Photo (C) Flyfifer Photography
FINAL SCORE : Pitbulls 3 – 5 Bison (0-3, 3-2, 0-0)
Refs : Mr Brooks & Mr Matthews
Lino’s : Mr Sore & Mr Thrower
After Saturday evenings pretty comfortable victory, against the Leagues ‘new boys’ the Bristol Pitbulls, your GalxC Cooling Services sponsored Basingstoke Bison, made the trip along the M4, for their first ever visit to the recently built Planet Ice Arena in Bristol. Not going to lie, I’m a little jealous of them … That rink would look very nice in Basingstoke..
The Bison, already missing injured Adam Jones, were also without Liam Morris (Suspended), Ryan Sutton & the talented young duo of Oli Hemmings-Maher & Roman Cathcart & Carl Graham.
Marcus Mitchell once again donned the Bison jersey and I for one, really hope that will become more permanent thing.
From the drop of the puck, it was a quick and bright start from both teams.. Bison testing Will Kerlin early, but he was equal to the shot. Then a really good opportunity for Pitbulls to take the lead, when speedy Caly Robertson got free as was in all alone on Lawday, but Jordan pulled off a superb save to deny him.
Bison would take the first penalty of the evening, when Brendan Baird picked up a Cross-Checking call (4.07). Just over a minute into the penalty and Bison would capitalise on a poor turnover by Bristol.
Great work by Marcel Balaz, followed by a lovely feed to George Norcliffe and he sent the puck top shelf, to open the scoring (5.39) short-handed, to send the travelling Bison fans into raptures.
Just as the penalty to Baird had expired, the visitors were called again. This time Josh Kelly, with a Tripping minor penalty (6.14). The Bison would however successfully kill the penalty.
Bison continued to pressure the Bristol net, with Gaël Lubwele, George Norcliffe & Zack Milton, all testing Will Kerlin’s resolve between the pipes. A couple of surges forward later and Bison would double their lead. Lubwele & Edgars Landsbergs combining well, to force Kerlin into a save, but he gave up a juicy rebound, which Milton pounced on and back handed the puck into the net (11.04).
It was all Bison right now… and they thought they had scored again, when the impressive Lubwele managed to get a tip on a shot from the point… as the Bison players started to celebrate together, they had missed that Mr Brooks had already signalled ‘No Goal”, due to Gaëls stick being a high. For me, it was a borderline call.
As it happened, it didn’t really matter.. a few seconds later and Pitbulls Jay Warren, earned himself a Tripping call (17.53)..
From the resulting powerplay, Bison netted again.. Gaël Lubwele & George Norcliffe, who were making real nuisances of themselves around the Bristol goal. Both guys got good shots off, but they were well saved by Kerlin, but another rebound was given up and that fell to the stick of Aidan Doughty, who after a couple of stabs at the puck, finally managed to pop it over the line (18.05).
That was all the action for the first period and as the buzzer sounded, Bison took a deserved 3-0 lead into the locker room, as they had totally controlled the Pitbulls.
Into the 2nd period and it would be a period of great excitement.
After 4 periods of being unable to breach the Bison goal, the Pitbulls finally managed to score.. experienced player Steve Osman (Solder), netted really well, giving Lawday no chance (22.03).
Not content with getting just one, Bristol added another soon after. Caly Robertson & Mason Lipsey, setting up Reece Kelly, who finished with aplomb (22.52), again giving Jordan no chance.
Bristol now had their tails up and were putting alot of pressure on the Bison backline. Soon after there was a goalmouth scramble, which saw Lawday making numerous quick saves, as he threw himself around his crease, like a loon.
He also lost his stick during that scramble too. Thankfully though, he manged to recover it quickly.
Pitbulls momentum appeared to be nullified, when ex-Bison Elliot Lewis, was assessed a Hooking call (24.47). However, a mistake by the Bison defence, sent Reece Kelly (Unassisted) through all alone and he didn’t make a mistake, as he netted cooly (25.45) past Lawday, shorthanded.
Pitbulls would return to full strength, but much like the Bison earlier in the game, they would fall foul of the officials pretty much straight away. Steve Osman picking up a Slashing call (27.53), as Zack Milton had gone through and had almost scored.
