Photo (C) Jo Loat
By Simon Church
After 2 weeks of Pre-Season hockey (aka Challenge Games), your GalxC Cooling Services Basingstoke Bison will take on the Peterborough Phantoms and Bees IHC in the opening weekend of 2022/23 Planet Ice NIHL National League action.
First up are the Phantoms on Saturday evening, face off at the Silverdome Arena is 6.30pm.
Coached by the well respected Slava Koulikov and Captained by long serving Will Weldon for whom this will be his 12th season in Peterborough.
Phantoms have a good mix on their roster, Jordan Marr, Tom Norton, Scott Robson, Callum Buglass, Glenn Billing and Ales Padelek form a strong and experienced core, while the likes of Bradley Bowering, Billy Thorpe, Jarvis Hunt and 16 year old Archie Salisbury provide a youthful balance.
New to Gretton Road for 2022/23 are Austin Mitchell-King signed from Telford, Import Lukas Sladkovsky from Raiders IHC and Ralfs Circenis from Swedish side Lindefallets SK.
One to watch: Jasper Foster (Forward)
19 year old Foster began his hockey career as part of the Coventry Blaze youth programme before moving to Swindon’s U18’s. His breakthrough into senior hockey came when he joined the Phantoms in 2021/22, making 61 appearances and scoring 17 points (8+9) and impressing many with his style of play.
On Sunday the Herd make a short trip east along the M4 to Slough Ice Arena aka the Hangar, where they take on Bees IHC (formerly Bracknell Bees) in a game which faces off at 5.00pm.
The two teams recently met in a pair of Pre-Season Challenge games, Bison winning a 5-4 thriller at home, while the return in Slough saw Bees IHC take the win 2-1 in overtime.
Bees IHC are coached by a former Bison in Doug Sheppard, captained by another ex member of the Herd, Stuart Mogg.
Their roster includes numerous names familiar to fans of the Herd, namely Joe Baird, Josh Smith and Alan Lack, Dan Weller-Evans and JJ Pitchley.
One to Watch: Brendan Walkom (Forward)
Although this is the 24 year olds first taste of UK hockey following 10 seasons in the American leagues, Walkom has settled quickly and produced performances which indicate he will play a key role for the Bees in the season ahead.
Tickets are available for Saturdays game against the Phantoms (Face Off 6.30pm) by clicking the following link: https://iceaccount.co.uk/basingstoke-bison?Reference=Bison-Website
Note: The first home and away league games between each team will count towards the National Cup, the semi-finals and final will be arranged once qualification games are completed.
