Basingstoke Bison beat Leeds Knights 3-2 in overtime

Netminder Ethan James was given his first ever Bison league start in the game, behind a D core of only five as they were without Stuart Mogg. 

In an exciting even first period the Knights’ Kieran Brown hit the post before the Herd’s Adam Harding was denied one on one.

Former Leeds favourite Mac Howlett opened the scoring at 8.38 as he finished off a nice passing move which involved Kyle Carruth and AJ Macaulay.

Sota Isogai netted in Leeds (Image: danmurphysportsimages)

With 49.6 seconds left in the period, Oli Endicott was involved with Hallam Wilson at the net and the Knight was given a 5+ game for fighting.

This meant the Bison started the second period with four minutes left on their powerplay. 

They made the most of it as Sota Isogai tipped a Howlett shot to score making it 2-0. 

They so nearly added a third as Sellan on the backhand was denied in the slot on another Bison powerplay.

As the period came to an end Leeds were given a man advantage, but James stood tall and kept them out as the Herd went in at the second buzzer with a two goal lead.

Leeds had the better of the third period and man of the match Sam Dunn netted for the home side with a blue line shot at 45.38 this set up a tense finale with Leeds tying the game with just two minutes left in regulation time from Owen Sobchak.

With no further scoring the game went into overtime and the Bison came out victorious as Sellan was found by man of the match Macaulay and produced a lovely backhand finish by the post on the powerplay at 63:30.

The previous night on home ice, the Herd was first to score against the Pitbulls after a blue line shot from Stuart Mogg caused a goal mouth scramble and man of the match Sellan netted.

Brendan Sellan (22) scored the OT winner in Leeds (Image: danmurphysportsimages)

Bristol was quick to level, thanks to a super solo strike from man of the match Jake Bricknell.

Bison made it 2-1 as Sellan skated from his own end through the Bristol defence to score.

The Pitbulls then tied the game from a powerplay strike from Robbie Fisher.

Jay King hit the post on the home side’s first powerplay of the night as the period finished 2-2.

In the second period the Bison continued to battle hard outshooting the visitors but the Pitbulls managed to score three times on the powerplay from Fisher, John Dunbar and Bricknell ending the second period 5-2.

During the third session the Bison continued to have plenty of shots on goal, but Will Kerlin, Bristol’s goalie managed to save them all. 

The Bison then scored from Adam Harding only for it to be disallowed as the net was off its moorings and soon after Mac Howlett crashed a shot off the crossbar.

Man of the match in Leeds AJ Macaulay (Image: danmurphysportsimages)

The final score was 5-2 which didn’t really reflect the Bison’s work ethic as they outshot the visitors 55-27. 

Looking back over the weekend Bison head coach Tony Redmond said: “I thought in Leeds the team was phenomenal and did everything that I asked of them. It was great response after the disappointment against Bristol.”

The Herd are back in action on Saturday night at home to the Leeds Knights which starts at 6.30pm.

Then on Sunday they travel to face the Telford Tigers which has a 6pm face off.