THE Basingstoke Bison will hope to make it an unhappy return for Steve Moria when the former boss comes back to the Planet Ice Silver Dome Arena with his new team, London Racers.
Last weekend, the Herd were stampeding at full tilt as they collected their first two league victories of the season, at Belfast and then at home to Fife.
The back-to-back victories moved the Bison from the bottom of the standings, as they changed places with London.
Adding more spice to the game tomorrow is the return of former Bison Richard Hargreaves. The Herd will also be out to avenge a 4-2 defeat earlier in the season.
That game is still fresh in the mind of general manager and head coach Mark Bernard and he is keen to reverse the scoreline this time around.
He said: "In London, they intimidated us in the first period, which knocked us off our game, but that is not going to happen this time.
"It is a big game for us, even if it is only early in the season, as they are one point behind us in the standings. It would be nice to win and to start to leave them behind.
"We will look to carry on from the last two weekends when our work rate has been excellent, and two full weeks of training have certainly done us the power of good."
After a great all-round performance in Belfast, the Bison produced an awesome offensive display against Fife in the first period, scoring five times without reply.
Doug Sheppard helped himself to a hat-trick, while Shawn Maltby and Jozef Lukac, with his first league goal, also found the net in the first session.
The victory last Sunday was only marred by a massive check on young British Bison star Lewis Buckman, which thankfully looked worse than it was. It left him suffering from a bad headache - but he is fit to play tomorrow.
This Sunday, Basingstoke face another crucial clash, this time in a Challenge Cup game at Coventry Blaze.
A defeat in the Midlands rink would leave the Herd's chances of qualifying for a semi-final place on a knife-edge in this three-team group.
The sides played out a 4-4 tie in Basingstoke on the opening night of the season, and there is no reason to think it will not be as close again this time.
Bernard said: "They are a well-coached team and it is going to be tough playing in their building, but we want to progress in this competition so we will give it our best shot."
This week, the Bison have announced two additional matches to their fixture list, which are both season ticket games.
The games are part of a new competition this season, called the Rink Cup Challenge, which replaces the matches lost by the withdrawal of the Manchester Phoenix from the Elite League late in the summer. The four-team tournament features Coventry, London, Cardiff and Basingstoke.
The Herd open their campaign at home to Cardiff on Wednesday at 8pm and then face London at home a week tomorrow.
A special offer - for the Cardiff game only - allows any member of Basingstoke's junior development programme to get in for £2 as long as he or she is accompanied by an adult.
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