Without import forward Kamil Tvrdek, who was released last week for not providing ‘value for money’, Bees were beaten 1-0 in Basingstoke on Saturday before going down 5-0 at home the following evening.

The results see Bees slip down to sixth in the English Premier Ice Hockey League ahead of their trip to Guildford Flames on Boxing Day (4pm f/o).

As well as missing Tvrdek last weekend, Bees were without Tony Redmond and Chris Wiggins for their trip to Basingstoke on Saturday.

They added Harvey Stead and Ben Paynter to the squad and also gave a debut to Brendan Baird.

It was defences that were largely on top in a scoreless opening period as both sides failed to convert powerplay opportunities.

Bees started the second period on the powerplay but Ollie Bronnimann and Matt Foord were denied by Dean Skinns.

The hosts eventually got the breakthrough at 28:31 when Joe Miller tipped in a shot from the blue line by Zach Sullivan.

And although Bees survived a five-on-three powerplay towards the end of the period, they could not beat Skinns and left Basingstoke with nothing to show for their efforts.

Bees started brightly in front of a bumper crowd on Sunday with Shaun Thompson hitting the frame of the goal.

Moments later the puck was in the Bison net, only for the goal to be disallowed for a man in the crease.

Bees continued to look the likeliest side to break the deadlock but instead it was Bison who took the lead against the run of play through former Slough Jet Ciaran Long.

The period ended with a flurry of penalties, including a two-plus 10 to Scott Spearing for checking to the head.

There was worse to follow for the home side in the middle stanza as Bison scored three times without reply.

Joe Miller doubled the advantage midway through the period and Andrew Melachrino and Kurt Reynolds both netted before the buzzer.

Bees lost both Pavel Strycek and Spearing to the sin bin in the final period and were punished as Long scored the fifth.

The next home game for Bees sees them host Guildford on Sunday (6pm f/o).