Basingstoke Bison 5, Sheffield Steelers 3

DOUG Sheppard bagged a hat-trick as the Bison ended their home campaign on a high note on Saturday night.

It was the first time in 14 games over the past two seasons in the Elite League that the Herd have beaten their South Yorkshire rivals.

Delighted head coach and general manager Mark Bernard said: "It was a great team performance and I am very proud of them. Some players would have just turned up and collected their pay cheque, but my guys did not do that tonight and we ended the season in front of our fans with a win which we thoroughly deserved."

The home side were out of the blocks quickly and both Sheppard and Mike Ford went close in the opening two minutes.

At 5:37 a long pass from Brent Pope found Shawn Maltby and his bullet shot from the left wing was gloved on to the post by Steelers' netminder Jayme Platt.

Then, against the run of play, the visitors opened the scoring as Ron Shudra's blue-line pass found Erik Anderson unmarked at the back post to make it 1-0 at 9:20.

This gave the Steelers a lift and Ben Bliss went close and Bison netminder Ronnie Vogel had to be at his beat to deny Steelers man-of-the-match Jeff Christian as he fired in from the right after Marc Lefebvre had burst down the left wing.

The second session saw the home side have the better early chances as Sheppard, Maltby and Dean Phillimore all went close.

Platt produced a fine save as Owen Walter, the supporters' club player of the month for February, fired in a shot which Jason Norrie deflected and the Steelers' goalie just managed to glove over.

He was not so lucky at 32:35 as Sheppard's shot came back off his pads and Duncan Dalmao buried the rebound to make it 1-1.

Soon after, the Herd were given their only powerplay of the night and they made no mistake as Steve Gallace's blue-line shot was touched home by Sheppard.

The third period got off to a dream start for the Bison. After only 50 seconds, they made it 3-1 as Sheppard again found the net.

Sheffield never gave up and Paul Sample kept them in the game with a goal at 46:22.

But the revival was short-lived as man-of-the-match Sheppard completed his hat-trick with a great solo goal. He received a pass from netminder Vogel and skated the length of the rink to make it 4-2. The assist for the goalie was his first of the season.

The Steelers again pulled back into the match when Mike Peron put away a David Cousineau cross at 51:56.

The visitors pressed for an equaliser and, with 71 seconds left, pulled their netminder. The move backfired as Dalmao, from centre-ice, found the unguarded net with a low shot with exactly a minute left.

One player missing from the Bison line-up was British forward Tony Redmond, who was at the bedside of his wife Emma as she gave birth to the couple's second child, a son and younger brother for three-year-old Lucy.

Scoring, Bison: Sheppard 3+1, Dalmao 2+0, Maltby 0+2, Ewasko, Gallace, Ford, Vogel 0+1; Steelers: Peron, Anderson 1+2, Sample 1+0, Cousineau, Shudra 0+1.

Shots on goal: Vogel 36, Platt 49.

Penalties: Bison 6min, Steelers 6.