Bison go in hope

At Guildford on New Year's Day, the Herd have a chance to avenge a 5-2 defeat earlier in the season when they face an out-of-form Flames side, who have lost six games on the trot.

In the last two, netminder Miroslav Bielik has been out injured after breaking a couple of fingers in practice.

Bison general manager and head coach Mark Bernard said: "We will not be taking them lightly, but, for sure, we will go there looking to get a result."

On Monday (6.30pm), the Bison entertain Sheffield Steelers, who won 3-2 in overtime when last in town. That launched a world-record sequence for a professional ice hockey team of eight consecutive overtime games.

Bernard said: "We have had some very close games with Sheffield this season and I see no reason why this will not be the same. But, hopefully it will go in our favour."

In London, on Wednesday, four goals in a second-period blitz helped the Bison to their first win of the season over their nearest play-off rivals.

In an even first period, the Bison had the better chances. But the Racers scored the only goal in the final two minutes through Denis Ladouceur.

The second session belonged to the visitors and captain Shawn Maltby equalised in the 27th minute before Mike Ford gave them the lead two minutes later.

Former Bison boss Steve Moria again scored against his old team to tie the game at 34:55.

However, the Bison hit back when man-of-the-match Duncan Dalmao, who assisted in the opening two goals, produced a great solo strike.

Soon after, Pavol Rieciciar slotted home a Jeff Ewasko pass to make it 4-1.

The final session again saw the visitors have the upper hand, but the home side scored with six minutes left, through Ian McIntyre.

As the contest came to a close, the Racers pulled netminder Sylvain Daigle for the extra skater, but were hit by a roughing penalty against Jason Robinson which meant both sides had five out-skaters and London were unable to force an equaliser.

Bernard said: "It was a very good team effort. The guys worked really hard and we will now look to build on this victory."

Basingstoke Bison 1, Cardiff Devils 6

On Boxing Day, visiting league leaders the Cardiff Devils out-played the Bison in a comfortable win.

The Herd were back to full strength with the return of Maltby, Owen Walter and Shaun Thompson to their line-up.

The visitors scored with their first shot on target at 2:42 as Jeff Burgoyne redirected a Kirk De-Waele blue-line shot.

The major incident of the opening session came at 14:37 as Devils' Rob Davison produced a double-handed slash across the back of Jeff Ewasko's legs, which saw him dismissed by referee Nigel Boniface.

After the break, Cardiff's Nathan Rempel twice was sent clear but, on each occasion, Ronnie Vogel saved.

The first penalty of the second period saw the visitors make the most of the extra man as Dave Matsos fired home from the blue line.

In an effort to get his team back in the game, Bison boss Bernard called a time-out at 31:57. It reaped reward almost immediately, as man-of-the-match Owen Walter converted a Tony Redmond cross.

Any hopes that the home side would go on from there were soon dashed as Rempel tapped home a simple chance at the back post from a Warren Tait pass. Then the score became 4-1 as Jason Becker fired home from the blue line.

The visitors lost another player when DeWaele was dismissed for third man in after he jumped into the action between Bison Ewasko and Devils man-of-the-match Jon Cullen.

In the final period, Dean Skinns took over from Vogel in the home net, while Maltby was rested in his first game back after a hand injury.

The visitors added two more goals to their tally as Becker and Matsos found the net.

Bernard said: "We had no excuses. We had a full line-up, but far too many players failed to turn up. We cannot afford that to happen."