Your GalxC Cooling Services Basingstoke Bison, fresh from 2 vital wins over the Seahawks and Bees IHC, are back in Planet Ice National League action this coming weekend when they take on the Bristol Pitbulls and Milton Keynes Lightning.
Firstly we welcome 9th placed Bristol to the Silverdome Arena on Saturday night, face-off for this game is the usual 6.30pm.
With the Bison currently in 7th, on 29 points from 38 games which has us 2 points ahead of our visitors who have played one game more than ourselves, this fixture has assumed added importance to both teams.
Pitbulls will be looking to not only close the gap on the Herd, but to leapfrog 8th placed Telford as the 3 teams battle to qualify for the last 2 play-off spots, while of course the Bison will hope to extend the gap on both of them.
Leading the points scoring for our visitors is Canadian forward Owen Sobchak, with 46 points (21+25) from 35 appearances, followed by young British forward Caly Robertson on 33 (18+15) from 39 appearances.
Sunday’s game against MKL, currently 2nd in the league standings, has a face off time of 5.30pm.
Lightning at the time of writing, trail league leaders Leeds Knights by just 2 points, although Leeds have played 2 games less than MK and interestingly, the teams meet each other in Leeds on Saturday night.
Head Coach Tim Wallace is MK’s top points scorer with 64 (14+50), Liam Stewart unsurprisingly is their top goal scorer with 36 from 35 games, while Talbot, Sarkanis and Chamberlain have 20, 22 and 21 respectively.
Whilst their highly productive forwards have taken the limelight most weeks, it should be noted the defence only concedes 2.94 goals per game. Playing a significant factor in that is netminder Jordan Hedley who, with a save percentage of 90.10, has often been the difference in tight games.
As for the Bison, last weekend’s 4 point haul will serve as a huge boost to Ash and the team ahead of this Saturday’s key game with Bristol.
Both wins came about as a result of real team performances, epitomised on Sunday night in Slough by Jordan Lawday making an excellent save immediately before Marcel Balaz scored the game winning goal with just 47 seconds of regulation left.
Fans of the Stampede, 6.30pm Saturday night is your moment, you know what’s required…..
Loud, Louder, Loudest.
#wearefamily
#doitfordoughts
