THE Basingstoke Bison suffered a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to the Milton Keynes Lightning in the play-off semi-finals in Coventry.

In a tight contest from start to finish it took over two periods before the deadlock was broken.

An early powerplay in the game forced former Herd man Dean Skinns into a couple of excellent saves to deny Rene Jarolin and Joe Greener, while Tomas Hiadlovsky had to be alert to deny Lewis Hook shorthanded.

The sides continued to trade chances, but both goalies were equal to everything.

The second session was another even one as once again the shot count was level.

James Griffin with a blue line blast tested Hiadlovsky, while Shaun Thompson was denied by Skinns.

Frankie Bakrlik and Jordan Cownie were the next MK players to force Hiadlovsky into saves, while at the other of the rink Skinns did well to keep out shots from Long and Greener.

The game was finally broken open at 46:56, as Lightning’s man of the match Leigh Jamieson fired over the shoulder of Hiadlovsky.

The MK goal scorer was then sent to the sin bin on his next shift and the Bison made the most of the man advantage.

Herd’s man of the match Joe Greener scored from close range, after Ciaran Long’s shot had been blocked.

Soon after, the Herd were given another powerplay as Bakrlik picked up a 2+10 penalty for checking to the head on Kurt Reynolds.

During this Bison defenceman Miroslav Vantroba hit the post with a blue line shot.

As the tension grew in the Skydome, neither side could find the winning goal, so the match went into sudden death overtime.

This once again failed to split the sides meaning a penalty shoot-out would decide the finalist.

MK import Blaz Emersic opened the shoot-out and his effort hit the post.

The Herd’s first shooter was former Lightning star Jarolin, but he shot wide.

MK captain Adam Carr then fired over and Long forced Skinns to save.

This left the final two shooters before it would go to sudden death.

Bobby Chamberlain scored for MK, so now all the pressure was on Greener to score to keep his side in the contest.

However, he was unable to beat Skinns and the Bison’s dream of winning a league and play-off double was over.

The season may not have ended how the Herd wanted it to, but they can hold their heads up high after winning the league title for the first time in 23 years.

Before the game the annual Ice Hockey Journalists UK awards were announced and the Bison as expected dominated.

Doug Sheppard was voted Coach of the Year for the EPL.

They also had four players in the first all star team, they were Jon Baston, Kurt Reynolds, Tomas Karpov and Ciaran Long, while in the second all star team were players Stuart Mogg and Rene Jarolin.

In the other play-off semi-final on Saturday in Coventry, the Guildford Flames beat the Peterborough Phantoms 4-1.