Image (C) Jo Loat
Final score: Basingstoke Bison 2-4 Raiders IHC (League)
By Matthew Church
Saturday 10th December 2022
Refs: Korsaks and Matthews – Linos: Lalonde and MacPhee
Buoyed by a four-point weekend last time out, the GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison looked to extend their winning run to 3 games as they welcomed the Romford-based Raiders IHC to town.
Despite the Baltic-like temperatures inside the ‘Shed of Dreams’, there was an electric start to the contest from both sides as Bison captain George Norcliffe was denied by Ethan James in the Raiders net, before Brandon Ayliffe set up Alex Roberts for the visitors but he could not beat Lawday in the Bison goal.
The deadlock was, however, broken shortly afterwards by another ex-Bison player as Aaron Connolly (assisted by Power and Relf) cruised down the left wing before firing cleanly past netminder Lawday from the hash marks at 5:56 for a 0-1 lead.
The Herd almost replied instantly but missed an excellent chance and were made to pay at 8:31 when Jake Sylvester (Jackson, Barry) scored a near carbon-copy of the Raiders’ first goal, as the British forward sped down the left wing and sniped home past a helpless netminder, putting his side 0-2 ahead and leaving the Bison fans disgruntled. The Herd continued to chip away at their opponents but could not break down the defensive line and found themselves two goals behind after 20 minutes.
Leading by example, captain George Norcliffe (Milton, Lubwele) scored the home team’s first of the night at 26:16 after accepting a pass from behind the net and ripping home from between the circles to the delight of the Bison faithful. Maintaining momentum is something the Herd have struggled to master recently and their hard work was soon undone at 29:10 when Jake Sylvester (Roberts) was allowed to dance down the left wing, around the d-man and blast home to establish a 1-3 Raiders advantage. Both Norcliffe and Wilson went close to scoring as the Herd looked to drag themselves back into the game, but neither could beat Ethan James who continued to produce a string of fine saves.
Just before the end of the second period, there was enough time for the Bison to score their second goal and give fans renewed hope of a comeback. At 36:28 a flick from behind the net found Edgars Landsbergs (Milton, Norcliffe) in tight, whose shot bobbled up & over Ethan James and somehow crossed the line, to pull the Herd back to 2-3 after 40 minutes.
A typically nervy final period was set up nicely for fans in attendance, before the dagger in the hearts of the home fans came once again from Aaron Connolly (Wells, Jackson), with an attack seeing the drop pass into acres of space and Connolly gave netminder Lawday no hope, sending a laser into the net at 44:52, leaving his side 2-4 ahead. The Bison continued desperately to search for the two goals they needed to at least rescue a point, but were unable to truly create clear chances as the final minutes wound down. At the final buzzer, it would be the Raiders skating away with the two points, leaving the Herd disappointed once again.
For the final home game before Christmas, the Bison play host to the high-flying Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday 17th December when fans of the Herd get their opportunity to “Air the Bear” in association with Naomi House. See you all there!
Match Stats:
Bison stats: Milton 0+2, Norcliffe 1+1, Landsbergs 1+0, Lubwele 0+1,
Netminder: Jordan Lawday 21/25 (84.00%)
Raiders stats: Connolly 2+0, Jackson 0+2, Sylvester 2+0, Power 0+1, Relf 0+1, Roberts 0+1, Wells 0+1
Netminder: Ethan James 29/31 (93.55%)
PIM: Bison 8 – Raiders 8.
SOG: Bison 31 – Raiders 25.
Bison MOM: Landsbergs – Raiders MOM: James
