Miller Hat-trick Stings the Bees

Bison 7 Bracknell Bees 4

7/1/12

Joe Miller (no relation to Mutch the  Miller as far as I am aware) took his season’s tally to 22 goals with a smartly taken hat-trick as Bison recorded what looks like a comfortable win on paper, but actually wasn’t. They made their opportunities count with no fewer than 3 power play goals not to mention a short handed goal amongst the haul of 7. However, they didn’t have it all their own way and there was a time in the 2nd when they appeared to have lost their way and allowed a spirited Bees side to wipe out a 2 goal deficit.

Bison cruised into a 1^st period 2-0 lead. On 10 minutes, Sam Oakford’s slap shot from the point was deflected past Bees’ netman, Carl Ambler, by Craig Tribe. 5 minutes later it was 2-0. During a power play with Ben Johnson (not the Canadian sprinter) serving time for hooking, Marcel Petran sent in one of his characteristic rocket powered slap shots from the point. Ambler stopped the puck, but could only juggle it to the ice. Canadian colossus, Steve Moria, was on hand to sweep it over the line.

The Bees halved the deficit with a power play goal of their own shortly after. Another hooking call resulted in Jacob Heron having his collar felt by the referee. A smart passing move involving Lukas Smittal and Rob Lamey set up James Galazzi with a tap in goal. The period ended at 2-1 to the home side.

We had to wait until 12 minutes into the 2^nd period for another goal, but then were treated to a veritable avalanche with no fewer than 3 in the space of a minute. First of all Smittal found himself in on goal. He fired a vicious wrist shot past Stephen Wall to level the scores at 2-2. Only 11 seconds of play later, Bison restored their lead as Viktor Kubenko took the puck around the back of the goal and fired a pass to Steve Moria, who bagged his second of the night. Bison’s lead was short lived. Martin Masa made it 3-3 with a wraparound goal which must have left a goaltender of Stephen Wall’s experience a trifle disappointed. Had we been able to Wally’s face it would no doubt have been red.

On 35 minutes Nicky Chinn found himself going “down the steps” for hooking (well not literally – it is actually up a step into the box). Bison survived the resultant power play in no small measure thanks to the actions of blueliner Dan Harris, who performed a series of text book defensive plays to block the right hand channel, even throwing himself to the ice on a couple of occasions. It only goes to show you don’t have to touch the puck to do the job effectively.

Bison regained the lead only 41 seconds before the second buzzer with a most unusual score. The puck broke down the ice and was chased by Chris Wiggins and a defenseman. For some reason Carl Ambler decided to charge out from his net like an angry rhino. It seemed like a strange decision as his own player was just ahead of Wiggins and appeared favourite to take the puck. Ambler clattered into puck, Wiggins and all. The puck spilled wide to Craig Tribe, who must have been delighted to see the empty net gaping before him. He shot firmly into the net with the accuracy of a bullet fired from Annie Oakley’s Winchester rifle. It was his second of the game and it made it 4-3. Bees players swamped the referee, protesting that Wiggns had obstructed Ambler and prevented him from getting back into the net, but the officials held in a contrary opinion and the goal stood.

And so into the 3^rd. On 46 minutes Bison old boy, Rick Skene, found himself doing porridge for holding. Bouncing Czech, Daniel Volrab, took the puck forward and then delivered a perfect pass from behind the goal line to Joe Miller to score his first of the night. The Czech/Welsh combination struck again to move the scoreboard on from 5-3 to 6-3 only 3 minutes later with Miller hammering in at the back door after another wonderful set up by the elegant stick handling Volrab. Steve Moria registered the second assist. It was Bison’s 3^rd power play goal of the game.

On 52 minutes an opprobrious fracas of the most shameful variety took place. Following an unsporting hit from behind by Smittal on Liam Chong, Chris Wiggins sought to seek vigilante revenge on Skene. The officials allowed the confrontation to proceed no further than handbags and then promptly dished out a 2 + 2 for charging and roughing to Wiggins, a 2 cross checking to Smittal and a 2 roughing to Skene. I have to say it didn’t look very “rough” to me – just a bit of pushing and shoving.

