THE Basingstoke Bison beat the Sheffield Steeldogs twice last weekend, 6-5 in a penalty shot thriller on home ice and then 4-2 away in Yorkshire, writes Graham Merry.

The home game came alive in the second session with seven goals after a scoreless first 20 minutes.

The visitors started things off just 13 seconds into the period as Jason Hewitt beat Alex Mettam and then Jack Brammer doubled the lead.

However, six minutes later the Bison were level as man of the match Alex Roberts scored from close range and then the returning Adam Harding netted his own rebound.

The Bison then took full control of the session much to delight of their fans with three unanswered goals. Zack Milton scored with a nice wrist shot and then a lovely steal by Ashley Tait saw him fire past Miles Finney. A great pass from Adam Jones then released Aidan Doughty and he rifled into the top corner to make it 5-2.

The final period saw the Steeldogs score three unanswered goals themselves, as Hewitt, man of the match Jamie Spurr and Lee Bonner all found the net. With no further scoring, the game went into overtime.

During the extra five minute period, the Herd came closest to scoring when a superb stop from Finney denied Jones.

So the game went to penalty shots. The first two shooters Sheffield’s Matt Bissonnette and Bison’s Harding both converted.

The Steeldogs’ Hewitt then hit the post with the next penalty the first of the next six shooters to fail to find the net.

They were the Herd’s Tait, Roberts and Milton and Bonner, Spurr and Towner for Sheffield.

It was left to shooter number 10 Aidan Doughty of the Bison to make sure of the victory as he beat Finney to send the home fans wild.

On Sunday night, the Steeldogs opened the scoring from Hewitt, but by the first break the Herd led 2-1 thanks to goals from George Norcliffe and Harding.

Alex Sampford then added a third goal, before Spurr pulled a goal back. It was left to man of the match Tait to seal the 4-2 win with the only goal of the final period.