The Bison’s weekend matches against table-toping Manchester and derby rivals Guildford ended in heartbreak as they came away with their second double loss of the new year at the weekend.
An overtime goal meant that Bison were denied points as they fight to retain their third position place in the ice hockey premier league.
On Saturday, Bison took on Phoenix in front of a packed Basingstoke Arena.
And to the home crowd’s delight, Bison took an early lead in the fourth minute, thanks to an Ollie Bronnimann strike.
However, Phoenix quickly equalised from Joe Miller’s first goal on his debut for the club.
Viktor Kubenko edged Bison in front early in the second session, only for Tony Hand to strike after 23 minutes, pulling Phoenix level for the second time.
Bison got an early goal in the third period to go ahead as Bronnimann got his second of the night.
However, with five minutes remaining Ladislav Harabin made it 3-3 with a well executed strike within the blue line.
The Herd were determined to get the win and took the lead thanks to a rebound effort by Ben Davies with three minutes remaining.
With pressure from the offensive Phoenix, Hand sent the game into overtime, thanks to his shot deflecting off Steve Moria’s stick with 1:09 of the game left.
Both teams had their chances during the overtime period, but when Joy Tottman called a penalty on Kubenko with three minutes to go, Phoenix applied the pressure and were rewarded with a close-range goal by Tom Duggan to seal the win for the Manchester side.
Bison’s tough weekend was set to continue when they travelled away to second place Guildford on Sunday. But any hopes of making amends was shattered after the first 20 when the Herd went into the break 0-3 down.
Nathan Rempel opened the scoring in the tenth minute for the home side.
Ricky Plant doubled the advantage at 13:55 when a rebound strike slipped past Bison netminder Dean Skinns.
Worse was to come as Ricky Skene was pulled from the game with a 10-minute misconduct penalty following heated words with referee Roman Szucs after the Flame’s second goal.
A dejected Bison headed to the locker room without any points on the board at the end of the first period following a final-minute strike by Guildford’s Jez Lundin.
But it was the Bison who came out fired up for the second session and hit back with an early goal by Ben Davies, and following an Ondrej Lauko strike Bison were trailing 2-3.
Rempel and Bison’s Chris Wiggins clashed at centre ice, earning both men a six-minute rest in the sin bin. And Bison’s spirited comeback was undone shortly after, following a Lukas Smital shot that restored the Flames’ two goal lead.
The Herd closed clawed back a goal moments before the second buzzer when Ollie Bronnimann netted a pass from Basingstoke’s man-of-the-match Viktor Kubenko.
Bison pushed for an equaliser in the final 20, but any fairy tale ending was shattered when Ben Davies was sin-binned for slashing.
A short staffed Bison suffered and Rempel netted Guildford’s fifth of the night on the resulting powerplay.
On Saturday, Bison takes on Sheffield Steeldogs at home and on Sunday travel to face MK Lightning.
