MANCHESTER PHOENIX 3 - 4 PETERBOROUGH PHANTOMS
Manchester Phoenix lost ground on the top 2 as a meager 1 point from 4 over weekend was all to show from their efforts. Saturday they had a tough road trip down in Hampshire against the Basingstoke Bison going down 3-1 after they took the lead. But eventually the home side scored and in the end took the spoils in the big clash on the Saturday evening scoring another 2 times.
Sunday evening saw the 2nd visit to the ice dome for the Peterborough Phantoms side. Games against the East Anglian side have resulted in some very close games this season & this proved to be another one to add the list. The last 3 games have been close tight affairs with Phoenix winning it in a shoot out down in Bretton last time out.
The Home side were hoping to get over the disappointment of Saturday loss away at Bison , Phoenix started with Young goaltender Jorge El-Hage as Steve Fone had injured himself in the game the night before so the young goalie started.
The 4 officials system was used once again as Dan Boardman & James Ashton were referees, While Leigh Heatherington & Kris Wells were the Lino`s. Referee James Ashton dropped the puck to start the game, And the game was very sloppy with mistakes by both sides possibly due to the ice as the puck wasn`t sticking abit at times, which made it a bit difficult for both sides.
Michal Psurny had the first real opening chance of the game, As he skated by the boards round the back of the Phantoms defence only to be denied by Damien King in the Peterboro goals. The Phantoms took the shock lead, As Cownie passed towards the front of goals from the side of the net and Jamie Line effort went slowly past the despairing dive of El-Hage in the Phoenix nets at 4:43
Phoenix were soon on level terms as Flaten skated towards on goals & his shot was saved by King and a on coming defenseman, unluckily for the visitors the puck dropped in the crease and Psurny skated in to tap home into a empty net for 1-1 at 6:38 on a DELAYED PENALTY GOAL. Luke Ferrara was given a TRIPPING call as well on the goal as well, But the first penalty agaisnt Ondrej Lauko pen was not invoked due the goal scored.
Tom Norton was then sent to the Penalty box at 12.08 for HOLDING, Which Phoenix took the lead through thanks to Richard Bentham scoring against his old team as he scored on the Powerplay from a breakaway with Tom Duggan and James Neil getting assists. Duggan started it off in centre ice passing to Neil, His pass found Bentham in the slot open and free all by himself & his shot went in despite King getting a glove to it but couldn`t stop the puck from going in, That was at 14:01.
Tom Norton was then sent to the Penalty box at 12.08 for HOLDING, Which Phoenix took the lead through thanks to Richard Bentham scoring against his old team as he scored on the Powerplay from a breakaway with Tom Duggan and James Neil getting assists. Duggan started it off in centre ice passing to Neil, His pass found Bentham in the slot open and free all by himself & his shot went in despite King getting a glove to it but couldn`t stop the puck from going in, That was at 14:01.
A delayed penalty was called on the Phantoms by Ref Ashton, Meanwhile we had Duggan and Norton battling in front of the Phantoms crease while play was going on in the corner & along the boards, as Tom Norton checked Tom Duggan in the back & slashed him to which Duggan then tripped Norton up in a comedic way. Norton got up jabbed him, and So as the whistle went they both pushed & shoved one another leading to tempers getting frayed, Before the gloves were dropped and they had a scrap.
Duggan for me won the fight as he threw more punches, Some of them were cracking punches that connected on Norton. Norton didn`t do much as he just couldn`t get his arms free to throw any punches at all as Duggan caught his opponent with a couple of beautiful uppercuts and hooks.
Both players went to the box picking up a ROUGHING & SLASHING penalty each, timed at 18:36.
Both players went to the box picking up a ROUGHING & SLASHING penalty each, timed at 18:36.
That was the highlights of the 1st period.
end of 1st PHOENIX 2 - 1 PHANTOMS
Start of the 2nd period nearly saw Phoenix score quickly after Joachim Flaten "ghosted" in on goal, He just couldn`t redirect his shot on target as the Phantoms cleared their lines. James Archer was then called for ROUGHING at 23:14, After a cross check on Archer against the Phoenix bench by a Peterboro player off play wasn`t saw, Though the ref caught Archer retaliating and so the forward had to sit for for 2 in the box.
The powerplay for the away side didn`t last long as Jeff Glowa was deemed to have upended a Manchester player,Which mean`t he made a trip to the box for TRIPPING at 23:21
Ben Wood was then given 2 mins by Ashton for SLASHING for a nothing call, As the Manchester man gave a normal tap on the pads while trying to dipossess the Peterboro player as he was attacking, But Ashton deemed it a Slash, much to Wood frustration that call coming at 25:47.
The Powerplay for the Phantoms wasn`t that great really, But it did create one chance when Lauko learing at the back post tried to tip it on goals but went up in the netting and out of play. Luke Ferrara then hobbled off walking round the ice instead of skating to the far side to the changing rooms.
Then we had a little funny incident when a shot came in by the Phantoms, Jeff Glowa skated for any rebound that could happen, Whacked El-Hage stick a bit firmly & was met quickly by BIG Rob Schnabel who gave him a shove to which Glowa leapt at the glass like players do when they score a goal. And so the Phantoms player very quickly skated back to his bench with the Phoenix drummers shouting "CHICKEN" to which Glowa waved at the the drummers and got a good humoured applause from the crowd as went to the bench with a smile.
But Manchester fans weren`t smiling soon after as James Ferrara and Tom Carlon set up Ex Phoenix player Joe Graham who blaster took a little deflection beating El-Hage as the goalie had no chance seeing it throught the crowd, As it flew over his shoulder for a tied game at 2-2 at 31-14.
