Luc Chabot
	Ritchie Hargreaves

Bison sign second Finn

The Basingstoke Wella Bison signed their second Finnish player this week, centreman Markku Takala. This will be Markku's second season of British ice hockey, the 6 foot forward played for superleague side Newcastle Cobras in 1996/97. 31-year-old Takala brings with him a wealth of European hockey experience, having played in Finland, Sweden, France and most recently for Sparta Sarpsborg Bears in the Norweigian Elite League.
Also announced this week was the signing of Luc Chabot as the Wella Bison bench coach. Chabot's Great Britain hockey career started in 1986 with Ayr. More recently Luc was player-coach for the Isle of Wight Raiders from 1999 to 2002 and last season spent half the year with Peterborough Phantoms, as player-coach, before finishing the season with the Romford Raiders. It was also confirmed that Nicky Chinn would play in last weekend’s games although the arrangement is not expected to continue.

Meet the player evening
Bison fans had a boost last Wednesday evening with a chance to meet the majority of the new squad. Around 150-200 fans turned up to get their first look at the team, Dave Geris was the most impressive standing at 6’5’’ he’s the tallest player ever to ice for the Bison and will be a powerful force this season.

Match reports

Nottingham Panthers Vs Basingstoke Bison 13/9/03
Well the night didn't start off to well for the Bison. We had been informed that due to unforeseen circumstances Joe Ciccarello, Chris Slater, Markku Takala and Martin Filip were unable to ice, which left Bison with a very short bench indeed.
Period 1
With Luc Chabot running the bench, Bison first line of Curtis Cruickshank, Dave Geris, Phil Roy, Nicky Chinn, Steve Moria and Christian Widauer took to the ice to get the game away.
Right from the first drop of the puck we knew it was going to be an exciting game. Both teams getting early shots on the netminders to test them out.
Panthers James Morgan was the first to take a penalty in the game at 5.59 he was sent to the bin on a interference call. So the short benched Bison were now on a powerplay and it gave us chance to see what we could do. And they didn't let us down, at 7.04 Blake Sorenson who wore the "C" tonight made it 1-0 to the Bison assisted by Dave Geris and a few people were heard saying the young Nicky Watt had a assist on it as well but it wasn't given.
Period 2
Once again the period started off fast but Panthers had the edge over the short staffed Bison team, however the guys pulled all their strength together and fought hard.
At 25.49 however the Bison netminder Cruickshank was finally beaten after a string of "How the hell did he save that" saves he was finally beaten by Joel Salonen.
It was all Nottingham for the next ten mins but Cruickshank stood on his head and the defensive team of Geris, Roy, Hutchinson, and Vahanen were also working overtime to shut the Panthers down and keep the scoreline going into the third period at 1-1.
Period 3
Bison started this period short handed with Nicky Chinn serving a 2min hooking penalty.
Most people thought that the Bison would tire in this period and allow the Panthers to take control of the game. But unfortunately for the Panthers the Bison hadn't read the script and they came out firing. Despite having a short bench and then one in the penalty box the Bison worked as one unit and kept Nottingham at bay while Chinnie was in the bin.
49.30 Robert Stancok and Kim Vahanen decided to get a little close acquainted resulting in Kim getting a 2min holding call. But Stancok picked up a 2+2 for Roughing and a 10min misconduct call for dropping his gloves in readiness for a fight. Once again the Panthers started to get the upperhand and once again the Bison Netminder and defence team were there to block, and save any of the Panthers shots.
52.45 Cruickshank was finally beaten for the second time to take the score 2-1 Panthers. After a string of five saves on the row the 6th rebound finally found the stick of Kim Ahlroos who chipped the puck into the top shelf of the net.
As hard as they tried to get the equaliser Bison just couldn't find the shot to beat Niklas Sundberg and the game ended 2-1 Panthers.
The Bison did all 35 traveling supporters proud out there tonight, the British boys helping to create a solid second line and young Nicky Watt showed that if given the chance to play he will not let the team down.

MOM - Curtis Cruickshank (Bison) with the Bison being outshot 57-16
MOM - Kim Ahlroos (Panthers)

Basingstoke Bison vs Belfast Giants 14/9/03
Well great to be back for our first home game of the season, new green shirts & kit of helmets & gloves in matching livery looked very professional. New nets & a new ice pad after the rigors of a hot summer, alas the performance on the night was a tad disappointing.
Basingstoke Wella Bison, missing four players, found Belfast Giants too hot to handle as they lost their opening Elite League home game 4-10.
Belfast Giants came out meaning business with Paxton Schulte scoring after 40 seconds of play. The Bison had their best chances on the powerplay, but at 9.44 it was the visitors who scored again Paxton Schulte beating Cruickshank from his own rebound and a 0-2 score after one period.
The second Period saw Bison concede another six unanswered goals before at 36.23 Sorensen scored the Herd's opening goal.
The Wella Bison changed netminders at the beginning on the third period, Dean Skinns swapping with Cruickshank.The last 20 minutes saw the Bison add three more goals to Belfast's two, Brad Kenny scoring both of the Giants goals, while Moria, Hargreaves and Chinn scored for the Wella Bison.
Final score; Basingstoke Bison 4 - 10 Belfast Giants
News and Match reports courtesy of the Official Bison website at; http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/home.php

Forthcoming fixtures
Saturday 20th September home to Coventry Blaze, a team who won the FBNL League trophy last season & a team the Bison haven’t beaten for two seasons.
Sunday 21st September sees the Bison travel to Sheffield Steelers for the first time in a league match since the Bison elected to go into the FBNL.

Other news
Junior fan club
This has been revived with membership £5, a monthly newsletter, 10% discount on Bison Merchandise and meet the players evening are part of the package with more to be announced soon.