There's a real buzz about Bees clash (From Basingstoke Gazette)

There's a real buzz about Bees clash

8:00am Thursday 5th January 2012 in Ice Hockey By Graham Merry

WINNING is a habit the Basingstoke Bison want to continue and standing in their way this weekend are the Bracknell Bees and Peterborough Phantoms.

The Bees fly into town on Saturday night for a game which has a 6.30pm face-off and currently they lead the series over the Herd 2-1, but all the games have been won by the team playing at home and the Bison will be looking to maintain that sequence.

Confidence is high in the Herd camp after three straight victories including an impressive 5-2 success over league leaders Guildford last Saturday at the Basingstoke Arena.

The Bison will be at full strength for the game, but Bracknell look set to be without injured former Bison defenceman Carl Graham, while import Peter Jasik and former Herd goalie Tom Annetts both sat out last weekend’s games, which saw Bracknell beat Peterborough and then lose in a shoot-out to Manchester.

Bison player/coach Steve Moria wants his side to keep their winning streak going. He said: “Both games this weekend are tricky ones and the results at the moment are so close between any teams.

“We have our belief back and once again I am expecting a fantastic atmosphere and I am sure many Bracknell fans will make the journey down. We are looking to reel in Sheffield and Manchester and to do that we need a four point weekend.”

On Sunday night, the Bison travel to Peterborough, back to the same venue where they won last Monday after a penalty shoot-out.

This time the game has a 5.30pm start and Bison boss Moria is expecting another hard contest.

“They have an ugly rink and they use it to their advantage, coming out hard at you early on. We will be ready for that and will be looking to repeat last week’s win,” he said.