PHOENIX STUNG BY BEES, BUT SWAT THEM EVENTUALLY

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 0 - 2 BRACKNELL BEES

The double header between the Phoenix & Bees produced a split series with the the visiting sides taking the spoils in both games. Saturday night at the Altrincham Ice dome saw a slightly bad tempered game between the 2, As Bracknell ran out winner,But it didn`t seem that way at the start..

The start of the game was dominated by the home side, As Phoenix was putting the Bees under alot of pressure early on in the game. Bari McKenzine and Big Robert Schnabel had efforts but neither were totally threatening to be honest for Carl Ambler in the Bees goal.

Phoenix then had their closest chance to break the deadlock as Tom Duggan had a shot that struck the underside of the bar and bounced down & out about a foot from the goal line, A bit nearer and all that would be needed would be a Russian linesman!

First penalty of the game came when Rob Schnabel was called for TRIPPING at 8:53. The first minute of the Bees powerplay was superbly killed off by Joachim Flaten, As the Norweigen held the puck up against the board or managed to knock the puck away with his stick off the Bees forwards. Phoenix successfully killed the penalty off as they returned to full strength.

Tom Duggan again came close as his effort from near the Bees left hand faceoff circle hit the outside of the post and the ping reverberated around the rink. Bracknell were then on the Penalty kill as Galazzi was called for HOLDING at 12-59. The Powerplay was a decent one for one the Phoenix as it wasn`t methodical or slow like normal & passing was quicker too. But couldn`t bring a goal and so the game remained goal less.

Phoenix were over all the Bees but the shooting was off target a lot and wasn`t troubling the Bracknell goals, Yet the Bees were doing a good job at frustrating the Phoenix. 

Bracknell were back on the Penalty kill when Stycek got penalised for KNEEING at 17:08 so Manchester were back on the Powerplay again. The powerplay this time wasn`t as fluid or performing as it was before.

Bracknell nearly got caught out badly when a pass up ice towards James Archer was missed on the blue line, When a Bees defenseman slipped letting Archer in on a 2 on 1, But when he beared down on goal what seemed to be an easier decision to shoot instead he waited for a team mate and his pass was underhit and straight onto the stick of the covering Bracknell player.

We then had the 2 benches clear with 1:01 left in the 1st period, this was caused by the discovery of a big hole that was found near the centre circle and so both side headed off to the changing rooms as they sorted the problem out, as it was down to the concrete.

The players came back out to play out the remaining minute and straight into the 2nd period.

END OF 1ST: PHOENIX 0-0 BEES

2nd period started off with Rounding from Bracknell going around the nets and trying to bank his shot off the legs of El Hage who was in net for the injured Steve Fone. Unfortunately for the young goalie moments later a shot came in at him to which he made a great save, But Martin Masa put home the rebound for a 1-0 lead for the traveling Bees at 22-56.

Foord was lucky not to be given a penalty as he angrily remonstrated at the linesman Sam Campbell when the official gave an Offside against Bracknell, he shouted continually at the direction of the official for at least 10 seconds as he gave him an right earful.

Phoenix then had a brief attack as Michal Psurny danced his way in the Bracknell zone cut cross the front of goal and Ambler made a good save off him denying the Czech Hitman as Phoenix were struggling to create any chances due to the defensive work of the Bees. 

Bracknell themselves had a great chance to make it 2-0, When the visitors broke on a 3 on 1 but the extra men advantage wasn`t used as Foord had a pop and was gloved by El-Hage. Manchester were very sluggish & sloppy & a completely different side than the one that was in the 1st.

Bees capitalized on a sloppy defensive error by James Neil as with no danger about and on his own he passed on up centre ice , Right to Galazzi who skated over the Phoenix zone waited & waited for Masa to get up with him. The whole play was like slow motion, He waited for Masa to reach him and the Phoenix D backed off leaving Masa free to fire a quick diagonal pass to Lukas Smital who was at the back door and he easily dispatched it for a 2-0 lead to finish off a beautiful crafted goal. That goal at 26-33.

The Bees were out working the Phoenix all over the place, Whether it defense or offense the Bees were frustrating the hell out of the Phoenix outfit, As they couldn`t get anything going at all.

