Basingstoke Bison

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Basingstoke Bison
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City Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
League English Premier Ice Hockey League
Founded 1988
Home arena Planet Ice Silverdome
Colours White, Red, Black & Silver
Owner(s) Planet Ice
Head coach Doug Sheppard
Captain Nicky Chinn
Franchise history
1988–95 Basingstoke Beavers
1995– Basingstoke Bison

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

History

Formed in 1988 as the Basingstoke Beavers, the club became the "Bison" in 1995. Their team logo (see right) is very similar to that used by the Buffalo Sabres from 1996–2006. The name change came about due to the name "Beavers" being the butt of many jokes among British hockey fans ('beaver' being a popular sexual euphemism).

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 have 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 Managers post at American Hockey League side 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.

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 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 will 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, Doug Sheppard signed another deal with the Basingstoke Bison to continue as head coach for the 2013–2014 season.[5]

Club Roster 14/15[6]

# Name Position Place of Birth
4 England Matthew Selby Defence Birmingham, England
6 England Michael Wales Forward Gillingham, England
7 England Kurt Reynolds Defence Basingstoke, England
9 England Andrew Melachrino Forward Guildford, England
14 England Cameron Wynn Forward Basingstoke, England
15 England Joe Baird Defence Southampton, England
17 EnglandSouth Africa Grant Rounding Forward Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
18 Slovakia Miroslav Vantroba Defence Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia
24 England Declan Balmer Defence Hull, England
27 Wales Nicky Chinn Forward Cardiff, Wales
28 CanadaUnited Kingdom Doug Sheppard Forward Georgetown, Ontario, Canada
44 Czech Republic Tomáš Karpov Forward Benesov, Czech Republic
45 England Dean Skinns Goaltender Basingstoke, England
51 England Brendan Baird Defence Southampton, England
63 England Aaron Connolly Forward Northfleet, England
86 Canada Joe Rand Forward Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
89 England Ciaran Long Forward Birmingham, England
93 Wales Dan Weller-Evans Goaltender Bridgend, Wales
94 England Stuart Mogg Forward Basingstoke, England
97 England Joe Greener Forward Basingstoke, England

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[7][8]

Team Honours

1989/89
  • 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

Past Head Coaches

  • Doug Sheppard – 2012 – present – Player / Head Coach
  • Steve Moria – 2009–2012 – Player / Head Coach
  • Ryan Aldrige – 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. ↑ http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/news.php?ymid=0903&item=13&option=n
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/news.php?ymid=0904&item=1&option=n
  4. ↑ http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/news.php?ymid=0904&item=2&option=n
  5. ↑ http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/sport/10302040.Doug_Sheppard_signs_new_deal_to_lead_Basingstoke_Bison_in_2013_14/
  6. ↑ Eliteprospects.com (http://www.eliteprospects.com/team.php?team=928)
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePusWs-QHA

External links

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