Peter Brads SPORTS Blog: Phoenix See Off Lightning!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 5 - 2 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING

Manchester Phoenix made sure that LIGHTNING indeed didn`t strike twice over weekend, as they beat the Milton Keynes Lightning at the Altrincham ice dome 5-2 Sunday night. The Phoenix were looking to get even, after they had let another lead slip this time at The Thunder dome in Milton Keynes. It was the second meeting between the 2 side after MK came out on top stealing it late on 3-2 Saturday evening. As 2 goals in 7 seconds ,coming in the last 5 mins saw them overcome Phoenix, As Manchester growing trend of defensive lapses ,when leading once again came to the front last night.

Phoenix were a goal down from a Lukaz Zatopek goal after 1 period, before goals from Joachim Flaten and Derek Campbell in the 2nd period put them 2-1 up, and stayed like that till 5 mins from end when Phoenix just fell apart as Blaz Emersic tied it at 2-2 and then 7 seconds later, Leigh Jamieson scored a Delayed Penalty goal to give the home side victory, though Phoenix had out shot their hosts 35-26 in the game.

So with the game fresh in their minds against the same opposition as the night before, Revenge was on their minds.

Phoenix were still missing Import D man Rob Schnabel but did have young British forward Liam Chong making his Home debut after missing half a season with a knee injury.

MK were missing long term forwards Adam Calder and Enforcer Chris Wiggins both with knee injuries, As Wiggins injury came against Manchester last time, when he smashed heavily into the boards last visit.

However before the national anthem it was announced that Cieran Long would be leaving Phoenix due to work reasons & shocked the Phoenix faithful before the game got under way, with the announcement made by owner Neil Morris coming onto the ice. To which drew a massive round of applause.

So as the teams got last minute instructions, Running the lines were Kris Wells & Dan Beresford with Dan Boardman as Referee for this 3rd v 4th battle. It was a frantic 1st period which was non stop from 1st whistle. And it didn`t take long for the first attempt of the game as Leigh Jamieson pinged one off the post under 20 seconds into the game.
James Archer had the Phoenix first chance of the game as he picked up possession in the MK zone took aim fired a shot in which was saved by Mettam in goals for MK, The rebound came to back to Archer whos second attempt fell loose near the nets and nearly bounced in.
The puck was cleared as far as a James Neil on the blue line who shot on net , only for a tip in by Archer to give Phoenix a early lead at 1:43 assists going to James Neil and Tony Hand.

Milton Keynes then found themselves in Penalty trouble with Grant McPherson going to the box for TRIPPING at 2:39 and Phoenix produced another awful Powerplay. However, Lewis Christie was sent to the box after he had checked Archer in the back just after the whistle. So Boardman called him for CROSS CHECKS at 4:41.
Phoenix then used a strange tactic of 3 players screening Mettam on the powerplay as they managed to get about 3 shots off it, but nothing to write home about.

Derek Campbell was putting some Big massive hits on the MK side all the way through the first period.

But Tvrdek who was battling along the boards with a Phoenix player, just as the puck was knocked clear from that area, Campbell came across with a slightly late hit on the MK player.

To which he didn`t take kindly to it ,and so as play carried on Tverdek gave a hit back along a little slash on the Phoenix forward. Both exchanged words and went to their team benches as the game was getting very feisty and physical too.

Phoenix then went on the Penalty Kill, As Andy McKinney was called for HOOKING @7:32, MK then gave a great demonstration on how to move the puck and work a Powerplay. As they made quick passes and movement which had Phoenix worrying over the 2 mins. And it could have got even worse for them, when a passing move was played to Leigh Jamieson who out infront of the net, But luckily for Phoenix he fanned on the shot and missed the target.
Phoenix killed the penalty off eventually and both sides were making good chances and was a very entertaining end to end game, as this was looking to be like another Phoenix v Lightning classic so far.

Harris took a big hit off Mckinney to the boards , as the youngster obviously felt the effects of the hard check, as he took a bit get up from and skate back to the bench clearly abit winded from it. Derek Campbell was carrying on his Hard hitting as he put a another one on a MK player, and from the view i had it was very close to being called a Check from behind.
Campbell wasn`t over yet in the thick of the action, as a Phoenix play in the MK zone broke up and Campbell it seemed to me , lost his balance after he put a check on Christie and then both ended up on the back of the nets.
But he seemed to grab Christie to stop him from falling into the nets ,but they both ended there as a whistle blew and play stopped, Till McPherson typically skated over to the scene trying to get at Campbell to which he wasn`t interested at all and got a glove or two to the face off the little Scot for his troubles.

Referee Boardman in the end decided to give penalties to both Campbell and Christie for ROUGHING @15:32 and also gave Grant McPherson a 2 min penalty for ROUGHING too, that timed at 15:32 as well.

The result being a Phoenix Powerplay and one that actually had a bit of movement to it as Michal Psurny fed a low quick pass to the front of the net for "Captain Sniper" Luke Boothroyd, to put the puck in directing it past Mettam for a 2-0 lead @16:26.