Moments later Slovak cannon, Marcel Petran, fired in another unstoppable trademark slapshot, this one from the point. I say unstoppable, but it wasn’t really. In fact it proved very stoppable, albeit in a most unconventional fashion. The puck crashed into Ambler’s mask and sent it spinning from his head. It doesn’t matter how you stop ‘em I suppose.

Bison then went belly up on the discipline front from with Reynolds, Petran and Volrab all ending up in stir for three separate infractions committed within a 40 second period. However, they very nearly scored a short short handed goal in the ensuing 5 on 3 with Moria skating clear and hammering in a long range shot which Ambler blocked. It seemed unlikely, especially to the glass half empty Bison fans, that their 3 could survive against the Bees’ 5 and so it proved with Rob Lamey finishing a smart move from Thompson and Galazzi for 6-4. With just under 3 minutes left on the clock and still short handed was it too preposterous to suggest that Bison could throw away their 2 goal lead? Some may have thought so I am sure, but Bison proved stalwart in defense, Alamo style - the difference being that they weren’t all killed like Davey Crockett and his companions. And much to the chagrin of the travelling Bees support, Bison cemented the victory with a short handed goal from Joe Miller to make it 7-4. Moria set free Miller, who broke forward, deked and scored off his backhand to complete his hat-trick with only one minute left on the clock. It was Steve’s 4^th point of the game – 2 goals and 2 assists. Well done to him and all the team. Without wishing to sound disrespectful to the Bees, these are the sort of home ice games which Bison should be winning, but which have proved problematical on past occasions.

Bison Triumph in High Noon Showdown

Bison 5 Guildford Flames 2

31/12/11

Continuing on from their imperious performance last Tuesday at Swindon where they recorded a 6-1 road win, Bison, dressed in black from head to foot Wyatt Earp style, shot down their local rivals, the gun slinging Guildford Flames, who rode into town for a High Noon showdown on the back of 13 straight victories.

It was, however, the Flames who opened the scoring in the 5^th minute through Matt Towe. Bison old boy, Andy Hemmings, slid a pass from behind the goal line for his team-mate to convert. Stuart Potts picked up the second assist. Those Bison fans with glasses half empty must have thought “Here we go again.” However, within 2 minutes Bison were level when a Volrab shot rebounded to Joe Miller, who stabbed the puck over the goal line. It was Millertime once again.

Bison claimed the lead in the 12^th minute with a wonderfully taken power play goal scored by the bouncing Czech, Daniel Volrab. With the slashing Branislav Kvetan, in the box, a defense splitting pass from Joe Miller found Volrab on the boards and powering forward like Stephenson’s Rocket. He cut in diagonally from the right wing and let fly with a left handed wrist shot. The puck flew high over Lee’s shoulder and into the net with the accuracy of Phil “The Power” Taylor throwing for a treble 20. Kurt Reynolds picked up the second assist.

And so the period ended with Bison enjoying a 2-1 advantage. The second period was bound to be a big test with the Flames pulling out all the stops. The glass half empty Bison fans must have had a bad feeling, knowing what the Flames were capable of. Their pessimism proved misplace as it was Bison who power into a 4-1 lead inside the first 4 minutes of the period, hammering two unanswered goals within 24 seconds of each other. First of the brace was created by Jacob Heron. He cleverly delayed his shot as a defenseman slid in front of him. The way to goal then opened up in front of him like the parting of the Red Sea. His powerful wrist shot seemed to be going just wide until it deflected off Craig Tribe and flew past a hapless Mark Lee into the net. A fortuitous goal, but they all count. Bison skipper Nicky Chinn then bagged a goal. Tosh Redmond passed to savvy Slovak Viktor Kubenko, whose behind the goal line pass found Chinn in front of the net. It wasn’t the cleanest of strikes, but in it went to leave the Flames reeling like drunken men. A time out was called to steady the Guildford ship.

