Moria calls for Herd to come out fighting (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Moria calls for Herd to come out fighting

1:00pm Friday 16th December 2011 in Ice Hockey By Graham Merry

THE BASINGSTOKE Bison player/coach Steve Moria is looking for much better second half of the season when the Herd return to the ice on Boxing Day for a home clash against the Peterborough Phantoms.

The Herd boss was hoping his side would go into their mid-season break with a victory, but unfortunately last Saturday his side lost to the visiting Sheffield Steeldogs 5-4.

Moria said: “Ideally I wanted to go into the break with a win and not a negative with a loss, but I am sure we will come back strong.

“I am disappointed with the way the first half of the season has gone, but we have out shot sides in nearly every game. I feel we are playing well but are not getting the results.”

He added: “I think we are close to getting our lines right and as a team we are a lot stronger than last year, but the league is stronger too and very competitive. I still think we can win the league if we can get a good run going.”

Three players that have surprised Moria so far this season are forwards Jacob Heron and Liam Chong along with defenceman Dan Harris.

The Bison boss said: “I signed Jacob as a tenth forward, but he is capable of a lot more and Liam brings so much energy to the team. Dan is a player who makes few mistakes so his performances go unnoticed.”

While the Herd have this weekend off as the annual ice show is staged, one Bison player still in action is forward Chong for Great Britain under-20s at the World Championships in Germany.

However, things have not gone well for the team so far as they lost their opening game 5-2 to top seeds Norway and then were beaten 8-0 by Slovenia.

The team were in action yesterday against Belarus, while today they face hosts Germany with their last game on Saturday against Austria.