This brought out Bison’s top PP line of Milton, Norcliffe & Lubwele… and it didn’t take long to make the extra man on the ice count. Lots of slick passes around the zone, looking for a good shooting lane. A few more passes and the puck fell to Lubwele and with the quickest of flicks, the puck was last Kerlin and gave the Bison a lead again (28.21).
I must just say, I can’t remember a Bison player with such a sweet wrist shot.. It’s so fast and accurate.
Pitbulls Josh Shaw, picked up a penalty, with a clumsy Boarding penalty (29.20).. A few seconds later and Bison would be penalised, when Gaël Lubwele took exception to a hit by the boards. He received a 2 minute minor for Cross-Checking & a further 2 minutes for Roughing (30.04).
The Pitbulls PP unit came out, but couldn’t find a way past Lawday. Then the other Bison import, Marcel Balaz picked up a Cross-Checking penalty (30.56), giving Bristol a fair chunk of a 2 man advantage, once Shaw’s penalty had expired…
They passed the puck around, but everything they fired at Lawday was either saved, or sailed high & wide. Alex Roberts fanned on a couple of shots, which brought cheers from the Bison fans.
Bison returned to 4 skaters, as Balaz (Unassisted) came out of the box & straight back into the action, as he pounced on a poor pass by the Pitbulls defence and skated in all alone and despatched the puck past Kerlin again, to net another short handed goal (33.08), the third SHG of the evening, which put the game, back in Bison’s control.
Pitbulls forward Joe Morris, picked up a High-Sticks call, as he caught Hallam Wilson with his stick, just beside the Bison net. Unfortunately, they couldn’t take advantage and Bristol returned to full strength, just before the end of the period.
After a thoroughly entertaining period of hockey, the visitors went in, with a 5-3 lead, at the break.
The 3rd period started and both teams would take an early penalty..
Paul Petts wasn’t impressed with a hit on him and got called for Slashing, whereas another former Bison, Tommy Ralph waded in, to get in Petts’s face…. which earned him a minor ‘Unsportsmanlike’ penalty (42.52). Both teams were unable to score & they returned to full strength, after penalty had expired.
A few minutes later and Paul Petts was in the wars again.. he received a high hit on the boards. He retaliated.. earning himself a Roughing call, whereas, Pitbulls Jay Warren paid another visit to the sinbin, after getting called for a minor ‘Check to the Head’ call (48.59).. Both teams successfully killed the penalties.
It’s funny, because a week earlier, two players both received a Match Penalty, for Checking to the Head..
With just under 10mins to go and Bison import Marcel Balaz, would pick up another penalty, for Interference this time (52.41).
Both teams continued to surge forward at times, but the play was usually broken up, either by a turnover or just a routine save by the netties.
Kerlin made made it known to the Pitbulls bench, that he was ready to get off in exchange for an extra Bristol attacker, as and when they needed. With Just over two minutes to go and as the clock appeared to freeze for about 10 seconds, Kerlin skated off, leaving Bristol with an empty net… Bison couldn’t get a great shot off and Pitbulls kept coming forward.. Then along the boards, Paul Petts managed to wriggle free of the defence… he was at an angle, but got his shot off all the same ….. which unbelievably went wide..
I know it’s easy for me to say, but it looked harder to miss !
The final few seconds ran down and the buzzer sounded to end the game, with Bison coming away with a good road win and it completed a very encouraging double over the Bristol Pitbulls.
Have to say, I’m really liking the way this team is shaping up and hopefully, if we can stay injury free, I think we will upset a few teams on any given night.
Match Stats:
MoM Pitbulls : Caly Robertson
MoM Bison : Josh Kelly
Pitbulls Stats : Kelly 2+0, Osman 1+0, Lipsey 0+1, Robertson 0+1, Solder 0+1.
Nets : Kerlin (47/5)
Bison Stats : Lubwele 1+2, Norcliffe 1+2, Balaz 1+1, Milton 1+1, Doughty 1+0, Landsbergs 0+1.
Nets : Lawday (31/3)
PiMs : Pitbulls 14 Bison 16
SoG : Pitbulls 31 Bison 45
Bison are back in action this coming Saturday, when the Peterborough Phantoms visit the Bison Arena, as the 2022/23 NIHL National League season begins. The first game against each opponent, also counts towards the NIHL National Cup. Tickets are available for the game and these can be purchased from the following link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison?Reference=Bison-Website