Things were starting to look a bit fruity out there and many, including the Block C Gooner in the 87 Crosby shirt, thought there was every likelihood of a fight. Maybe there would have been had Chris Wiggins not been serving a suspension. The nearest we got was an ugly confrontation between Curtis Huppe (rhymes with yuppie, not soup or sup) and Viktor Kubenko. The shaven headed Canadian (OK I couldn’t actually see that from Row F and anyway he was wearing a helmet) and the hirsute Slovak came together and exchanged the contrary views which each held. Perhaps they were discussing hair restoration processes. There then followed a bit of push and shove, which was broken up and not considered violent enough to qualify as “roughing” by the referee. There being no offense called “handbags”, the would be combatants were spared a spell in the box.

By the end of the period the Flames had reduced the deficit with a short handed goal from dangerous Canadian, Nathan Rempel. With only seconds of Adam Savage’s penalty for interference remaining, goal-a-game man Rempel proved he is as deadly a marksman as Wild Bill Hickok (Google him if you like) and with more notches on his stick than Bill had on the handle of his Colt 45. David Longstaff used his long staff to fire the puck into the path of Rempel, who bore down on goal and fired a top shelf wrist shot past Matt Colclough. The glass half empty Bison fans slumped back in their seats and groaned. Even the glass half full fans held back from predicting a Bison win and the genial Brummie in the 33 Kieras shirt refused to don his rose coloured specs, not wishing to tempt fate.

Nevertheless, it was still looking good for the men in black. A Flames onslaught in the 3^rd was to be expected. So good at coming from behind and against a team so good at throwing away leads, Guildford were certain to be throwing the kitchen sink at the Bison goal. Bison needed a fifth goal to ease the pressure and looked perfectly capable of bagging one as long as they continued to take the game to the Flames. And that is exactly what happened. Just under 4 minutes into the period the Margate marauder, Ollie Bronnimann, was put in by Volrab. Ollie broke away without a defenseman to trouble him. He skated forward as fast as Rocket Ron Haslam powering down the home straight at Donnington (OK I might be exaggerating a bit here), foxed Lee as to his intentions and bulged the net before the goaltender could react. It was vintage Ollie.

The fifth goal took away the pressure, but it was far from over with both sides creating many a chance as the game continued to ebb and flow. At 3 goals behind the Flames, declined to pull their goaltender as the clock ticked down, realising that it was a hopeless cause. With a couple of seconds remaining a speculative long range shot came in. Matt Colclough shot out his catcher and nonchalantly plucked the puck out of the air like a frog with a long sticky tongue catching a fly. The clock stopped at 0.5 seconds. Not even the glass half empty fans thought that the Flames could score 3 goals in the last half second. And so it proved. The final buzzer was greeted with a standing ovation. 

Flames man of the match was Jez Lundin and the Bison award went to Kurt Reynolds. This bemused many of the Bison crowd who thought that Matt Colclough would have been a worthy recipient of the beer box. In the absence of Stephen Wall he had a top game with a series of saves, blocks, deflections and catches and was in no small way instrumental in the Flames failing to get within touching distance of Bison.

Phantom Lauko returns to haunt Planet Ice

Bison 2 Peterborough Phantoms 5

27/12/11

Some bizarre decisions left the Bison crowd wondering whether Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Louis Braille could have done a worse job than the three officials. However, let not the outrageous and indeed malevolent incidents which I am about to relate mask the fact that Bison lost a game in which they looked lack lustre in contrast to their opponents who looked very much up for the game. Why? Was it too much Christmas pud, lack of preparation, too long a break since their last game or all of those three. Or was it something much more serious and deep rooted to do with the morale of the team and the will to win? Only Mo and those in his dressing room can answer that one.

During the course of the game two unsavoury incidents of the most unseemly type flared up. The result? Two Bison players, Chris Wiggins and Jacob Heron, were thrown out of the game. The first occurred in the 15^th minute when Wiggins crashed into an opponent sending him to the ice like a sack of King Edwards. One of his team mates tried to exact revenge on Wiggins but was restrained. Wiggins received a 5 + game. The Phantoms vigilante? Nothing at all. In the 31^st minute Bison’s Liam Chong was robustly boarded by Maris Ziedins. As he crumpled to the ice, Jacob Heron charged in and there developed an ignominious conflict with Ziedins as the former expressed his views concerning the latter’s conduct. Heron was given a 2 + game and Ziedins only a 2 boarding and nothing for roughing. The howling man on the end of Row E voiced his disapproval of both decisions in the most vociferous manner as did most of the crowd, albeit not as loudly. Perhaps the incidents looked different depending on where you were sitting, but from the seats above the red line, they looked more or less like a carbon copy of each other. How strange, therefore, that Bison ended up with two players thrown out of the game and the Phantoms merely a 2 minute boarding penalty to one player.

