Basingstoke Bison 2, Manchester Phoenix 3

THE Wella Bison play-off hopes were given another big dent on Saturday night as they lost 3-2 to their rivals for a top-six spot - the visiting Manchester Phoenix.

The home side were unable to give a debut to their new forward, Jaromir Kverka, due to problems with his paperwork in his native Czech Republic, leaving them with 12 skaters to Manchester's 16.

The visitors had the better of the opening minutes of the contest, helped by a couple of powerplays.

However, it was the Bison who went closest, as Curtis Cruickshank's pass found Joe Ciccarello, and he, in turn, found Blake Sorensen, whose shot was pushed away by blocker Jayme Platt.

The home side then got their own powerplays with man-of-the-match Doug Schueller getting away a couple of good shots.

From one of his rebounds Darren Hurley shot just wide.

With the Herd short on bodies, teenage Nicky Watt was called into action and did not disappoint, doing well on the boards to feed Schueller later in the period - but his shot was saved.

With 30 seconds left in the session, and with the teams each with one man in the sin bin, former Bison Dwight Parrish struck with a top corner strike.

The Bison were level within three minutes of the restart, making the most of a powerplay opportunity. Schueller fired the puck into a crowd of players with Sorensen getting the final touch from close range at 22:52.

In an open session both sides then had chances.

Bison Martin Filip set up Hurley, but his shot was saved, and the Filip rebound effort went inches wide.

The home side then had a let-off at 27:59 as Chad Brandimore stole the puck from Scheuller and broke away, passing to David Kozier whose shot hit the post.

Manchester's Phoenix then had two further chances, but on both occasions Cruickshank was equal to them.

Soon after, Dave Geris started a move which saw Sorensen's cross volleyed by Joe Ciccarello at the far post, but Platt made the save.

The final period got off to a great start as the home side scored after 18 seconds as Platt failed to hold a Kim Vahanen blue line shot, and the puck dropped into the goal crease where Sorensen poked home.

The Phoenix drew level six minutes later on the powerplay, as former Bison Darcy Anderson's cross from the left wing saw Kozier flick the puck past Cruickshank.

The final powerplay of the night was given to the Bison at 51:15 as Phoenix player/coach Rick Brebant went to the sin bin.

However, disaster struck as Mark Morin fed Brandimore down theleft wing and he skated clear and his cross-ice pass was swept home by George Awada at 53:06.

The home side pressed and Schueller hit the post in the final four minutes.

Once Cruickshank was withdrawn for the extra skater with 42 seconds left, it was only backs-to-the-wall defending by the Manchester side which prevented an equaliser.

A disappointed Moria said: "I can't fault the 12 guys for the effort they put in, but this defeat is a tough one to swallow. It now makes it even tougher for us to make the play-offs."

Scoring; Bison: Sorensen 2+0, Moria 0+2, Schueller, Vahanen 0+1; Phoenix: Parrish 1+1, Kozier, Awada 1+0, Morin 0+2, Brandimore, Anderson, Brebant 0+1. Shots on Goal: Cruickshank 29, Platt 37. Penalties: Bison 12min, Phoenix 12.