Glowa in the aftermath of the goal was also given a 10 min ABUSE OF OFFICIAL penalty for something he said to the ref, all incidents timed at 33-00.
Lauko had another attempted tip in miss the target as it hit the plexi glass behind the goals and was led away by the Phoenix defense. Phantoms then broke away up the ice on a breakaway and were looking the more threatening side in the game to be honest, Pozivil got back fantastically putting off the Peterborough forward with a hard slash and when play was stopped, He went for 2 mins for SLASHING at 36:48.
2ndPeriod ended with Peterborough having much of puck, As Phoenix were stuck in 1st gear and couldn`t get going at all apart from having bursts of attacking plays. The game it self was a very dull stop start game as the officials mainly Ashton calling every little thing and making it drag on.
END OF 2ND PERIOD : PHOENIX 3 - 2 PHANTOMS
3RD Period ,The away side Peterborough was looking the much stronger team & very dangerous when they got forward. They got quite a fair few shots on El-Hage ,but the goalie stood up well to them all & his defense who at times didn`t help him with loose passes in their own zone or going straight to Phantoms players sticks.
Referee Ashton was at it yet again, Calling another penalty as Norton held Flaten near the crease when trying to screen the netminder, Then King flopped backwards with Norton & Flaten jostling at the front of the goals about 6ft away, However Ref called the Phoenix man too for GOALIE INTERFERENCE to which he raised his arm up to as if to say "for what!?" as he chuckled to himself at the call. Norton made his 3rd appearance in the penalty box receiving 2 mins for HOLDING both calls at 44-29.
Luke Boothroyd was then given a penalty by Ashton, As he was given 2 mins for HOOKING at 44-50, So Peterborough Phantoms went on the powerplay and it took less than a minute as Maris Ziedins & Luke Ferrara set up Jeff Glowa to score and tie the game up again at 3-3.And in all honesty they did deserve it as they were playing the better hockey if we can say that! The Powerplay goal was clocked at 45-48.
As the game went on, Peterborough looked the most likely team to score as Phoenix couldn`t get anything going at all, passes were put behind team mates and every attack the Phantoms had looked like they would score
Possession was mainly shaded by them too, Phoenix did have one chance earlier as a shot came in at King to which he made a good save and a better one when McKinney struck the rebound.
Manchester were getting caught up in Penalty trouble as McKinney was called for SLASHING much to his annoyance and the home fans, timed at 49:39. Ashton was really getting on the home sides nerves as he called Schnabel for TRIPPING at 50:21 as Tony Hand was ballastic with the call.
As we headed into the last 5 mins of play it was like an overtime period. With both sides tightening up atg the back and next goal was going to win this game, as it just had that feel about it. Manchester did have a kind of rally as they came a bit more into it in the last 5 minutes, As they pressured the Phantoms goals in bursts but King denied them everytime stopping anything that was shot at him.
Bentham had a good chance though King yet again denied the ex-Phantom forward from scoring a second goal against his former team. The Blackburn-born forward then put a massive hit on Joe Graham and sent him flying backwards which got a huge cheer of the home crowd. Manchester fans wanted to see a goal more than anything. The Final 3 mins was fast and furious as it was end to end with chances going for both sides, but neither capitalizing on them so the teams then let the clock run out for overtime.
END OF 3RD PERIOD: PHOENIX 3 - 3 PHANTOMS
OVERTIME PERIOD:
Both sides took a point from the game, The only question now was ,Who would take away the extra point. Phoenix was given a great chance to win it as Peterborough had a Penalty call against them with Jeff Glowa sitting for 2 minutes for HOOKING at 61-51. Phoenix however did the usual pass pass & pass routine till a Schnabel rocket hit King in the mask so play was whistled. Phoenix were awfully slow on the Powerplay with home fans urging them to "SHOOT" and have a crack.
As always they passed & passed with no conviction in their play and with no shooting lanes opens due to the speed of them moving the puck around as quick as "Slugs on ice", Not many shots were took and you felt they blew their chance of winning the game.
Then came the goal that had been coming as Ziedins skated down the left side got a shot off, Ziedens picked the puck up along the boards behind the nets. Gave it to Luke Ferrara, he found his brother James Ferrara who was dangerously close to being in the crease and his effort sneaked in as slow a Phoenix Powerplay and gave the away side their 1st EVER win in the Ice Dome.
So as the Phantom players celebrated like mad, there was an eerie silence that greeted the goal as some Phoenix fans headed towards to the exits. The Phantoms winning goal came at 63-10.
Phoenix blew a good chance to close the gap and show they were contenders but based on the this performance, if you don`t beat the likes of Phantoms at your own barn with all due respect to them, then you won`t be lifting any silverware at all.
However they move now to a Double header next weekend with the Bracknell Bees ,Firstly at home Saturday night & then at the Hive on Sunday. This could also possibly be their opponents come Playoff time as well if things stay as they are.
STATS
SHOTS ON GOAL: EL HAGE : 32 87.50% KING: 45 93.33%
PIMS: PHOENIX : 20 PHANTOMS : 26
MAN OF THE MATCH
PHOENIX : 19. TOM DUGGAN PHANTOMS: 1. DAMIEN KING
TABLE AS IT LOOKS:
| P | W | OW | OL | L | F | A | Pts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Guildford Flames P | 36 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 153 | 98 | 54 | |
2 | Basingstoke Bison P | 37 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 124 | 88 | 53 | |
3 | Manchester Phoenix P | 37 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 149 | 112 | 51 |
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