On 11 minutes the Phantoms opened the scoring. With Kurt Reynolds serving a 2 + 10 for “checking from behind” the visitors and made the extra skater count as Jeff Glowa centred to Maris Ziedens lurking at the back door. Bison netman, Stephen Wall, got a piece of the puck but couldn’t prevent Ziedens’s shot from crossing the line.

Bison’s best goal chance of the period occurred during the power play when Liam Chong nicked the puck as stealthily as one of Fagin’s pickpockets and burst clear. He bore down menacingly on goaltender King, but failed to bamboozle the Phantom’s netman with his deking and his shot was saved.

Bison found themselves 2 goals to the bad within 5 minutes of the restart. Maris Ziedens’s shot was saved by Wall, but the puck fell into the crease and was bundled in by Robbie Brown. A scrappy goal, but they all count. As Mr. Punch says, “That’s the way to do it”. Get someone in front of the net to scuff in those rebounds – something which Bison seem to do all too infrequently.

The mood of the Bison crowd became dark – like Dunkirk without the spirit. However, within a minute a ray of hope appeared from behind the black cloud of defeatism as Slovak cannon Marcel Petran chalked up an unassisted goal. He pounced on a slack clearance out of defense to rifle home a top shelf slap shot which deflected off the bar and in with that characteristic “PING!” sound. Surely this would signal a Bison revival. A goal was all they needed to raise their spirits and power on to level the scores and even go on to win, was it not? Alas such optimism proved to be folly of the greatest magnitude. It took only another couple of minutes for the air to be squeezed from the Bison balloon. An overhit and woefully inaccurate pass out of defense struck Viktor Kubenko’s skate and deflected straight to James Ferrara. It was a late Christmas present and the Phantoms forward was doubtless thinking “Thank you Santa” as he hammered home. 1-3 it was.

Worse (indeed far worse) was to come shortly afterwards. Returning as a Phantom, Bison old boy Ondrej Lauko, who most Bison fans were disappointed not to see back at Planet Ice this year, drove a dagger into the hearts of the Bison faithful. On 31 minutes, set up by the brothers Ferrara, he rifled in an unstoppable slap shot. You could tell by his exuberant celebration how sweet the moment was for him. It left us wondering whether there was more than met the eye about his departure from Basingstoke.

There was no more scoring until the 8^th minute of the final period. This time it was bouncing Czech, Daniel Volrab, with an unassisted goal to reduce the deficit to 2-4 and breathe some hope into the Bison cause. From an acute angle he found the gap between goaltender and near post. Once again, however, the Bison revival was short lived, as 3 minutes later Luke Ferrara joined his brother James on the score sheet. (Does this piece of paper actually exist?) Lauko’s centring pass found Luke at the back door to smash the rubber disc into Wall’s net – a very similar goal to their first of the game. Now at 2-5 behind and looking utterly deflated, Bison’s prospects of a revival looked as likely as Robbie Coltrane flying to the moon on the back of a pigeon. Neither occurred.

With the clock ticking down Ondrej Lauko broke clear of a statuesque Bison back line. It was touch and go as to whether he could get his shot away before the buzzer went. The man in the Charlestown Chiefs shirt and many others I am sure didn’t know whether to look at the play or the clock. Would Lauko try one feint too many and be beaten by the buzzer? Would he shoot from long range and score before the buzzer went? As it turned out Lauko’s shot thudded against StephenWall just as the buzzer sounded and it was all over. Another depressing evening for the Bison crowd.

X-rated violence tarnishes Steeldogs win

Bison 4 Sheffield Steeldogs 5

10/12/11

We were expecting a physical game and that’s what we got. André Payette and the Steeldogs rode into town for an ill tempered match, which contained almost as much violence as the gunfight at the OK Coral. Tempers would flare, fists would fly and the crowd would bay for blood.

