Basingstoke Bison

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Basingstoke Bison

League	Elite Ice Hockey League
Founded	1988
History	Basingstoke Beavers 1988-95 Basingstoke Bison 1995-Present
Arena	Planet Ice Silverdome
Capacity	1,800
City	Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Team Colours	Black, White, Red & Green
Head coach	Doug Sheppard
Owners	Planet Ice
Team Captain	Blair Manning

The Basingstoke Bison are a British Ice Hockey club from the town of Basingstoke, England.

Formed in 1988 as the Basingstoke Beavers, the club soon became the butt of jokes when it was realised that Canadian players would not sign for a club whose name is Canadian slang for a part of the female anatomy.

The "Beavers" became the "Bison" in 1995. Their team logo (see right) 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 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 Netminders 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.

Planet Ice have announced that the new player / coach of the club will be last seasons captain Doug Sheppard, with former Bison and London Racers defenceman Duncan Dalmao returning as player / assistant coach. Harry Robinson also joins the club as Associate Director of Hockey.