THE Basingstoke Bison have signalled their intent to challenge for trophies next season with the signing of import netminder Tomas Hiadlovsky.

The 26-year-old Slovak is no stranger to Britain, having spent the past three seasons with Elite League outfit Edinburgh Capitals.

Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard is really pleased to have captured his new goalie and said: “Tomas is a key signing for us and is player who can win games on his own.

“He has been battling to get his side into the play-offs for the past three years but will come to us to hopefully help win the play-offs.”

Hiadlovsky’s addition to line-up means the Herd have just one import forward to sign after Sheppard confirmed he would be the Herd’s fifth import.

This means that next season, the Bison’s foreign legion will be split between one goalie, one defenceman and two forwards.

This is not new for the English Premier League, as it was the make-up of last season’s play-off winners, Peterborough Phantoms.

The arrival of Hiadlovsky means Basingstoke-born goalie Dean Skinns will no longer be the team’s starting netminder.

However, Sheppard is still in talks with Skinns and has not ruled out him staying with the Herd next season.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Hiadlovsky is the second Slovakian to join the Herd this season, after the re-signing of defenceman Miroslav Vantroba earlier this month.

Bison player/coach Doug Sheppard is really pleased to have signed his new goalie and said: “The more I spoke to people about him, the more the decision to sign him became easier.”

Hiadlovsky is a former Slovakian junior international and played in the Under-18 World Championships in 2006.

The tournament included a host of players who went onto play in the National Hockey League, including double Stanley Cup winner Pat Kane.

He has spent most of his career in Slovakia, playing in the top tier for his hometown team HK Dukla Trencin, where he recorded a 91.4 per cent save rate in 2009/10.

He arrived in Britain in 2012, spending three years with Edinburgh and playing over 3,000 minutes in each season. In his first campaign, he helped the Scottish side to sixth place.

Last season, Hiadlovsky played 58 games for the Scottish side. He spent 3,472 minutes on the ice and faced 1,848 shots, with an 89.3 per cent save rate.

This may be lower than other goalies in the Elite League, but he was playing for a team that finished ninth in the division and it is safe to say that they did not have the best defence. He will now join a team which gave up just 1,600 shots last season and have more of a team defence ethic installed in them by Bison boss Sheppard, so his percentage should return to over 90 per cent.

In the English Premier League, teams are limited to playing four imports per game and are only allowed to ice three foreign players at the same time.

By signing an import goalie, the Bison will only be able to ice two other import skaters. However, this should not prove to be a problem for the Bison as last season they only ever iced three imports on the same shift in powerplay situations.

With new British forward Shaun Thompson already added to the forward line, along with the re-signing of Ciaran Long and Joe Greener, the team already have a lot of firepower in the offensive department and more are sure to follow.

Talking about this Sheppard said: “Signing an import goalie changes your options elsewhere in the team, but I am happy we will have British forwards who will score enough goals this season.”