Basingstoke Bison

The Basingstoke Bison are an English Ice Hockey club from Basingstoke. They currently compete in the NIHL National League and have previously been members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and its successor the Elite Ice Hockey League.

Basingstoke Bison
CityBasingstoke, Hampshire, England
League NIHL National League
Founded1988
Home arenaPlanet Ice Silverdome
Capacity: 2,000
ColoursBlack, White & Red
     
Owner(s)Planet Ice
Head coachAshley Tait
CaptainElliott Dewey
WebsiteBasingstoke Bison
Franchise history
1988–95Basingstoke Beavers
1995–Basingstoke Bison

History

Formed in 1988 as the Basingstoke Beavers, the club became the "Bison" in 1995. Their team logo is very similar to that used by the Buffalo Sabres from 1996–2006. Joining the Superleague in 1996, the Bison dropped out in 1998 and joined the British National League. In 2003 they joined the newly formed Elite Ice Hockey League.

Despite being one of the lower-budget teams in the EIHL, the Bison maintained their fan base and greatly enhanced local sponsorships and doubled their season ticket sales. This success is mainly testament to the hard work of Mark Bernard, who occupied the general manager and head coach role with the club during the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons. Bernard also stepped into the netminder's role part way through the latter season after Jayme Platt had left the team.

In May 2006, Bernard left the club to take up the assistant general manager's post with American Hockey League club, the Norfolk Admirals. Prior to his departure, Bernard secured the services of a number of the players that made up the 05/06 roster.

In June 2006, Planet Ice announced that the new player/coach of the club would be former club captain Doug Sheppard, with former Bison and London Racers defenceman Duncan Dalmao returning as player/assistant coach. Sheppard set about building his roster around the core that he had inherited from Bernard. The Bison embarked upon a successful year under Sheppard, securing their highest ever Elite League finish, and taking many points off the top sides in the League.

In April 2007, David Taylor, owner of the Bracknell Bees, purchased the Bison. He appointed Ryan Aldridge as the head coach of the team, signalling the end of Doug Shepherd's reign. Shepherd went on to join rivals Sheffield Steelers.

Following financial problems, which had resulted in the departure of a number of players (including starting netminder Stevie Lyle), Taylor relinquished ownership of the Bison and the team's new owner was announced as Tomas Enerston by Planet Ice on 8 November 2007. Less than a year later, following further financial difficulty, Planet Ice put together a rescue package to keep Bison on the ice until the end of the 2008/09 season.

On 25 March 2009, the Bison released a statement confirming that they would be joining the EPL for the 2009/10 season.[1][2] Entry to the EPIHL was confirmed on 15 April 2009,[3] and Steve Moria took over as head coach the following day.[4]

After Moria's departure at the end of the 2011–2012 season, it was announced that Doug Sheppard would return as the Bison head coach for the 2012–2013 season. In March 2013, Sheppard signed another deal with the Basingstoke Bison to continue as head coach for the 2013–2014 season.[5]

The Basingstoke Bison won the 15/16 English Premier League title, under Doug Sheppard as coach. This ended their silverware drought of 23 years.[6] [7]

The 2017/18 season was arguably the Bison's greatest ever season. Remaining under Doug Sheppard, they secured a historic treble by winning the NIHL 1 South league, NIHL 1 South playoffs and finally the NIHL Final Four playoffs.

In 2018/19, the Bison had a major squad rebuild, with just 7 players remaining at the club from the previous season. With Doug Sheppard joining rivals Bracknell Bees, the Bison brought in British ice hockey veteran Ashley Tait as a player-coach. With Coventry Blaze legend Russell Cowley and imports Richard Bordowski and Michal Klejna, the Bison achieved an unlikely 3rd place finish in the league, and made their way to the cup final, which they lost to the Peterborough Phantoms.

Club roster 2020–21[8]
Netminders
No. Nat. Player Catches Date of birth Place of birth Acquired Contract
28 Alex Mettam L (1988-02-01) 1 February 1988 Sheffield, England 2018-19 from Bracknell Bees 20/21
93 Dan Weller-Evans L (1993-10-25) 25 October 1993 Bridgend, Wales 2014-15 from Wightlink Raiders 20/21
Defencemen
No. Nat. Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth Acquired Contract
6 Oliver Stone L (1998-07-26) 26 July 1998 Swindon, England 2019 from Milton Keynes Thunder 20/21
13 Elliott Dewey R (1997-03-10) 10 March 1997 Basingstoke, England 2017-18 from Invicta Dynamos 20/21
77 Jay King R (1996-02-01) 1 February 1996 Edinburgh, Scotland 2018-19 from Edinburgh Capitals 20/21
TBA Brendan Baird R (1996-01-21) 21 January 1996 Southampton, England 2020 from Bracknell Bees 20/21
Forwards
No. Nat. Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth Acquired Contract
4 Adam Harding R (1993-01-03) 3 January 1993 Cardiff, Wales 2018-19 from Swindon Wildcats 20/21
11 Hallam Wilson L (1998-04-24) 24 April 1998 Winchester, England 2017 from Oxford City Stars 20/21
16 George Norcliffe R (1994-03-21) 21 March 1994 Guildford, England 2018-19 from Bracknell Bees 20/21
21 Ashley Tait R (1975-08-09) 9 August 1975 Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2018-19 from Belfast Giants 20/21
29 Alex Sampford R (1996-10-29) 29 October 1996 Basingstoke, England 2018-19 from Streatham IHC 20/21
47 Oscar Evans L (2001-08-03) 3 August 2001 England 2016 from Swindon Leopards Two Way
61 Ryan Sutton L (1995-03-17) 17 March 1995 Basingstoke, England 2019-20 from Bracknell Bees 20/21
74 Liam Morris L (1995-04-07) 7 April 1995 Glenrothes, Scotland 2018 from Northern Federals 20/21
98 Sam Talbot R (2001-04-10) 10 April 2001 England 2019 from Slough Jets 20/21
TBA Alex Roberts R (1994-07-10) 10 July 1994 Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada 2020 from Mont Blanc 20/21
TBA Aidan Doughty L (1995-07-12) 12 July 1995 Isle of Wight, England 2020 from Bracknell Bees 20/21
Team Staff
No. Nat. Name Position Acquired Place of birth Joined From
N/A Ash Tait Player-Coach/Director of Hockey Operations 2018 Toronto, Ontario, Canada Coventry Blaze, EIHL
N/A Tony Redmond Assistant Coach 2009 Glasgow, Scotland Slough Jets, EPIHL
N/A Gary Mitchell Equipment Manager 2017 England
N/A Tony Skinns Equipment Manager 2002 England
N/A Phil Barratt Physical Therapist 2019 England

