THE Basingstoke Bison enjoyed a perfect weekend with two victories over the early league leaders the Swindon Wildcats.
The Herd won the first game in Swindon 6-2 last Friday and followed it up with a 7-4 success on home ice 24 hours later.
In Wiltshire, the Bison led 1-0 at the first buzzer thanks to a Zack Milton strike.
They then followed it up with a four goal blitz in the second session, as Aidan Doughty, Brendan Baird, George Norcliffe and Gail Lubwele all netted, before Balint Pakozdi opened Swindon’s account.
For the start of the final period Swindon swapped their netminders as Dean Skinns took over from Renny Marr.
Man of the match Colby Tower reduced the lead to three, but a minute later, Bison’s man of the match Lubwele scored to end the contest.
On Saturday night on home ice, the Herd came out flying and opened the scoring on their very first shift.
A lovely cross ice pass from Milton released man of the match Edgars Landsbergs down the right wing and he fired past Skinns after 43 seconds.
A minute later, Tower hit the base of the post for Swindon, but soon after the Bison made it 2-0 from a nice shorthanded marker from Marcel Balaz.
The home side extended their lead to three as Lubwele tipped home a Milton shot at 10:33.
At this point, Swindon called a time out and increased their physicality especially on netminder Alex Mettam.
However, the Bison scored a fourth goal as a three-on-one break and a nice combination of passes from Lubwele and Milton saw the latter score.
The visitors managed to get themselves on the scoreboard with one second left in the period as Pakozdi slid the puck under Mettam.
Swindon swapped their netminders at the start of the second session as Marr replaced Skinns.
They also pulled a goal back shorthanded from Russ Cowley from close range.
The consistency of the officials left a lot to be desired at times as no call came as the Bison’s Ryan Sutton was levelled into the boards by Sam Godfrey. The home player hauled himself up off the ice and pushed Steve Whitfield picking up a very tame penalty.
Swindon made the most of the man advantage as Chris Jones made it 3-2.
At this point the Bison called a time out and took back control of the game with their own powerplay marker. This was scored by Doughty after a great pass across the face of the goal from Balaz.
The lead was then extended to three as Paul Petts’ shot from the right wing saw Marr try to knock it away with his stick, but instead it deflected into the bottom corner of the net.
That goal was vital as a two man advantage for Swindon early in the final period saw Aaron Nell score.
However, soon after the Herd hit back as Lubwele completed the 7-4 victory.
A delighted Bison head coach Ashley Tait said: “I was really pleased with the weekend. Hopefully the guys understand how we have to play on a weekly basis.”
This weekend, the Bison are at home to the reigning league champions the Telford Tigers on Saturday (6.30pm), before a trip to the Hull Seahawks on Sunday (5.30pm).
Tigers have won their last three games, while Hull who returned to the league this season have lost their opening four matches.
Jordan Lawday will be back after missing both Swindon games.
Looking forward to the weekend, Tait said: “Every game in this league is tough regardless of the opposition.”
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