Weekends don’t come any bigger than this one for the Basingstoke Bison, as they go head-to-head with the Guildford Flames for a place in the final four of the EPL play-offs in Coventry. The teams finished joint fourth in the league locked on 71 points and both are ready for battle royal in this local derby double header.

Bumper crowds are expected for both encounters, the first being at the Basingstoke Arena on Saturday, where the action gets underway at 6.30pm.
Tickets are selling fast for this non season ticket game, so to avoid disappointment ring the box office now on (01256) 355266.

The second-leg is on Easter Sunday at the Guildford Spectrum with the slightly earlier face-off time of 6pm.

Having already met six times this season the Flames edged the series 4-2, but five of those games were decided by the odd goal and that included their last encounter which saw the Bison victorious 4-3 on home ice.

After welcoming back Canadian sharp shooter Joe Ciccarello last weekend, British forward Chris Wiggins will be in the line-up for this games after completing a recent ban.

So the Herd will be at full strength for this crunch weekend and looking to see if they can douse the Flames.

Bison player/coach Steve Moria said: “This is the ultimate match-up and I am sure these games are going to be tight and controversial - that is just the way it is when we play Guildford. “Our performance against Swindon in our last game was just what I was looking for. We scored plenty of goals, as well as playing very solid defensively. If we can do that again, then I see no reason why we can’t come out on top this weekend.”

The winners of the Basingstoke and Guildford quarter-final clash will go on to meet the triumphant team from the Milton Keynes and Swindon game at Coventry next Saturday, in a game which has a 3pm face-off.

The second semi-final on the same day, will see Slough or Sheffield face Manchester or Peterborough. The final is of course on Sunday.