Basingstoke Bison got back to winning ways by beating Guildford Flames and Telford Tigers over the weekend.
The double victory will come as a relief for Bison as their top four spot looked in jeopardy after previously losing three games in a row.
But a nine-goal haul in two games leaves them third in the English Ice Hockey Premier League with two games in hand over table-topping Manchester and second place Guildford.
Up to 1,200 fans crammed into the Basingstoke Arena for Saturday’s derby match against Guildford.
And they raised the roof 89 seconds into the first period when Bison’s Steve Moria opened the scoring.
Six minutes later, Guildford’s Nathan Rempel brought the scores level, beating Bison netminder Dean Skinns.
But in a game that saw Bison dominate play, it took only two minutes for the home side to get back on top when Ollie Bronnimann scored from a Viktor Kubenko set-up.
Before the end of the first period, Nicky Chinn was unlucky not to make it three when, after beating netminder Miro Hala, the puck was cleared from the crease by Flames defender Neil Liddiard.
Bison man-of-the-match Skinns was on top form to shut out any Flames goal scoring attempts.
At the start of the second period, Skinns denied Jeremy Van Hoof and Martin Masa.
Bison made it 3-1 when a Bronnimann shot from the left wing came off the pads of Hala.
He then slotted in the rebound as Bison and Flames players scrambled for the loose puck.
Skinns showed his class towards the end of the second period with a strong save from a Matt Towe shot.
With ten seconds left before the second buzzer, Nicky Chinn added to the score sheet with a reverse flick past Hala.
Skinns was beaten five minutes into the third period when a Jez Lundin shot took a deflection and Ricky Plant hit home.
The game was firmly put to bed when Bronnimann secured his hat trick 10 minutes from time.
In the last few minutes, Flames desperately hunted for goals, but Skinns denied every chance.
On Sunday, Bison came away with a second win away against Telford Tigers.
But the Tigers proved difficult to tame and the Herd had to claw themselves back into the match after going down 1- 3 in the first period.
Telford’s Scott McKenzie, Andrejs Maslovkis and Josh Bruce all netted early on. Bison's Kurt Reynolds netted the visitor’s only goal in the first period.
But Bison found their form in the second period as Mindy Kieras an Kubenko brought the scores level.
Going into the final period, Bronnimann added to his weekend goal haul, scoring the winner 30 seconds into the final period.
The Herd managed to keep the Tigers caged for the remainder of the 20 minute period, securing their second win on-the-trot.
On Saturday, Bison take on table-topping Manchester Phoeonix at home before taking on the Guildford Flames away on Sunday.
