BISON players are battling for their Basingstoke careers this weekend as general manager and head coach Mark Bernard looks to bring in new blood.

The Bison boss is set to make a couple of changes to the Herd - but he will not be rushed into any hasty decisions as he wants to make sure he gets the right men to enhance the stampede.

Bernard said: "I have earmarked a couple of areas I want to change, but I will not just go out and get the first player available. I have to be sure they will fit into the team and improve the club as a whole.

"I have told the players what is going on and now it is up to them to make my decision as difficult as possible as to who departs."

After laying down the law after Saturday's defeat against Coventry, his team responded the following night by bouncing back with a 5-2 win against Newcastle.

However, Bernard said: "One game does not make any difference."

This should give extra spice to what is already a mouth-watering weekend. It sees the Herd lock horns for the first time this season with the Nottingham Panthers in back-to-back games.

The Panthers will include Curtis Cruickshank - the Bison's star performer last season - in their line-up.

Tomorrow, they play in Lace City (7pm) before taking to the ice in Basingstoke less than 24 hours later (6.30pm). The Basingstoke game will see the first return to the Planet Ice Silver Dome Arena for netminder Cruickshank since his departure.

The Midlands side are currently only four points and two places above their Hampshire rivals in the standings, so it is a great opportunity for the Bison to close the gap.

Bernard said: "Nottingham are a good, strong team, and it is going to a be a tough weekend.

"As usual, I plan to make the netminder's life as difficult as possible and I expect my forwards to be crashing the net and drilling the puck in from all angles. So if Nottingham win, Curtis is going to have to have played well."

The Bison have a couple of injury doubts with Canadian giant forward Jeff Ewasko still suffering the after-effects of crashing head-first into the boards during the defeat against Coventry last Saturday.

Bernard said: "It is an injury that we are looking at on a daily basis and we will make a decision on the night as to whether he is fit enough to play."

British forward Lewis Buckman, missing for the past two weekends due to a groin injury, started skating again this week, but Bernard is not about to rush him back into the fray, preferring to give him a full week's training before returning him to match action.

The Bison have added two junior Great Britain internationals to their squad this week, as Sheffield under-19 Greg Wood and Swindon Wildcats' Shane Moore both signed two-way deals.

This means the Herd can call on these players if their current teams are not in action - and this is why Wood will be in the line-up this weekend on both nights.

Speaking about the duo, who both played in a recent home game against Cardiff and again last Sunday in Newcastle, Bernard said: "I have been impressed with both these excellent young players, and this arrangement will benefit both them and us."

This week also saw the end-of-season play-off details confirmed, with the top six out of seven set to make the end-of-season tournament. This will start the week commencing March 14.

The teams will be split into two groups, with the A group made up of first, fourth and sixth, with second, third and fifth in the B section.

Each team will play the others home and away twice, instead of the normal once, with the top two in each group going to the finals weekend in Nottingham on April 9 and 10.