Player/coach Payette clearly had a game plan. Target Chris Wiggins, Viktor Kubenko and Joe Miller and get them off the ice. Before the game had even started he began his provocation by mouthing off to the Bison bench. On the ice waiting for the first face off he was clearly seen tapping Joe Miller with his stick, but Joe did not rise to the obvious bait. Payette was looking for an opportunity to make Chris Wiggins explode and got it in the 5^th minute. He slashed the Bison enforcer and, when Wiggins confronted him, in steamed Steve Duncombe (so obviously pre-arranged by Payette) to slug it out with Wiggie. They each received a 2 + 2 roughing and a further 10 misconduct (with Wiggins another 2 cross checking), while the cynical Payette escaped with a 2 minute slashing penalty. A clever ploy. No 1 objective achieved with Wiggie off the ice. Worse for Bison was that Wiggins injured his shoulder in the malodourous fracas and took very little part in the remainder of the game.

Next Kubenko. Driven to the brink of tolerance that even Job would have had trouble coping with (O-level RE), King Kubo finally squared up to Ashley Calvert after a cynical cross check. 2 + 2 + 2 for each was the referee’s verdict.

Play eventually restarted and within a minute yet another unsavoury embroilment was witnessed. The crowd were shocked to see the normally placid Ollie Bronnimann dropping the gloves, removing his helmet and getting stuck into Lloyd Gibson. The affray was not preceded by an infraction and so the provocation must have been solely of a verbal variety. 2 + 2 + a 10 misconduct for each.

Payette must have been astonished at how well his master plan was coming together. The penalty boxes were filling up, especially that of the Steeldogs where there was standing room only. The genial Brummie in the 33 Kieras shirt in Block C began to worry that they would soon run out of players and that volunteers from the crowd would be invited down onto the ice to play, but fortunately this was not required.

Having outshot the Steeldogs by 16-7 in the first, Bison took a deserved lead in the 24^th minute. Miller fed Sam Oakford, whose shot was blocked by Bowns. Canadian colossus, Steve Moria, swept in the rebound. A minute later it was 2-0. Chinn to Moria to Kubenko. The savvy Slovak’s shot sneaked under Bowns’s pad and dribbled across the line. On came the red light and all looked rosy in the Bison garden. However, the Steeldogs powered back with 3 unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead by the end of the period. First Stuart Brittle (one of the four brothers Brittle) scored from Calvert and Morgan. Then Brittle scored again with a slap shot assisted again by Morgan. Next it was Calvert’s turn assisted by Brittle and Morgan. Brittle’s shot was blocked by Colclough, who seemed not to know where the puck was as he made no attempt to freeze it inside the crease. Calvert was on hand to sweep it past him into the net. All credit to D-man Ben Morgan. He had notched up assists for all 3 goals and this was after looking very pasty in the first interval. Maybe he’d eaten too many Pukka pies. Payette’s shouted instruction to him in front of Block B was “Make yourself throw up. You’ll feel much better”. And so it proved. Fortunately the crowd was spared the unsavoury spectacle.

Things went from bad to worse for Bison in the third. Within 7 minutes the Steeldogs had opened up a 5-2 lead. First Payette and Wood set up Latvian Edgars Bebris to squeeze a shot under Colclough. Then Bebris broke clear and bore down on the Bison goal. Colclough came out to narrow the angle, but alas when the Latvian delivered a cross goal pass instead of shooting, there was bogey man Payette with an open goal, as wide as the mouth of a wide mouthed frog (go on Youtube it), to shoot into.

The Steeldogs looked out of sight, but with 6 minutes remaining Bison pulled one back on the power play with Pavel Gomeniuk in the box for hooking. Bouncing Czech, Daniel Volrab, passed to Slovak cannon, Marcel Petran in the slot. Marcel killed the puck and then raised his stick high. Bowns knew what was coming, but stopping it was another matter entirely. With the puck screaming towards him at a speed of 90 m.p.h. plus, he had no chance of reacting - he just had to make himself as large as possible. He stood as stationary as Lot’s wife after she had turned to a pillar of salt (O-level RE again), as the puck left the ice and rocketed over his left shoulder and into the net.

