Basingstoke Bison 3, Cardiff Devils 5

THE Bison ended the weekend with nothing to show for their efforts after losing to the visiting Cardiff Devils on Saturday night and at Sheffield 24 hours earlier.

The game against the league leaders from Wales got off to a good start for the Herd as they were on the powerplay after 29 seconds when Kirk DeWaele hooked Mike Ford.

Then, just as that penalty ran out, the Devils' Nathan Rempel departed for punching Shawn Maltby in the face.

It was a frustrating night for the Basing-stoke powerplay as they failed to register one goal in seven attempts.

However, just as Cardiff returned to full strength, Lewis Buckman touched home a Doug Sheppard cross to make it 1-0 at 4:32.

After that, both teams had chances before the Bison extended their lead at 16:16.

Brian Worrall, on loan from Blackburn for the weekend, won a face-off and the puck broke to Adam Hyman, who shot on goal to beat Jason Cugnet and give the British for-ward his first Bison goal.

After the break, the Devils turned up the heat, helped by an early powerplay after Buckman slashed Vezio Sacratini. They pulled a goal back as man-of-the-match John Cullen netted at the far post.

The league leaders were now firing on all cylinders and Russ Romaniuk tied the game up at 28:29, tapping home a Sacratini rebound.

The chances were now coming thick and fast, with Ronnie Vogel doing well to save from Warren Tait and then he produced a great reflex stop from Jeff Burgoyne.

But there was no stopping Cardiff and, at 31:43, after a lot of pressure around the home net, Sacratini gave the visitors the lead from close range.

With just 40 seconds left in the session, the final penalty of the game saw the Devils' Jonathan Phillips depart for holding Maltby.

The powerplay produced two great saves from Cardiff's Cugnet to deny both Jerry Galway and man-of-the-match Ford an equaliser before the second buzzer.

The Herd draw level at 43:31 when Gal-way's pass out of defence found Maltby in centre-ice on the left. He played a lovely cushion pass into the path of Ford, who skated into the Devils' end zone and let rip with a shot which beat Cugnet all ends up.

Before the home team could build on the goal, the Devils came straight back and, 26 seconds later, the unmarked Rempel slotted home Cullen's pass.

The visitors then had more chances but the Herd still looked dangerous on break-aways, with Pavol Rieciciar and Shaun Thompson combining and Galway unlucky not to get the killer touch with seven minutes to go.

In the final minute, Vogel was pulled for the extra skater but the move backfired as Jason Becker picked up a loose puck in centre-ice and fired into the empty net.

Bison general manager and head coach Mark Bernard said: "Once again it was another frustrating weekend, as we have nothing to show for all the efforts made by the players."

Sheffield Steelers 3, Basingstoke Bison 1

On Friday night in Sheffield, former Bison Joe Ciccarello opened the scoring as he poked home a Jeff Christian shot at 4:35.

The home side had the better of the open-ing session, out-shooting the visitors 17-2, but Ronnie Vogel made sure they only had the lone goal to show for it.

Sheffield's second goal came on the powerplay when former Steeler Greg Wood sat in the sin bin for slashing. Man-of-the-match Christian scored it, touching home a Gerad Adams blue-line shot at 25:36.

Just 45 seconds into the final period, Christian added his second of the night, finishing a move involving Ciccarello and Dion Darling.

At 52:27, Bison Owen Walter and Mike Peron clashed, with the Herd defenceman suffering cuts across his nose. Both players received four minutes for roughing.

Soon after, Ricky Skene went to the sin bin for holding and then Steelers Ciccarello followed him 13 seconds later for holding.

With the teams playing four-on-four, the Bison pulled a goal back as man-of-the-match Maltby scored from close-range, from Ford and Sheppard.

The Bison pulled their netminder in the final minute, but there was no further scoring.

The Herd have a chance for quick revenge on Saturday, when Sheffield make their first trip this season to Basingstoke.

Scoring (v Cardiff), Bison: Buckman, Hyman, Ford 1+0, Galway 0+2, Maltby, Sheppard 0+1; Devils: Romaniuk, Cullen, Sacratini, Becker 1+1, Rempel 1+0, Patterson 0+2. Shots on goal: Vogel 44, Cugnet 35. Penalties: Bison 4, Devils 14.

Scoring (v Sheffield), Steelers: Christian 2+1, Ciccarello 1+1, Adams 0+2, Anderson, Darling 0+1; Bison: Maltby 1+0, Ford, Sheppard 0+1. Shots on goal: Platt 20, Vogel 39. Penalties: Steelers 10, Bison 16.