Bison Express hits the buffers

Bison 1 Manchester Phoenix 5

26/11/11

Bison’s magnificent run of 6 straight wins came to a shuddering halt last night with a painful reverse against the reigning EPL title holders, Manchester Phoenix. Despite outshooting their opponents by 38-24, Bison failed to capitalise due in no small part to a goaltending super show by Steve Fone, who picked up the Phoenix man of the match award, edging out Tom Duggan who smashed a hat-trick. The match was, however, spoiled by a shameful piece of gamesmanship by Ladislav Harabin. More about that later.

Having hammered 14 goals in last weekend’s games, it looked like Bison’s hot scoring streak was going to continue to infinity and beyond when Canadian colossus, Steve Moria, hammered Bison into a 1-0 lead after only 37 seconds. Joe Miller challenged for the puck on the boards, enabling Daniel Volrab to pick it up, skate behind the net and rifle an inch perfect pass to the bandana wearing Moria lurking at the back door. Perhaps Fone was momentarily distracted by Mo’s Movember mo (and very impressive it is if I may say so) as he failed to stop the shot. The crowd jumped to their feet in unison, many waving their arms in the air like so many Hydra (O-level biology). Alas for Bison Fone spent the next 59 minutes catching, blocking, deflecting and swallowing the puck to ensure that Moria’s goal was the only goal of the night for the home icemen.

Phoenix levelled it on 5 minutes, Tom Duggan broke clear and bore down on Matt Colclough in the Bison goal. At that moment Matt must have wished that he possessed the bulk of Oliver Hardy, but alas he is closer in shape and size to Stan Laurel.  Duggan fired high. It was 1-1. Assists to Neil and Cingel. Less than 2 minutes later Duggan put Phoenix ahead with his second. Bison were caught in a 2 on 1 between Duggan and Ryan Johnson. Ward was awarded the second assist.

Bison had an excellent opportunity to get back on level terms when Chris Wiggins burst through the Phoenix defense. He was brought down by a slash from Johnson, but he still managed to get off a shot as he fell headlong to the ice like a factory chimney demolished by Fred Dibnah. To the box went Johnson.

In the last minute of the 1^st Joe Miller picked up a slashing penalty which carried over into the second. 17 seconds into the 2^nd Martin Cingel joined him in the box also for slashing. During the resultant 4 on 4 Phoenix increased their lead. An import fuelled move with Jaroslav Spelda and Slava Koulikov enabled Duggan to complete his hat-trick. 2 minutes later it was 1-4 with returning Bison old boy, long Ciaran Long, scoring an unassisted goal.

Marcel Petran, the Slovak cannon, then took a seat for high sticking and during the resultant power play Phoenix D-Man Harabin hammered home a rocket of a slap shot from the blue line. Colclough must have hoped that the post had come to his rescue as he heard that characteristic PING sound of rubber against metal. Alas the puck deflected into the net rather than out and the scoreboard clicked on to 1-5. It was getting depressing.

There then occurred the talking point of the entire game and an incident which most of the Bison crowd regarded as outrageous play acting worthy of an Oscar on the part of Harabin. Chris Wiggins slipped the puck past the Slovak defenseman, who tried to obstruct his path by leaning into him. Wiggie gave Harabin a shove and the defenseman crashed into the boards. Yes it was boarding. Yes it was an infraction. It should have been 2 minutes in the box. However, Harabin made such a meal of it, making his injury look much worse than it was, and the referee was conned into imposing a 5 + game penalty on Wiggins. OK Harabin did crash heavily into the boards and was hurt, but he definitely exaggerated his injury, particularly when leaving the ice bent over double and holding his head in both hands as if he was nursing the mother of all hangovers. Without the need for a single Asprin or “hair of the dog” he was back on the ice for his next shift completely recovered from what he made out to be as serious a head injury as the one which kept Sidney Crosby out for the best part of a year. Strange that!

Suffice it to say that the Bison players weren’t buying Harabin’s play acting and were incensed at the Wiggins punishment. Harabin’s card was marked. With only seconds of the period remaining, the savvy Slovak, Viktor Kubenko, sliced through a static Phoenix defense, deked in front of Fone and shot against the post. In the ensuing melee Harabin slashed and Nicky Chinn hooked. The Bison skipper then confronted Harabin, eager to make known his views concerning the latter’s conduct. Incredibly, Harabin immediately turtled, throwing himself to the ice faster than a petulant child and adopting the foetal position with his hands covering his head. In the First World War they used to shoot people for cowardice in the face of the enemy. Luckily for Harabin this was only a game of hockey and a firing squad was not required, although, had it been, there would have been plenty of Bison fans saying, “Give me a rifle.” Widely regarded as one of the best, maybe even THE best, defenseman in the EPL, Harabin showed himself to possess the gamesmanship of a premiership footballer and the courage of a fluffy kitten.

Bison pressed hard in the 4^th, outshooting Phoenix by 14-8 and trying to at least bring a semblance of respectability to the scoreline, but Fone stood as solid as a rock. By pressing forward they left themselves a little thin at the back on occasions, allowing Phoenix a couple of breakaway chances. The first fell to James Archer (no relation to Jeffrey as far as I am aware). In attempting to lift the puck top shelf past Colclough he succeeded in spooning it way over the glass and into the safety net. The second fell to Duggan, looking for his 4^th goal of the night, but on this occasion Colclough was equal to it, stopping Duggan’s wrist shot with his pad.

Not a night to enjoy for the Bison faithful.