Coventry Blaze 4, Basingstoke Bison 2

COVENTRY Blaze ensured that they are the Findus British National League Christmas number one, keeping hold of top spot by defeating the Bison on Sunday night at the Skydome.

The home side, who have defeated the Bison every time they have faced each other on the ice this season, came out of the blocks determined and opened the scoring on a powerplay inside two minutes.

With Matt Cot in the sin bin for a hooking offence, Hilton Ruggles and Michael Tasker combined to set up Steve Carpenter for a strike past Scott Hay.

Just past the seven-minute mark, the lead was doubled by Andreas Moborg, taking a pass from Shaun Johnson to give the Blaze a 2-0 interval lead.

The only goal of a lacklustre middle period came when Blaze were on the powerplay again. Steve Chartrand took advantage of good play by Carpenter and Tasker to stretch the lead to 3-0 after 40 minutes.

The Bison came into the game in the final period and scored two quick goals to raise hopes of a comeback.

First, Daryl Lavoie scored from Paul Berrington and Steve Moria's incisive break. Then, less than two minutes later, Chris Crombie converted from Mike Ellis and Lavoie while Blaze's James Pease was in the box for slashing.

The Bison were in the ascendancy but failed to get a crucial equaliser and Coventry nerves were calmed on 52 minutes.

Ashley Tait took a pass from Johnson and Poirier to find the net and seal a 4-2 win.

SCORING: Coventry: Carpenter 1+1; Moborg, Chartrand and Tait 1+0; Johnson and Tasker 0+2; Poirier and Ruggles 0+1. Basingstoke: Lavoie 1+1; Crombie 1+0; Berrington, Moria and Ellis 0+1. Penalties: Coventry 12min, Basingstoke 22. Shots on goal: Coventry (Lehman) 17; Basingstoke (Hay) 27. Period scores: 2-0, 1-0, 1-2. Attendance: 1,936. Man-of-the-match: Coventry - Andreas Moborg; Basingstoke - Peter Campbell.