1:00pm Thursday 18th March 2010
By Graham Merry
TONY Redmond – Mr Basingstoke to the Bison fans – will set another club record on Saturday night, as he becomes the first player to make 400 league appearances for the club.
This season, the popular Scotsman returned to the Herd from Slough for his fourth spell with Basingstoke, having made his original debut in the autumn of 1992.
Redmond’s team mates will be gunning to make sure his celebration evening is not spoiled and the home fans are sure to give their British star a super reception.
Bison player/coach Steve Moria said: “It is a great achievement for any player to play that many games for any one club.”
This weekend, the Bison have a double header showdown with the sixth-placed Peterborough Phantoms.
The first game is in Basingstoke, with a 6.30pm face-off, with the return in Cambridgeshire, which has a 5.30pm start time.
The Bison, who moved into third spot in the standings last Saturday after their win over Slough, then slipped to fifth after a home loss against the MK Lightning, but are still only one point behind Manchester and Guildford.
This Saturday, Moria is looking for his side to bounce back to winning form and said: “They are a strong hockey team with bags of talent. We will have to be sharp to beat them.”
One headache for the Bison boss is the fact that British forward Chris Wiggins will miss the weekend due to suspension. With only eight fit forwards on the team, Moria may try and bring a player in, otherwise he could switch a defenceman to forward or just ice with eight forwards meaning some will double shift.
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