Phoenix was on the search for another goal ,but then forgot about defensive duties with Michael Farn passing to Leigh Jamieson and his long pass up ice found Blaz Emersic who caught the Phoenix napping at the back and was one on one with Steve Fone. Emersic out moved him and put it high up in the goals to cut the lead to 1 and give the traveling fans something to cheer about and end the 1st period.

END OF 1ST PERIOD: MANCHESTER PHOENIX 2 - 1 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING

2nd period started off with Milton Keynes getting called for TOO MANY MEN@22:04 and another uneventful powerplay by the home side led to Milton Keynes killing the penalty off.

The visitors were get far much more possession of the puck now than that of the home side. Keeping the pressure on Phoenix as Fone was facing a lot shots from the Lightning forwards than the 1st period. Phoenix then had a breakaway of their own as Long got away, but as he made a move on Mettam he tried to deke him ,but lost his footing at the worst time and fell over as Mettam frozen the puck.

PIC: Manchester Phoenix IHC

The physical play from both sides seemed to die down after the 1st Period, But there was rare flashes of hard checking still happening, as Joachim Flaten put a good check on Emersic against the boards putting the MK sniper on his backside.
Derek Campbell then went to the box for ROUGHING@36:17, Tverdek nearly came close to scoring what would have been a beautiful goal. As the forward picked the puck up in his own zone and danced right through the Defense,trying to drag Fone out of position to score, but Fone stood up the shot & stopped his effort.

Phoenix made it a 2 goal game as Tom Duggan was holding the puck up against the boards trying to kill time on the penalty, But when he noticed Pozivil was free to collect it Duggan kicked it to him and got free too join him and a 3rd Phoenix player on a 3 on 1.
Pozivil looked like he was going to pass, but faked the pass and his wrist shot went high over the shoulder of Alex Mettam in nets to give Phoenix a 3-1 lead. With the Czech defenseman giving a BIG Jaromir Jagr style salute to celebrate the goal, as it came Shorthanded too.

END OF 2ND PERIOD: MANCHESTER PHOENIX 3 - 1 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING

PIC: Manchester Phoenix IHC

3rd period was hopefully one Phoenix could concentrate and a see out , However Phoenix being Phoenix, Nothing is ever straight forward ,So 13 seconds into the period Jamieson set up Kamil Tvrdek who slotted it past Fone to reduce the arrears to 3-2. Making the game become a little bit nervy for the remaining 19-47 of the 3rd.

Milton Keynes was then called for HOLDING by Lewis Christie @41:23. Tony Hand, then had a chance on the Powerplay as the player coach of Phoenix skated by the boards ,round the Lightning defense but couldn`t beat Mettam who was equal to the GB coach attempt.

Phoenix fans may have had thoughts of another collapse after MK getting a goal so early and looking more threatening, But it was Phoenix player coach Tony Hand, who made the game a bit more comfortable as a loose puck that hit Hand skate from a weak clearance came to him on the blue line and as he skated into the right faceoff circle he let loose a shot that was partly saved by Mettam, but he couldn`t stop it going in for a 4-2 Phoenix lead @43-49 as the shot was hit that hard.

PIC: Manchester Phoenix IHC

Phoenix had a half chance then to pull further away as Flaten and Pozvil broke ,But the pass to Pozvil from the Norwegian forward was slightly over hit & he couldn`t get any decent contact on it.

Grant Mcpherson then complained while sat on the ice for a call as Pozivil put a nice hip check on him that sent that made him a real flying Scotsman as the forward just sat and felt hard done by.

Campbell and Archer then had a 2 on 1 breakaway, As MK were caught on a line change which gave Campbell time to lay it off for James Archer coming behind on the play to shoot, Mettam though threw a glove up and made a spectacular save and one for the cameras save as he sprawled out with his arm in the arm like a hockey version of Excalibur.

Michael Psurny then was called for HOLDING THE STICK @54-17, So while the Lightning Powerplay had great movement again, They almost scored a 3rd goal as Emersic was begging for the puck to be passed to him, So as the puck came to him he had at least 75% of the goals to aim at.
Yet he inexplicably, put it wide of the goals and was quick to dash off to the bench. So as we was approaching that time for them to pull the nettie, The scoreboard had 1:03 left to go in the game and they pulled Mettam for the extra attacker.

But like the last visit it didn`t work and Flaten scored the EMPTY NET GOAL with Pozivil clearing his lines and feeding his Import team mate to slam home in the goals for 5-2 win.
And a Victory that puts them 4pts behind Guildford Flames who now occupy the coveted number 1 position in the league. Which also just so happens to be Phoenix next opponent at the Ice dome as they face the Guildford Flames this coming Saturday night at Altrincham before a road trip to Telford ice rink for the meeting with the Tigers. And hoping to avenge there 4-1 loss down there earlier in the season.

FINAL SCORE : MANCHESTER PHOENIX 5 - 2 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING

Stats

PIM: PHOENIX : 8 MILTON KEYNES: 12

SHOTS ON GOAL: Steve Fone 31 - 93.55% Alex Mettam 35 - 88.57%

MAN OF THE MATCH:
Milton Keynes Lightning: Leigh Jamieson MANCHESTER PHOENIX: Ondrej Pozivil

(This is 5th goal being scored)

As the 2 side came round to take the appaluse of the fans, Ciaran Long name was shouted as they skated round. (video)