Injury-hit Bison produce a 'tremendous' giant draw

THE Basingstoke Bison produced the result of the season so far in the Elite League, as they drew with visiting Belfast Giants on Saturday night.

With six players out due to injury, with Slovakian Pavol Rieciciar added to the list on the day of the game with a stiff neck, the Herd gave debuts to five players.

They were Canadian defenceman Brent Pope, formerly of London, Slough's British defenceman Jimmy Day and British forwards 14-year-old Basingstoke junior Ryan Watt, Dean Phillimore of the Basingstoke Buffalo and Richard Hardy of the Bracknell Hornets.

The new line-up did not disappoint, and general manager and head coach Mark Bernard was right to be proud of his team after the final buzzer. Their endeavour on the ice was matched by the support off the ice by the Bison faithful.

Bernard said: "I thought it was a tremendous effort tonight and everyone played their hearts out. My top line rose to the occasion and I am very proud of the whole team."

As the game started, the cards looked stacked in Belfast's favour and referee Matt Thompson helped out with the first penalty of the night after 81 seconds on Bison Greg Wood.

With the man advantage, Belfast had chances with Ronnie Vogel doing well with a reflex save from Curt Bowen.

For the rest of the period it was very even, with both sides having chances.

Bison Shawn Maltby tested Martin Klempa from close range and also fired a shot just over the bar.

As the period came to a close, comments from coach Bernard, after a quick discussion with referee Thompson, earned the team another penalty.

That still had 59 seconds to run at the start of the second session, and the Giants made the most of it with man-of-the-match Diamuid Kelly scoring from close range at 20:19.

The Giants' first penalty on Curt Bowen for interference - a minute - gave the home side hope, and even if they did not score, they did have a number of good chances.

The home fans did not have long to wait for an equalising goal as Mike Ford took the puck off Mel Angelstad and passed to Bison man-of-the-match Sheppard who returned it for Ford to fire home.

With great delight the home fans showered the ice with cuddly toys, as part of the annual teddy bear toss, with 300 in total hitting the ice. These will be given to children at local hospitals.

The break in play gave the Bison's top line of Ford, Sheppard and Maltby the chance to have a rest, and when the game resumed they took just 47 seconds to give their side the lead.

Sheppard found Maltby just outside the slot. With his route to goal blocked, he took his time tee-ing the puck up for Sheppard to slam hope past a helpless Klempa.

A minute later, Sheppard's blast was dropped by Klempa just by the goal crease, but Giants' Angelstad reacted first and cleared the danger.

At 32:02, the Bison were given their second powerplay of the night as Jason Bowen climbed all over Shaun Thompson and crashed him into the boards for good measure.

It should have earned Bowen a four-minute penalty, for the initial hooking and then the elbow he used to plant Thompson into the boards, but referee Thompson was not about to give the home side too many chances.

They still made use of the two-minute man advantage, as Jerry Galway's blue-line pass found Sheppard and his shot came out to Maltby, who hammered home the rebound.

At this point, Belfast called a time out and they did have a number of good chances after that, but Vogel was having an excellent game in goal, with the pick of his saves being against Tony Hand when one-on-one with the goalie.

The final period saw the Belfast player/coach reduce to playing just 10 players in an effort to get his side back in the game and, of course, this meant his top players were on the ice more often.

The Bison carried on battling away and they pulled a goal back at 49:42 as George Awada scored after some excellent play from Shane Johnson.

That, of course, spurred them on and Jason Bowen, with a blue-line shot, tied the game up at 55:24.

Soon after, the final penalty of the game went to Belfast and, during the powerplay, the Bison's Ford and Maltby both went close to getting a game-winning goal, only denied by excellent stops from Klempa.

With no further scoring, the game went into overtime, and the closest anyone came to scoring was when Sheppard saw his break-away attempt saved with just 28.2 seconds left on the clock.

The final buzzer sounded and the game may have ended in a draw, but for the Bison this was a moral victory with all the odds stacked against them.

While most of the injured Bison will return to the line-up in the next couple of weeks, Canadian Jeff Corey will not.

The forward needs surgery on his knee for ligament damage after limping out in last Sunday's game against Coventry.

After the operation it will then take six to nine months before he can play again, ruling him out of action for the rest of the season.

Scoring: Bison: Sheppard 1+2, Ford, Maltby 1+1, Galway 0+1. Giants: Awada, Kelly 1+1, C Bowen, Levers, Nasvall, Johnson 0+1. Shots on Goal: Vogel 46, Klempa 34. Penalties: Bison 8 min, Giants 8.