Herd set sights on away record (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Former Goalie stands between Bison and new record

1:00pm Friday 20th January 2012 in Ice Hockey By Graham Merry

FORMER Basingstoke Bison netminder Dean Skinns stands between the Herd and a new English Premier League club record of six straight away wins.

Skinns was released by Basingstoke in late December and joined their Wiltshire rivals Swindon Wildcats after starting goalie Tom Murdy suffered a leg injury, ironically against the Bison in Swindon last month.

The former Bison nettie has been in fine form since, producing a string of great performances – the stand-out being when Swindon beat league leaders Guildford 6-4 a fortnight ago despite being out shot 66-35.

Now Skinns is sure to be determined to deny the Bison when they arrive at the Link Centre on Saturday in a game that has a 5.45pm face-off.

So far this season, the Herd have won their three games against the Wildcats and at the moment are playing really well on the road.

Looking ahead to the Swindon game, Bison player/coach Steve Moria said: “Dean Skinns is hot right now, and it is always strange how a player signs for another club and resurrects their career.

“He is going to be tough to beat.

“We have had a lot of success against Swindon so far this season, but they are a skilful team who have not been at their best against us yet.”

On Sunday night (face-off 5.30pm), the Herd return to home ice against high-flying Milton Keynes Lightning – and the visitors will be looking for their fourth win over the Bison. Earlier in the season, Basingstoke faced MK in a back-to-back weekend and narrowly lost both games.

Moria said: “When we played MK over that one weekend, I felt we played well. We just came up against a hot goal tender in (Alex) Mettam.

“We know they will come here and play an aggressive style looking to win the one-on-one battles, and we have to be ready to move the puck quick and make sure there is support all over the ice.”