Basingstoke Bison 7, Belfast Giants 2

THE LEAGUE leaders were dished out a thrashing by an awesome Wella Bison side as they produced arguably their best performance ever on home ice with a 7-2 victory.

The home side got off to a dream start as Steve Moria fired home after 16 seconds after being set free by Markku Takala.

From there they never looked backed and shots rained in on Giants netminder Colin Ryder from all angles and somehow he caught a Joe Ciccarello shot at 9:37 when most in the building thought it had gone in.

However, Ciccarello only had to wait 13 seconds to collect his goal as his backhand shot came off the post and went in off Sean Berens.

The too many men on the ice call from linesman Lee Young left the Herd shorthanded but they were on a roll and man-of-the-match Blake Sorensen, with a superb wrist shot, made it 3-0 at 16:31.

The home side were in further penalty trouble as Chris Slater caught visiting Paxton Schulte in the face. His two plus 10 minutes for checking to the face gave Belfast 35 seconds with a two-man advantage, but the best penalty killers in the league kept them out.

Unsurprisingly, the visitors opened the second period the better, but the game was won with two goals in the space of 34 seconds from Bison's third line.

The first saw defenceman Phil Roy expertly put away a cross from Richard Hargreaves.

The whole line combined as Hargreaves and Michael Wales sent Christian Widauer clear and he beat Ryder all ends up. The fans erupted with the same passion as the Austrian did as he celebrated his first goal for the club.

A too many men on the ice call against Belfast gave the Bison the opportunity to score number six on the powerplay from Steve Moria.

The magnificent seventh goal arrived at 28:18 as Martin Filip made the most of a mishit pass from Sorensen.

At this point the Giants needed to do something to stop a Herd on full stampede, so cue the rough stuff as a mass brawl broke out as every player except for the visitors' goalie got involved.

Players paired off and the outcome was six players being sent to the sin bin - three from each side.

Giants Colin Ward, who started the fracas, received 2+2+2+10 for roughing, while Bison trio Kim Vahanen, Wales and Widauer along with Giants pair Leigh Jamieson and Jason Bowen all received 2+2+10 for roughing. Netminder Curtis Cruickshank received a two-minute penalty for leaving his goal crease to lend a hand. That meant it was standing room only in the penalty box.

With the game won, Cruickshank, unbeaten all night, gave way to the teenager Dean Skinns, but unfortunately for him he was beaten by the first shot he faced as Gareth Martin scored.

With the victory in the bag, the final period saw the Bison play a very intelligent defensive period, not allowing the visitors to get back into the game.

They managed to score just once from Jason Ruff as Skinns once again proved an able back-up.

In the dying seconds of the game, Bison's Nicky Watt proved he will stand up to anyone as Jason Bowen punched the teenager, who duly retaliated against the Giants defenceman. Watt's team mate Dave Geris stepped in to calm things down.

A delighted player/coach Steve Moria said: "That is the best game we have played in my two years in charge and this will send a big message out to the league that we are here to compete." He added: "It was a good complete all-round performance from all the guys and a well-deserved win".

Scoring; Bison: Moria 2+0, Roy 1+2, Ciccarello, Sorensen 1+1, Filip, Widauer 1+0, Hargreaves 0+2, Wales, Takala 0+1. Giants: Kenny 1+1, Martin 1+0, Schulte, Kelman 0+1. Shots on Goal: Cruickshank 24, Skinns 17, Ryder 52. Penalties; Bison: 68min, Giants: 64.