The Steeldogs once again turned up the physical side of their game. The referee failed to call a number of obvious infractions. When he ignored Petran being thrown to the ice with what looked like a judo throw, the frustration of the man in the Charlestown Chiefs shirt in Block C finally bubbled over. “Are you blind, ref?” he enquired. Those around him initially thought that he had a genuine concern for the referee’s state of optical health. However, his follow up comment of “Bring on Ray Charles. He could do a better job” left them in no doubt that he didn’t know what he was talking about. Not only was the aforementioned Mr Charles not in the building, but he is not even in the land of the living thus precluding the possibility of him taking the ice to replace Mr. Thompson.

With only 50 seconds remaining Bison made it a one goal game. Petran’s slap shot was blocked and Joe Miller bundled in the loose puck. Could Bison bag another in the dying seconds? Well they were going to die trying. To the bench went Matt Colclough faster than Usain Bolt on speed to enable a 6 on 5, but the Steeldogs held out and the final buzzer sounded as Petran hammered a desperate and wayward slap shot from long range.

Highway Robbery!

Bison 5 Telford Tigers 6 (shoot out)

3/12/11

Did you catch the name of the referee? Was it Dick Turpin? No. At least the real Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask so his profession of thief was obvious to all. Tonight’s referee, Mr. Poplar left Planet Ice as Mr. Unpopular having denied Bison an overtime winning goal, leaving the crowd believing that Stevie Wonder could not have done a worse job. What happened? Liam Chong and Joe Miller broke away in a 2 on 1. Chong centred for Miller to shoot from an acute angle. The puck went under the bar, bulged the top of the net (everybody in blocks A & B and most in block C saw that), hit the top of the stanchion on the other side and came out. Despite the fact that the red goal light came on, the referee made his own decision. “No goal” he said and so it was “the goal that never was”. So instead of an overtime win, Bison had to suffer the ignominy of a shoot out loss to the bottom team in a game which they should never have let slip.

Telford’s last four visits to Basingstoke had yielded a staggering 44 goals. The goalfest continued here tonight, Bison leading the way with 2 goals in the first 6 minutes. Liam Chong, who won the man of the match award for his all action display, stole the puck centre ice, picking the pocket of the defenseman as easily as the Artful Dodger would have. He bombed forward and sent in a centring pass for Jacob Heron to arrow in for 1-0.

The second was a short handed goal. You should never concede a short handed goal. It’s  almost as bad as conceding an even handed goal to a team of one armed men. With Reynolds in the box for boarding, Bison executed a sweet end to end move started by Dean Skinns with an accurate pass to Nicky Chinn on the blue line. He moved forward and then delivered a slide rule pass, of which Albert Einstein would have been proud, to Viktor Kubenko. The savvy Slovak hammered forward faster than a City banker rushing to collect his bonus, bamboozled netminder Ryan and scored. He handles a stick better than cute little Shirley Temple handled a lollipop (go on Youtube her).

In contrast the Tigers’ next power play bore fruit. Josh Bruce hammered in a vicious slap shot to bring it back to a one goal game. Soar and Bowley assisted. 4 minutes from the first buzzer Henry crossed from the left for McKenzie to net over Skinns’s shoulder. 2-2.

Bison well and truly ran away with the 2^nd period, outplaying the Tigers and rattling in 3 goals without reply to power into a 5-2 lead. The first of those came in a 4 on 4 with Reynolds and Brittle in the box for roughing. Didn’t look very rough to me – just a bit of pushing which failed to escalate into an ugly affray much to the chagrin of the crowd. Canadian colossus, Steve Moria, set up Marcel Petran, lurking in the slot. The puck bounced awkwardly in front of the Slovak cannon and was actually standing up on its edge when the stick came down. Declan Ryan knew what was coming, but couldn’t block his goal as effectively as Fatty Foulke (Google him if you like) would have done. The puck flew as straight as a bolt fired from William Tell’s crossbow past the young netman’s head and under the bar. Quite amazingly, Marcel initially forgot to raise the jazz hands in celebration. Then he remembered and up they went.

