THE Basingstoke Bison have completed their import line-up for the forthcoming English Premier League campaign with the re-signing of popular Canadian forward Joe Rand.

The Herd’s foreign quartet will be new netminder Tomas Hiadlovsky, along with returning trio of defenceman Miroslav Vantroba and forwards Tomas Karpov and Rand.

Rand, who is 29 and hails from Ontario, Canada, is back for a fourth campaign for the Bison.

He was a member of the double-winning side in 2013/14, scoring a critical penalty shot that helped Basingstoke win the play-off final.

The sharp shooter has collected 136 league points in three seasons with the Herd, hitting the net 64 times.

He is an excellent defensive forward, often being given the job of shutting down the opposition’s top scoring lines. He is also a valuable member of the Herd’s powerplay unit.

Bison boss Doug Sheppard is delighted to have Rand back for a fourth season and said: “I doubt if there is a better two-way forward in this league and he is another player who can score over 20 goals a season.

“We now have six players that can do this, giving me plenty of options in terms of who to play together in the forward lines.”

Fellow Canadian Rand is pleased to be back and said: “This team is like a family to me and I could not see myself wearing any jersey in the EPL other than a Bison one.

“I think Shep (Doug Sheppard) has done an excellent job with the tweaks he has made to the line-up for this season.

“He did the same thing after my first season in Basingstoke, bringing in Miro (Vantroba) and Tomas (Karpov) and we won two trophies.

He added: “Shep did the same last year and we challenged all season, but for some reason came up empty in terms of silverware.

“I am excited about the team we have so far and I am looking forward to helping the club win trophies again.”

l Turn to page 78 to read about three more Bison re-signings who were unveiled at last week’s season ticket evening, where the Herd’s new captain was also announced.