Bison Remain Unbeaten At Home

Mac Howlett and Charles Farmer both netted braces as the Basingstoke Bison beat the Hull Seahawks to maintain their unbeated home run to start the league campaign.

Saturday's home game with Hull was a close encounter from start to finish. Both sides traded chances before man of the match Howlett opened the scoring. A superb solo goal, Howlett picked up the puck from Charlie Risk in the Bison end zone and skated the length of the rink past two forwards and then in between both defencement, before slotting home in the sixth minute.

The Herd came close to a second as captain George Norcliffe skated down the left win and his cross was met by Adam Harding, but Aleksanteri Heiskanen made a point blank save. Hull then looked set to equalise as Owen Bruton broke clear, but was unable to beat Ben Clarke-Leach as he skated in one-on-one.

Hull started the second period the better and levelled things up at 21:35 as Jack Musil redireted a Lee Bonner shot. Soon after, the Seahawks man of the match Johnny Corneil was denied by a glove save from Clarke-Leach.

The Bison then took the lead again as Sota Isogai and Kyle Carruth combined and Howlett skated in from the left win to net his second at 28:59.

Soon after, the Herd came close again as Alex Samford's effort was denied by the post as the Hull goalie stacked the pads.

As the period came to a close, Clarke-Leach was called into action and made excellent saves from Finlay Ulrick and Cody Monds. The Bison were first to strike in the final period as Brendan Sellan set up Farmer to score making it 3-1.

Hull set up a tense finale as Monds netted from close range at 56:22. With just over a minute left, Hull pulled their netminder and almost immediately Farmer hit the post with a shot from his own end. Farmer made no mistake the second time as 23 seconds later, as Jay King released him, he skated past 2 players and then slotted home the Bison's 4th in the empty net.

On Sunday night in Romford, the Bison edged the first period 1-0 thanks to a lovely strike from Howlett after a great cross ice pass from Risk. 

Starting the second period, it took the Raiders just 28 seconds to level as Andrew Coxhead scored in the slot.

At the mid-point of the period, the game boiled over as Romford's Tjay Anderson took exception to a hit by AJ Macaulay and being the clear aggressor Anderson was dismissed from the contest. This pumped up the crowd and the home team fed off the energy, scoring twice in the space of three minutes from Barret Kirwin and Jake Sylvester on a two on one breakaway.

The Bison kept themselves in the contest as Adam Harding fired off the crossbar from the blue line, assisted by George Norcliffe and Hallam Wilson.

WIthin a minute, only a great save from the Herd's man of the match Ben Clarke-Leach from Brandon Ayliffe made sure the score remained at 3-2 at the second interval.

Romford extended their lead to two at 41:38 as Austin Osborn scored from a tight angle into the roof of the net. The Bison replied thanks to Macaulay with another great strike from the right wing.

Romford import Leo Bacallao then broke away, but a great Clarke-Leach save denied him. The home side's man of the match Cole Ceci was then called into action as he denied Farmer and Sampford close in after a great play from Brendan Sellan. The Bison were now pushing hard for an equaliser and Howlett saw his shot trickle pass the post as he was upended.

However, from the resulting powerplay the Herd scored as Clarke-Leach played the puck down the boards to Sellan and his feed was converted by Isogai to tie the game at 52:39.

Within two minutes, a penalty on Farmer for tripping gave the Raiders a powerplay and the Bison did well to limit their chances until the final seconds when Jarrett Baker fired in a rocket from just inside the blue line.

With 88 second left in the game, Bacallao broke clear and looked set to seal the win, but Clarke-Leach produced another excellent save.

As the game went into the final minute, the Bison pulled their netminder and created a massive goal mouth scramvle, but somehow Ceci managed to keep the pick out of his net.

Romford then broke down the ice as Bacallao unselfishly fed the puckto Louie White to slot into the empty net to complete a 6-4 win.

Despite the loss, the Herd remain second in the league and will face the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday (6:30pm) before travelling to face the Hull Seahawks on Sunday.