Match Preview – Basingstoke Bison – By James Handscombe-Buckley
Team News:
Swindon Wildcats – Renny Marr (NM), Dean Skinns (NM), Sam Godfrey, Neil Liddiard, Ben Nethersell, Tyler Plews, Sam Smith, Stevie Whitfield, Edgars Bebris, Sam Bullas, Ollie Endicott, Jack Goodchild, Bailey Hind-Pitcher, Chris Jones, Tomasz Malasinski, Aaron Nell, Balint Pakozdi, Reed Sayers, Emil Svec, Floyd Taylor, Declan Balmer
Basingstoke Bison – Alex Mettam (NM), Jordan Lawday (NM), Brendan Baird, Tom Banner, Elliott Dewey, Adam Jones, Jay King, Oliver Stone, Aidan Doughty, Adam Harding, Elliot Lewis, Zack Milton, Liam Morris, George Norcliffe, Paul Petts, Alex Roberts, Cain Russell, Alex Sampford, Ryan Sutton, Ashley Tait, Hallam Wilson
Club History:
The Basingstoke Bison were formed in 1988 as the Basingstoke Beavers and they were involved in the BHL which was the top league in the country at the time and despite some mid-table finishes there was no real success for the Beavers. At the start of the 1995-96 season the team were rebranded as the Bison and they were one of the founding members of the Superleague when it was formed in 1996.
They only lasted for two years in the Superleague and then they dropped down into the BNL as this was deemed to be more financially viable for them, the Bison performed well in this league, finishing no lower than 4th place in their 5 seasons in the league but silverware still evaded them.
It was after this that the league structure collapsed and was reformed, Basingstoke moved into the new Elite League and they spent another 5 years in this league without any success and after a series of financial difficulties they dropped into the EPL and played against Swindon for the first time in league competition.
In the 2013-14 season the Bison tasted their first taste of silverware as they completed a cup double winning the EPL Cup and then the season ending play-off competition. They followed up this success with the franchise’s first ever league title in 2016 as they secured the EPL title and then with the collapse of the EPL the Bison won the NIHL1 league and play-off double in their first season in the new league.
Previous Seasons Performance:
NIHL National – 4th – GP50 – W26 – L17 – OTL7 – GF194 – GA179 – PTS59
This Seasons Meetings:
08/10/2021 Basingstoke Bison 0-3 Swindon Wildcats
13/11/2021 Basingstoke Bison 5-7 Swindon Wildcats
20/11/2021 Swindon Wildcats 5-2 Basingstoke Bison
26/12/2021 Swindon Wildcats 2-4 Basingstoke Bison
27/12/2021 Basingstoke Bison 5-3 Swindon Wildcats
Previous Meetings:
27/10/2019 Basingstoke Bison 3-5 Swindon Wildcats
29/11/2019 Swindon Wildcats 2-4 Basingstoke Bison
26/12/2019 Basingstoke Bison 3-2 Swindon Wildcats
01/01/2020 Swindon Wildcats 3-4 Basingstoke Bison
15/02/2020 Basingstoke Bison 3-5 Swindon Wildcats
16/02/2020 Swindon Wildcats 8-7 Basingstoke Bison
06/03/2020 Basingstoke Bison 3-4 Swindon Wildcats
07/03/2020 Swindon Wildcats 3-4 Basingstoke Bison
The Coach:
Tonight’s opposing head coach is a British ice hockey legend, Ashley Tait is the player-coach for the Bison. Tait was born in Toronto but then moved to Nottingham and came up through their junior system and in 1990 he made his debut with the Nottingham Panthers at the age of just 15.
He is most known for his time playing in Nottingham, but he also had lengthy spells with Coventry and Sheffield during his long and illustrious career. In addition to his club service Tait also represented Great Britain on 91 occasions and in those 91 games he recorded 53 points.
It was in 2018 that Tait first took up the head coaching reigns of a club, he took over as Player/Coach of the Bison and he has remained in that role ever since. Despite not winning any silverware the performance of both his team and personally have been very good and it is surely only a matter of time before he wins his first trophy as a head coach.