Moments later Petran received a nasty puck to the knee to add to his hideous finger injury sustained in the first period and had to vacate the ice in obvious pain. An ice pack was applied to the damaged joint and things were looking bad. However, Marcel was back on the ice very soon after, despite crocked knee and finger, proving that hockey players are made of stern stuff. Take note Mr. Harabin (see last week’s report)!

The 4^th Bison goal in the 38^th minutes was simplicity defined. Joe Miller’s centring pass was slammed in at the back door by Kubenko. It was King Kubo’s second of the night. Dan Harris picked up the second assist.

Only 2 minutes later the scoreboard clicked on to “Home 5”. Daniel Volrab steamed in from the left wing and shot. Ryan saved, but gave up a rebound. A veritable scramble ensued with goaltender and forwards grabbing, stabbing, jabbing, poking and slashing at the loose puck. Moria eventually managed to dig it out, diverting it back to Volrab who scored. Ollie Bronnimann was credited with the second assist.

The spirits of the Bison crowd were well and truly buoyed. Back to winning ways surely. In the interval between the 2^nd and 3^rd, the genial Brummie in the 33 Kieras shirt in Block C donned his rose tinted spectacles and predicted a Bison goal avalanche in the 3^rd. And so it should have been. However things don’t always go according to plan, as milkman Ernie found out at his high noon showdown with Two Ton Ted from Teddington (anyone under 40 will have to Google that one). Bison lost their way and allowed the Tigers back into a game which should have been a country mile beyond them.

On 41 minutes Luke Brittle (youngest of the 4 brothers Brittle) popped in a rebound from Bruce’s shot. 3-5. On 46 minutes defenseman Daniel Croft scored with a slap shot which appeared to deflect off a Bison skate to put them 4-5 and within touching distance of Bison. And then 5 minutes from the buzzer Volrab had his pocket picked in mid ice by the admirable Scott McKenzie. The compatriot of Tosh Redmond skated clear and didn’t mess about. He elected for power from distance as he hammered an unstoppable slap shot past a despairing Dean Skinns for the equaliser and his 2^nd goal of the game.

There was no further scoring in overtime – well there was (see the beginning of this report), but alas the referee must have dropped his white stick and been looking for it on the ice because he missed both the goal and the beacon like red light behind the goal. And so we moved on to the drama of a shoot out. For Bison Miller netted, but Kubenko and Moria failed to score, making McKenzie’s miss irrelevant as the Tigers’ Slovak pair of Senko and Hornak both skinned Skinns to score.

Congratulations to a young Telford team who showed spirit and determination to score an unexpected road win. And for us, the Bison faithful, one final word……BAH!

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.

Call the RSPCA - Cruelty to Wildcats

Bison 7 Swindon Wildcats 2

20/22/11

The word “wildcat” conjures up images of a vicious wild animal with sharp claws and teeth tearing strips of flesh from the blood soaked carcass of some poor unfortunate prey, ruthlessly pursued and murdered by driving needle sharp incisor teeth into the hapless animal’s neck. (Sorry I’m getting carried away). Alas for the Swindon fans who made the trip, the Wildcats who turned up at Planet Ice tonight were more akin to fluffy kittens rolling over to have their tummies tickled and meowing for saucers of milk. Bison showed no mercy, running riot with another 7 goals to end a goalfest weekend. After Nicky Chinn’s hat-trick at Slough on Saturday night, Daniel Volrab repeated the feat here tonight. Someone should have called the RSPCA.

It took only 4 minutes of the game for Bison to romp into a 2-0 lead. In the third minute Volrab waltzed around the back of the goal, emerged wide of the back door and flicked home a back handed shot from close range. Assists went to Tosh Redmond, possessor of only one front tooth, and the Slovak Cannon, Marcel Petran. Within a minute it was 2-0. This time savvy Slovak, Viktor Kubenko, bulged the net from a Kurt Reynolds pass.

On 12 minutes, the scoreboard clicked onto “Home 3” following some relentless Bison forechecking in the offensive zone. Swindon were unable to clear their lines. Canadian colossus, Steve Moria, receiving a pass form Joe Miller, deked in front of goal, bamboozling the Wildcat netman Murdy, and fired high.

