THE Basingstoke Bison have beefed up their defence a little more with the signing of six foot 14-and-a-half stone British defenceman Carl Graham.

The Reading-born blue liner is the final piece in the Bison back division jigsaw for their forthcoming English Premier League campaign and will be his first in a Basingstoke shirt.

Last season, Graham played against the Herd for the Manchester Phoenix and then the Bracknell Bees, having joined them in the first month of the campaign due in part to his commitments in Berkshire.

Before that, the 26-year-old played for Lancashire side for two seasons in the Elite League and has also suited up for the Wightlink Raiders and Slough Jets in the English Premier League.

Steve Moria is delighted to have signed Graham and said: “He will add a little bit more grit to the defence and he will win his one-on-one battles.

“He will be able to make that first pass out of the zone as he handles the puck well.”

Graham, talking to The Gazette from his home in Lower Earley, said: “I am very excited about coming to Basingstoke. I know a few of the players and a lot of the guys have returned from last season and I think we have a great chance this year of bringing a trophy home.”

Talking about his style of play the new defenceman said: “The fans will notice me dishing out the hits as I am physical players.

“My job will be to move players out of our goalie’s face and move the puck up to the forwards.”

Of course, having played for the Bees last season, he has extra reasons to look forward to the Herd’s opening challenge game against Bracknell on September 8.

The addition of new boy Graham gives the Bison six defencemen, but Moria, as last year, is going with five man back unit, so utility player Tony Redmond will move to the forward line.

Herd fans are used to seeing the Scotsman, the team’s highest scoring British player of all time in that position as he has played there for most of his Basingstoke career. It has only been in recent times that he has dropped back to defence.

Moria said: “Tony has played as a forward all of his life except for the last three years and is a great defensive forward.

“It is great for us as if we suffer an injury in defence we have a ready made replacement who can drop back there.”

That just leaves the Bison to recruit a back-up netminder to complete their squad for the forthcoming season.