Bison cruise to victory over ‘Cats in Swindon

It was a mid table clash in Swindon at the Link Center as the Swindon Wildcats took on the Basingstoke Bison with just two points separating the teams coming into the game. Thomas Murdy and Stephen Wall were the starting goaltenders in front of a good crowd in Swindon.

The Bison won the opening face-off to get the game underway and both teams went about their business early as Daniel Volrab and Aaaron Nell had early shots saved. Basingstoke started the game as the better team as they showed some good pressure in the Cats zone and forced a great double save from Thomas Murdy in the Swindon net.

Despite being on the back foot for the first few minutes of the game, the ‘Cats started to click going forward and Aaron Nell, who was recent released by the Coventry Blaze, was stopped on a breakaway by Stephen Wall who was solid early on. Swindon continued to apply pressure as they were given the first powerplay of the game as Slovakian Petran was given a minor penalty half way through the first period. Producing several great looks on the powerplay, the ‘Cats forced Wall to be on his toes in the Bison net if he wasn’t going to concede.

After another brilliant double save from Murdy in the ‘Cats net, the fans were treated to some four on four hockey for the first time in the game as Cesky and Miller both visited the penalty box. Both sides looked like scoring with four players per side as Shane Moore had a breakaway stopped by Wall and Cesky also went close in the dying seconds of the period. Despite going into the locker rooms all square at zero, it really was a great period of hockey and some awesome goaltending was on show from both Murdy and Wall. The ‘Cats recorded 11 shots in the period and the Bison recorded 18.

Swindon came out of the blocks quickly to start the second frame as Jonas Hoog, the impressive Swedish winger, forced a save from Wall just ten seconds in. Lee Richardson was done for tripping early in the second to give the Bison a powerplay in which they tested out Thomas Murdy to the max, forcing at least five saves from the goalie inside the two minutes with an extra attacker.

With seven minutes gone the Bison would of loved to have gone one up through a Viktor Kubenko breakaway but he also couldn’t get the rubber past the awesome Murdy. With the game at the halfway stage, the deadlock was finally broken by the Bison as Kubenko made amends and showed some lovely individual skill before deking past Murdy and slotting it home for a one goal lead.

The goal really got the Bison rolling as they dominated the rest of the second period with the ‘Cats struggling to create much going forward. With just over seven minutes left in the period, the Bison doubled their lead as the impressive Slovakian Petran rifled won past a screened Murdy.

In the latter stages of the second period, Thomas Murdy in the ‘Cats net didn’t look right as he started to give rebounds and took a long time to get up when he was down on the ice. In the final two minutes of the second frame, the Bison capitalised on the fatigued-looking Murdy by netting a shorthanded goal through Welshman Joe Miller on the breakaway. The period came to a close with the score at three goals to nil in favour of Basingstoke who also edged the shots in the frame 16 to 10.

Whether Thomas Murdy was injured or just fatigued I am not sure, but he was replaced by Graham Bird to occupy the crease for the Wildcats. Bird is on the bench a lot for the ‘Cats and his inexperience showed as he hit the ice early with Kubenko skating towards him who showed patience on the puck to slot it past Bird and increase his teams lead to four. With under a minute gone in the third, it was an awful start to the period for the Wildcats and they now had to fight back from four goals behind if they wanted to take anything from the game.

The crowd thought the ‘Cats had their first goal of the game with a minute and a half gone in the third as Aaron Nell squeezed one past Wall at the near post. However, Stephen Wall, the Bison goaltender, claimed that the puck had gone under a gap at the side of the goal frame. After much discussion and crowd disbelief, the referee decided to not give a goal and the Wildcats were still left search for their first of the evening.

Czech Michal Pinc got the Wildcats their first goal of the night, legally this time, as he pounced on a rebound from Walls pad to slot one in to the open net and cut the lead to three. The goal really gave the ‘Cats a boost as they created several chances and showed a lot more physicality in their game. Halfway through the final frame brought the game deciding goal as the Bison scored another powerplay goal as some great puck movement stretched the Wildcats players which left Joe Miller a lot of space to wrist one upstairs and score his second of the night.

Despite two powerplays before the final buzzer sounded, Swindon couldn’t add to their goal tally but could only witness the Bison score their sixth to rub some salt into the wound. A breakaway goal from Marcel Petran out of the penalty box gave the Bison a five goal lead as he showed great skill to pull off a lovely move and squeeze the puck past Bird in the ‘Cats net. The thoroughly entertaining game came to an end with the ‘Cats on the powerplay as the Bison completed a comprehensive six goal to one victory away from home.

Final score: Swindon Wildcats 1 – 6 Basingstoke Bison

Scorers:

Swindon – Michal Pinc

Baskingstoke – Viktor Kubenko (2), Marcel Petran (2), Joe Miller (2)