2020/21 Outgoing
Outgoing
No. Nat. Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth Leaving For
2 Adam Jones L (1996-01-10) 10 January 1996 Birmingham, England Fife Flyers
8 Richard Bordowski R (1982-06-20) 20 June 1982 Třinec, Czech Republic HK Novy Jicin
14 Tom Ralph R (1993-12-29) 29 December 1993 Hull, England To Be Announced
17 Bayley Harewood R (2003-07-07) 7 July 2003 Barry, Wales To Be Announced
26 Michael Klejna L (1987-10-08) 8 October 1987 Skalica, Slovakia Retired
71 Josh Kelly L (2000-04-23) 23 April 2000 Basingstoke, England To Be Announced
73 Sam Smith R (2001-09-02) 2 September 2001 Cardiff, Wales To Be Announced

[9]


Honoured members

Basingstoke have only retired the number of two players, the first being Kevin Conway's number 10 in 2005 following his initial retirement from ice hockey. In the 2005–06 season, Tony Redmond was honoured with a testimonial season. In September 2009, it was announced that Don Yewchin, the original ice hockey coordinator for the Beavers in 1988 would have his number 12 jersey retired before Basingstoke's league game with local rivals Bracknell Bees on Saturday 10 October 2009. In a fantastic twist of fate, Basingstoke won the game 12–0.[10][11] In 2016, Tony Redmond's number 20 shirt was retired when the club beat Telford Tigers 7-0. In 2018, the club held a testimonial match to celebrate Kurt Reynolds, as he took a time-out from hockey. [12]

Team honours
1989/90
  • Champions – English Div 1 Promotion Play-offs
1991/92
  • Winners – Southern Cup
1992/93
  • Champions – Heineken Division One
  • Champions – Heineken Div 1 Promomtion Play-offs
  • Runners-up – Southern Cup
1993/94
  • Runners-up – Southern Cup
1994/95
  • Runners-up – Southern Cup
1998/99
  • Runners-up – British National Ice Hockey League
  • Runners-up – Christmas Cup
1999/00
  • Winners – B & H Plate
  • Runners-up – ntl: Christmas Cup
  • Runners-up – BNL Play-off Championships
2000/01
  • Winners – B & H Plate
  • Runners-up – Findus British National Ice Hockey League
  • Runners-up – FBNL Play-off Championships
2003/04
2012/13
  • Runners-up – English Premier Ice Hockey League
2013/14
  • Winners – English Premier Ice Hockey League Cup
  • Runners-up – English Premier Ice Hockey League
  • Winners – English Premier Ice Hockey League Play-off Championship
2015/16
  • Champions – English Premier Ice Hockey League
2017/18
  • Champions – NIHL Britton League Division 1
  • Champions - NIHL Britton League Play-Offs
  • Champions - NIHL National Final Four Play-Offs

Past head coaches
  • Ashley Tait – 2018 – present – Player / head coach
  • Doug Sheppard – 2012 – 2018 – Player / head coach
  • Steve Moria – 2009–2012 – Player / head coach
  • Ryan Aldridge – 2007–2009 – Player / head coach
  • Doug Sheppard – 2006–2007 – Player / head coach
  • Mark Bernard – 2004–2006 – Player / head coach / general manager
  • Steve Moria – 2002–2004 – Player / head coach
  • Charlie Colon – 2000–2002 – Head coach
  • Rick Strachan – 1999–2000 – Player / head coach
  • Don Depoe – 1998–1999 – Head coach

Notable players

Footnotes
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Bison to leave Elite League". Basingstoke Gazette. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  3. http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/news.php?ymid=0904&item=1&option=n%5B%5D
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Graham Merry (20 March 2013). "Doug Sheppard signs new deal to lead Basingstoke Bison in 2013-14 (From Basingstoke Gazette)". Basingstokegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  6. Graham Merry. "AS IT HAPPENED - Basingstoke Bison are crowned league champions (From Basingstoke Gazette)". Basingstokegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  7. Harriet Jackson (14 March 2016). "Basingstoke Bison are crowned English Premier League champions (From Basingstoke Gazette)". Basingstokegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  8. "Basingstoke Bison - Elite Prospects". www.eliteprospects.com.
  9. http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/roster
  10. "About Us : The Club". Basingstoke Ice Hockey Club. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  11. "Bison v Bees Highlights 10/10/09". YouTube. 10 October 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  12. https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/sport/16038449.special-game-to-honour-kurt-reynolds/
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