Bees once again headed to the penalty box as Smital went at 29-39 for CROSS CHECKS.

The Phoenix power play reverted to their normal self as they hardly got into the Bracknell half either, When they did reach their zone it was back to passing practice and crowd begging for a shot at least but none was forthcoming, And so the Bees safely returned to full strength.

Ref Ashton then had his arm raised as a delayed penalty was called on Bracknell and as the puck went around the boards Archer put a Massive hit on a Bees player cleanly, But the result was Archer then getting called himself for CHARGING which was ridiculous. Stycyek was the original penalty and he went for ROUGHING both timed at 33-42.

Flaten had a late chance but his effort went wide of the goals & Lukas Smital was called for INTERFERENCE at 38-40. A frustrating period for the home side and big one needed if they were to overhaul the 0-2 deficit.

END OF 2ND:  PHOENIX    0   -   2   BEES

The 3rd started off with Phoenix trying to go on the offensive, They nearly scored early on from a great saucer pass across goal ,But Ambler made a terrific reaction save to deny Phoenix.
Foord had another chance to score as he tried to bat the puck out of the air and into the goals, but El-Hage made a save to stop him from extending the lead.

McKinney then drove to the net & tried to spin while trying to poke the puck, However Ashton blew his whistle to stop play when the puck was loose still after the ref lost sight. Duggan then skated by the boards round the net finding a good pass to Flaten in the slot, his Effort was gloved by Ambler.
Pozivil had a chance too as he got a pass from Tony Hand and his effort went inches past the post.

Archer went close, but the shots they had were missing the target and not causing the Bees any problems. Bracknell then picked up another penalty as Ben Johnson went for HOOKING at 45-47.
It was one of the most attrocious Powerplay of the night as the Bees had the puck more and passes were astray when trying to build it up.

Then it all started it to kick off.. First Andy McKinney tried to put a hip check on Sam Oakfield by the boards missed, But as McKinney was down and getting up Oakfield 2 handed slashed McKinney on the skate. To which McKinney went after Oakfield and so they both dropped the gloves, McKinney got better punches in as Oakfield was struggling to get free to throw any.

Penalties were dished out between the 2 players, Oakfield was given 2+2 ROUGHING & 2 for SLASHING. McKinney was given 2+2 for ROUGHING & 10 min INSTIGATE pen and He was ejected.


Not long after it was the turn of Galazzi and Pozivil to go toe to toe, As Galazzi pinned Pozivil up against the boards, He tried to pull his helmet off his head, to which he didn`t appreciate none of. Both threw punches, then gloves were dropped it was a bit messy with Pozivil trying to balance and falling .Then Galazzi landed on top of Pozivil while he was facing down, He threw 4 punches to the the side of his head as the linesman had hold of Pozivil.

Pozivil tried to get to him as he was furious with the cheap shots while defenseless, Pozivil then tried to called out the Bracknell bench. A couple of phoenix players weren`t happy with Galazzi late punches, both recieved 2+2 for ROUGHING at 50-27.

Smital went for CROSS CHECKS as he just lay on Bari McKenzie behind the nets while Phoenix tried to launch an attack, Smital pen timed at 52-52. Powerplay for Phoenix in stats showed their big problem 7  powerplays and 0 goals!




Schnabel was sent to the box for SLASHING at 55-58 and as Schnabel headed to the box Duggan sent the puck up the ice slowly on goals and was given a 10 minute MISCONDUCT penalty. He couldn`t believe the call as he went to the bench only to be led away as he laughed at the decision in disbelief. Phoenix tried to put pressure on Bracknell but they did a great job Shutting out the Phoenix for only the 2nd time this season. Bracknell thoroughly deserved the victory as they were the better side by a distance in the end.


FINAL SCORE: MANCHESTER PHOENIX  0-2  BRACKNELL BEES



Man of the Match

PHOENIX:   Flaten     BEES: Ambler


Bracknell Bees  1  -   3   Manchester Phoenix
The next night down in Berkshire at "The Hive" Phoenix beat the Bees 3-1 with goals from Joachim Flaten, Tony Hand  & James Archer to gain revenge.