Within a minute it was 4-0. This time the scorer was Liam Chong. An inch perfect and well timed mid ice pass from Kubenko, enabled Chong to race clear and lift a back hander high into Murdy’s net. Red light man behind the goal illuminated his bulb. The Wildcats were now looking rather tame and highly vulnerable, even when on a power play. Nicky Chinn had been sent to the miscreants’ compound for tripping and, during the resultant power play, Kubenko broke clear, fluffed his shot but regained possession, then passed to the lurking and ever dangerous Petran, whose slap shot was saved. A short handed goal to make it 5-0 then would have sent the Wilcats well and truly out of the cat flap. However, they survived the remaining 7 minutes of the period without conceding and indeed looked a lot better in the second. They shut out Bison and reduced the arrears a minute before the end of the period with a slap shot goal from Nicky Watt. Assists went to the shaven headed Joe Baird (OK I couldn’t actually see that as he had a helmet on) and one half of the “Bouncing Czech” duo, Michal Pinc (pronounced pinch not pink). Swindon should have scored 7 minutes earlier than this, but incredibly failed to capitalise on a 2 on 0. Bearing down on goal, Aaron Nell must have thought “Even my grandmother could score here.” She would have, but he didn’t. Was he shooting at the moon? His wild shot was so inaccurate that it didn’t even hit the glass, flying high into the netting above. Oh dear!

Bison needed another goal to get their momentum going again and it took only 45 seconds of play in the third to bag that vital goal. Miller fed Moria, whose cross ice pass set up A-man/D-man, Sam Oakford, to drive a rising slap shot high into Murdy’s stringbag, Petran style but without the jazz hands.

Less than a minute later a delayed penalty for checking from behind was called on Wildcat Sam Bullas. Bison goaltender, Matt Colclough, skated  at top speed towards the bench as if pursued by an axe murderer with a rabid hatred of netminders, enabling Bison to bring on an extra skater for a 6 on 5. They cleverly kept possession of the puck, moving it forward from behind their own goal line. Daniel Volrab made the one man advantage pay, scoring his second of the night for 6-1. Assists to Chinn and Harris, who had started the move. Bullas received a 2 + 10.

On 47 minutes an unseemly altercation of the most unpleasant variety involving Kurt Reynolds and the ever niggly Nicky Watt (one half of the very unsavoury brothers Watt) occurred. The two fellows came together in a massive hit which looked 50/50. However, Watt must have made a disparaging remark to Reynolds, as the normally placid Bison No.7 immediately dropped one glove with Watt following suit. The Bison crowd rose to its feet in unison, anticipating a contest without the restrictions of Queensbury Rules.  The two pugilists came together in a clinch, helmets came off and punches were thrown. Reynolds then threw Watt to the ground with a rugby “spear tackle” - like a rag doll, so commented one observer. The contest terminated with some ineffective flailing of arms from the odious Watt. The referee imposed a 2 + 2 for fighting on each.

Only a minute later another malodourous incident was witnessed. The admirable Dan Harris, who once again enjoyed an excellent game in defense for the Bison, was the victim of a cynical Czech check from Jan Melichar. The young D-man crumpled face down on the ice in obvious discomfort. The bespectacled youth in Block C swore it was a head check. The howling man at the end of Row E confidently declared in a most vociferous fashion that it had been an elbow to Harris’s face. Eventually the game was stopped and, after a period of recovery, Dan left the ice unassisted. No penalty was called, leaving the crowd incensed and wondering if the referee needed a white stick.

Still in the 48^th minute Swindon pulled one back. The Bison defense was caught with trousers down, giving Swindon a 2 on 1 opportunity. Jonas Hoog buried a top shelf wrist shot past Colclough and 6-2 it was. Aaron Nell and Jaroslav Cesky, the other half of the “Bouncing Czechs” duo, received assists.

The final goal of the night came with 8 minutes remaining and brought with it an element of “whodunit”. It looked like Steve Moria had smashed in his second of the night. However, Daniel Volrab was credited with the goal and completion of a hat-trick. We can only presume that Volrab deflected Moria’s shot past the hapless goaltender. Miller and Moria were credited with assists. The 7-2 annihilation was complete. The RSPCA are still waiting for a call.