Basingstoke Bison aiming to make it three wins in a row against Peterborough Phantoms (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Basingstoke Bison aiming to make it three wins in a row against Peterborough Phantoms

8:00am Friday 21st September 2012 in Sport By Graham Merry

THE BASINGSTOKE Bison will be looking to carry on the perfect start to their league campaign as they face Peterborough and Bracknell this weekend.

The Herd enjoyed an excellent victory in Manchester on Sunday night after winning their EPL opener the previous evening against Bracknell.

First up this weekend is Peterborough Phantoms on home ice (face-off 6.30pm) followed by the chance of a quick league double with a trip to the Hive to face the Bracknell Bees.

Despite his side’s super start to the season Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard is not going to get carried away and said: “I was very happy with the opening weekend, but we still have some areas to improve and we will be working on them in training this week.

“Peterborough I think will be the surprise team this year. They have some very good forwards so we need to tighten up our defence and make sure we play a complete 60 minute game.”

Last weekend, the Phantoms certainly upset the apple cart as they beat the highly fancied Milton Keynes Lighting twice in challenge matches, with former Bison import Ondrej Lauko scoring twice in both games.

However, the Phantoms could be minus two imports for the trip to Basingstoke, as forward Maris Ziedins blocked a shot with his glove in Sunday’s game leaving him with heavy bruising to his hand.

Defenceman Jozef Sladok will definitely miss the game as he is attending his brother’s wedding, but he only played for the first three minutes of last weekend after he suffered concussion after fighting former Bison enforcer Chris Wiggins.

On Sunday night, the Bison travel to Bracknell where last season they lost twice in three visits.

After losing in Basingstoke last Saturday, the Bees then lost on home ice to Guildford so are sure to be even more pumped up as they look for the first win of the season.

Talking ahead of another local derby Sheppard said: “They play a lot better at home. At the moment they have their backs to the wall and obviously will be looking for that first win. Our objective is for another four-point weekend.”