Bison stampede the Phantoms

Report courtsey of: http://wh4tth3puck.wordpress.com/.

The Phantoms played host to one of the three teams fighting for third spot this evening as the Basingstoke Bison came to town.

1st Period

Things started brightly for the Phantoms, coming off the back of a 5-1 defeat to the bison less than 24 hours before hand, as they immediately looked to stamp their authority on the game, and certainly looked to have the better of the chances, especially when young Joe Edwards, in a rare Bison call up, recieved the first penalty of the night for cross checking at 5:58. Although the Phantoms were making Tom Annetts work hard, they couldn’t find a way through and the Bison saw off the power play. However, the effort being put in by the Phantoms finally payed off at 9:55 when Luke Ferrara and James Spurr combined to set up Shaun Yardley for the first goal of the night.

The Bison fought back but the Phantoms kept the run of play until the last 5 minutes when Callum Fowler picked up a 2 minute minor for hooking, and the Phantoms had their first penalty kill of the night. As the penalty wound down, a Bison attempt to crash the net resulted in a little push and shove which saw the Phantoms facing a 5 on 3 for 15 seconds at 17:15. The Phantoms survived the 5 on 3, and literally a second after going to 5 on 4, the Bison finally found a way through the Wall to level the score with a power play goal. This brought the Phantoms back to full strength for the final 2 and a half minutes before the period ended 1-1.

2nd Period

As the 2nd period started the fans hopes of a swift fightback were dashed as Shaun Thompson got on the end of a Sam Zajac rebound for the Bison to go 1-2 up less than 2 minutes after the start. The Phantoms began to regroup and caught a break when Shaun Thompson was pulled up for a trip at 23:29. The Bison Penalty kill proved inpregnable in this and the following penalty, this time a 2 minute bench minor for changing on an Icing call, and the full strength Bison went on the offensive. After soaking up wave after wave of attack the Phantoms defence cracked, and assisted by Annetts and dangerman Ondrej Lauko, Andy Hemmings got Bison’s third. just 3 minutes later, Lauko was back, this time, Hemmings and Tony, (not Kenny), Redmond, doing the set up work as the Bisons 4th hit the back of the net. A few minutes after that following a period of pressure, the number 13 proved unlucky for Stephen Wall as Thompson, assisted by Mindaugas Kieras scored his second and the Bison’s fifth at 37:17.
Wall seemed to have had enough and was replaced by back up, Damien King. over the next 2 minutes King only faced one shot, and the period ended 1-5, although Phantoms forward recieved a 2 minute delay of game call less than a minute before the break which seemed to prompt heated words between players on the bench.

3rd Period

As the Phantoms came out for the third, it felt like waiting for an execution, and although there were no signs of the ructions that had run through the bench at the end of the second, the axe seemed to fall just under 7 minutes in when Lauko and Kieras set up Shaun Tompson for Basingstoke’s sixth goal.
At that point, something clicked and the Phantoms came out to play again. Just before the half way point of the period, Doug MacIver sent fellow Canadian Brent Gough clear and flying up the wing, finding the way through blocked, he centred the puck for Maris Ziedins to fire the Phantoms second past Annetts. With the resurgent Phantoms piling on the pressure, tempers started to fray on the Bison bench. The pressure continued when Captain Dwayne Newman pushed clear and passed to fellow D Man James Morgan un-marked in shooting range who let loose with a shot and a half for the Phantoms third with less than 5 minutes to go in the third period. A rattled Bison began to let the clean play slip and a retaliatory slash by James Morgan earned him a 2 minute stay in the penalty box, however, a short handed breakaway following hard defensive work by Ziedins and Newman saw Brent Gough fire home the Phantoms fourth goal. The Phantoms, now playing out of the skins, fired shot after shot after shot at the Bison goal, with less than a minute left pulling King for a 6th Skater. Continued pressure kept the Bison from bagging the final empty net goal until 4 seconds from the end when the Bison managed a break out and 4.5 seconds later the puck crossed the line, half a second after the buzzer had gone. Final score Phantoms 4, Bison 6.

Cardiff	v	Edinburgh
11th February 2012 19:00
Dundee	v	Hull
11th February 2012 19:00
Nottingham	v	Belfast
11th February 2012 19:00
Sheffield	v	Coventry
11th February 2012 19:00
Fife	v	Braehead
11th February 2012 19:15
Braehead	v	Fife
12th February 2012 00:00

Dundee	6-2	Fife
5th February 2012 18:30
Cardiff	4-5	Braehead
5th February 2012 18:00
Sheffield	2-4	Belfast
5th February 2012 17:00
Coventry	6-1	Fife
4th February 2012 19:30
Belfast	4-1	Cardiff
4th February 2012 19:00
Nottingham	6-2	Dundee
4th February 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Belfast Giants	41	33	8	3	167	83	69
2	Nottingham Panthers	40	30	10	2	182	87	62
3	Sheffield Steelers	35	30	5	0	133	77	60
4	Coventry Blaze	40	25	15	1	153	113	51
5	Cardiff Devils	39	20	19	10	124	112	50
6	Braehead Clan	39	22	17	2	146	127	46
7	Hull Stingrays	41	11	30	4	107	165	26
8	Edinburgh Capitals	38	11	27	3	89	170	25
9	Dundee Stars	40	7	33	5	95	163	19
10	Fife Flyers	39	7	32	5	79	178	19

Peterborough	v	Guildford
8th February 2012 19:45
Swindon	v	Basingstoke
11th February 2012 17:45
Guildford	v	Peterborough
11th February 2012 18:00
Slough	v	Sheffield
11th February 2012 18:30
Milton Keynes	v	Bracknell
11th February 2012 19:00
Manchester	v	Telford
11th February 2012 19:00

Slough	3-0	Basingstoke
5th February 2012 18:30
Guildford	4-2	Milton Keynes
5th February 2012 18:00
Manchester	6-3	Swindon
5th February 2012 17:30
Telford	6-8	Peterborough
5th February 2012 17:30
Sheffield	3-0	Peterborough
4th February 2012 19:30
Milton Keynes	1-3	Manchester
4th February 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Guildford Flames	38	26	12	3	172	111	55
2	Manchester Phoenix	39	24	15	3	145	123	51
3	Slough Jets	37	24	13	2	167	117	50
4	Sheffield Steeldogs	38	22	16	4	119	101	48
5	Milton Keynes Lightning	37	22	15	1	116	99	45
6	Basingstoke Bison	38	21	17	2	135	126	44
7	Swindon Wildcats	39	15	24	5	126	134	35
8	Bracknell Bees	37	13	24	8	107	142	34
9	Peterborough Phantoms	38	14	24	2	123	164	30
10	Telford Tigers	39	9	30	2	106	199	20