Image (C) Jo Loat
Final score: Basingstoke Bison 2-4 Leeds Knights (League)
By Matthew Church
Saturday 25th March 2023
Refs: Ions and Poulton – Linos: MacPhee and Olczak.
For their penultimate home game of the regular season, the GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison welcomed the newly-crowned League champions Leeds Knights to town, as the home side continued their battle to finish 7th in the standings and therefore avoid tonight’s visitors in the playoff quarter finals.
The Herd made an impressive start to the contest and looked comfortable early on, with import forwards Marcel Balaz and Gaël Lubwele forcing netminder Harrison Walker into multiple smart saves. At the other end, Knights’ captain Kieran Brown had their best chance to open the scoring, before Bison netminder Jordan Lawday produced a miraculous double-stop on Carter Hamill not long after.
Having shaken off the ‘bus-legs’ and grown into the game, the offensive might of the Knights began to emerge and at 14:02, they finally scored the first goal of the night. A perfect slap-pass was tipped in by Fin Bradon (assisted by D.Hehir and C.Shudra) at the back post for a 0-1 advantage that would remain unchanged as both sides departed for the first period break.
In a similar fashion to the opening frame, the Bison began the middle period with purpose and confidence, almost levelling the scoreline with only another superb double-save by Harrison Walker keeping the Herd at bay. In what had become a battle of the netminders, Jordan Lawday also showed lightning-quick reactions to deny Cole Shudra in close from doubling the lead for the visitors. With less than one minute remaining in the period, hard work eventually paid off for the Bison as they deservedly equalised at 39:05 through supreme leader George Norcliffe (Mitchell, Landsbergs), who blasted down the left wing and around the defenceman, before cutting inside and sliding the puck through Walker in net, to lift the roof off the rink. A goal of excellent quality meant the home side were level at 1-1 after 40 minutes.
The joy from the middle frame was short-lived, as the Knights took the lead once again with a goal that happened so quickly into the final period, some may have missed it. Straight from the face-off, an attack saw a shot from Zach Brooks (Griffin, B.Perre) creep through Jordan Lawday and in at 40:13, despite a desperate attempt to clear the puck off the line. Not to be deterred, the Bison continued to cause problems on the counter-attack and almost half way through the period, a powerplay opportunity was seized upon to level the game at 2-2 to the delight of the crowd.
A missed chance was recycled back into the zone, with a pass across to Gaël Lubwele (Balaz) on the right wing who then stepped forward and unleashed a delicious shot into the near top-corner at 49:11, giving netminder Walker no chance and setting up a thrilling finale. The possibility of a win against the new champions could be sensed around the rink, but with just over 4 minutes left in the contest, a game-winning goal arrived for the Knights to break the hearts of the home side. A careless giveaway was brought back towards the Bison net with speed and Fin Bradon (Brown, Haywood) found himself in space to finish from close range at 55:51.
Fighting hard to wrestle back any chance of at least one point, which until now the Herd had certainly deserved, the killer blow arrived at 58:36 when captain Kieran Brown (Haywood) drove centrally towards the net with power and calmly slotted home to move his side 2-4 ahead, a scoreline which would remain unchanged as the final buzzer sounded and another two points were collected by the new champions.
With the battle for 7th and 8th place still being hotly contested between the Bison and the Tigers, next weekend is crucial if they are to avoid facing the Knights once more, in playoff action. The Herd are back home on Saturday 1st April as they entertain the Sheffield Steeldogs, see you all there!
Tickets for Saturday’s penultimate home game and final Planet Ice National League game can be purchased from the following link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison?Reference=Bison-Website
Match Stats:
Bison stats: Balaz 0+1, Landsbergs 0+1, Lubwele 1+0, Mitchell 0+1, Norcliffe 1+0
Netminder: Jordan Lawday 45/49 (91.84%)
Knights stats: Bradon 2+0, Brown 1+1, Haywood 0+2, Brooks 1+0, Griffin 0+1, D.Hehir 0+1, B.Perre 0+1, C.Shudra 0+1
Netminder: Harrison Walker 17/19 (89.47%)
PIM: Bison 4 – Knights 2. SOG: Bison 19 – Knights 49.
Bison MOM: Lawday – Knights MOM: Bradon
