I ENDED my diary last week by promising an exciting, exhausting weekend of ice hockey.

I’d not paid enough attention to the weather forecast, nor believed that I would see and hear the Bison fans so excited as they celebrated a loss in Peterborough last Sunday.

Once Basingstoke was in the grip of the Beast from the East, it was always likely that our first leg Autumn Cup game last Friday would be postponed.

That was a game we had all been looking forward to, but the safety of the fans and players took priority and the game has been re-scheduled for this Friday.

For our key league clash with Peterborough, we were without Grant Rounding, still injured. Roman Malinik had to go home to Czech Republic. I decided to go with a four man defencemen and move Stuart Mogg up front.

We have been battling hard at the top of the table all season with each other and both teams knew how crucial this game would be.

If they won by two or more goals, they would be overwhelming favourites to become champions.

If we held them to a one goal lead, then the final games of the season would determine who took the title.

With a few minutes to go in the third period, we were down 3-1. Our captain, Aaron Connolly, had missed a Grade A chance to score.

On his next shift, he scored a much more difficult goal and we were still in with a chance of the title.

That’s when our travelling fans exploded and they kept on cheering until the final buzzer. That’s how to celebrate a loss!

So this week we’ve got a cup game on Friday and our last two league games at the weekend.

Another exciting, exhausting hockey weekend.