When the Basingstoke Bison finished the home game against the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday 14th March 2020, no one in the rink could have known it would be 546 days before the Herd would play their next game.
On Saturday 11th September 2021 the Bison will return to the ice for a pre-season game against the Raiders IHC, face off at the Silverdome is 6.30pm.
Unfortunately due to work permit issues Czech forward Filip Martinec will not be icing in this weekends pre-season challenge games and we are working hard to get him in the UK as quickly as possible, we thank Filip for his patience whilst we finalise his work permit.
Coach Tait and the players have had a great week of training and will be at full strength for this weekends fixtures when we look forward to welcoming the players back onto the ice.
Romford based Raiders are coached by the respected Sean Easton and captained by former Bison legend Aaron Connolly, their roster also includes ex-Bison players Dan Scott, Jacob Ranson & JJ Pitchley.
The majority of their 2021/22 roster is made up of players who were signed for the 2020/21, which as we know was cancelled due to the pandemic, many such as Brandon Ayliffe, Jake Sylvester, Sean Barry & Callum Wells have been a long term part of the Raiders IHC and will be familiar to fans of the Stampede.
While the likes of Jack Flynn, Ross Connolly and Mason Webster have moved on, Coach Easton has brought in two quality new signings, D-man Thomas Relf signed from Sheffield Steeldogs and exciting young forward Rio Grinell-Parke from MK Lightning.
All You Need To Know
Following on from from last nights article here’s your match night all you need to know information ….
We ask all fans to be in their seats as early as possible prior to face off as the club led by the “Voice of the Herd” Daren Bavister will be particpating in a short period of reflection of the past 18 months and celebration of our return to hockey.
Food & Beverage
The rink bar will be open all evening long, with Papa John’s will once again be producing freshly made pizzas.
You can order in advance before the game so your delicious piping hot pizza is waiting for you in one of the intervals or at the end of the game.
There’s no need to rush to eat before heading to the arena when you can grab a delicious Papa John’s during the game.
Twitter Competition
Back by popular demand is our weekly Twitter competition in conjunction with Papa John’s where fans choose who they think will be the Bison’s first goal scorer and one lucky winner wins a large pizza.
Keep your eye on @BisonHockey twitter feed on Saturday morning to enter.
Match-Night Programme: Tonight’s Stampede match night programme contains all the information hockey fans love to know.
There’s a preview of tonight’s opponents.
Coach Tait, “Voice of the Herd” Daren Bavister and Team Director John Neville have given their views and reflections as we return to hockey.
Anthony Russell gives us a round up of the last 18 months and what we can expect from the 8 teams the Herd will face in the 2021 / 22 season.
As always, The Stampede features your official scoresheet in its centre pages.
Competitions:
The ever popular 50/50 draw will be running tonight, with one lucky winner each week taking home a huge cash prize. Tickets cost just £1 and are available from our roving sellers and at the Merchandise Club table.
Shirt Off the Player’s Back: is just a £1 ticket you could win one of this weekends blood shirts a very rare item indeed as there are only 22 shirts in total being produced of the “Back to Bison” opening weekend jerseys
As per last nights communication the lucky winner will have the jersey presented by the player of their choice in a socially distanced end of game presentation on the ice. Tickets will be available from our roving sellers and at the Club merchandise table.
Chuck-a-Puck: in association with Zizzi’s restaurant is once again back for another season so grab your puck for just £1 head to the Ice Machine gate after the second period and aim for the centre of the rink and you could win for this week only one of the weekends blood shirts a very rare item indeed as there are only 22 shirts in total being produced of the “Back to Bison” opening weekend jerseys.
Unfortunately due to our COVID-19 protocols we will need to launder the jersey before we can pass it over to you, the jersey will be available to collect from the merchandise stall on Saturday 18th September at our home game against the Pirates of Peterborough.
Chuck-a-Duck in association with Ma Humbugs so grab your ducks for just £1 head to the Ice Machine gate after the first period and aim for the centre of the rink and win yourself a bag of Ma Humbugs sweets.
We look forward to seeing you at the game …
