4)
PiMs : Pitbulls 19 Bison 22
SoG : Pitbulls 49 Bison 26
MoM Pitbulls : Luke Smital
MoM Bison : Marcel Balaz
The Bison are back in action this Saturday, when the Hull Seahawks visit the Bison Arena, with good tickets still available to purchase by clicking the following link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison?Reference=Bison-Website
