Peter Brads SPORTS Blog: Phoenix send Sheffield packing to the DOGHOUSE!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 3 - 2 SHEFFIELD STEELDOGS

Well... after the Nightmare of going down 8-2 to the Bottom placed Telford Tigers Saturday evening. All thoughts switched to the Northern Derby or War of the Roses clash whatever you prefer. The White Rose of Yorkshire team Sheffield Steeldogs against the Red Rose County of Lancashire and Manchester Phoenix! Sheffield shocked the Double league winning Guildford Flames in the Champions barn winning 2-1 down there and so as we headed into the derby clash Sheffield had their tails up and Phoenix seemed like a side in disarray from the Telford thrashing.

So as we got set for the game and with both sides missing two Import players each, Arguably Phoenix was missing the two most influential players, In Top Scorer Michal Psurny and Defenseman Ondrej Pozivil missing for the home side which left Manchester short benched more than Sheffield had. The officials were Referee Tom Pering (...more on him as we go...) Linesmen Leigh Hetherington and Kris Wells.

1ST Period

Not too much in the way of hockey to speak off really as it was like a typical derby game or Playoff type game with both sides going at it hard, But Phoenix losing composure and Sheffield playing their normal chippy, chippy straying over the line play they use in games. But as frustrating and annoying as the tactic is, it has certainly worked for Andre Payette men over the last few years. Play was very scrappy as it was all very messy indeed between the 2 sides but incident packed.

First scrum of the game came when Steeldogs was in the Phoenix zone and a shot was saved by Jaszczyk and he frozen play for a whistle, Till Steeldogs player Greg Wood a good 4 seconds after play was froze mindlessly skated into the net minder on purpose and so players all got into a heated moment as tempers were flaring up between the 2 bitter rivals. Shockingly Ref Pering didn`t call anything and so play restarted to the bemusement of Phoenix players and fans alike.

Then moments another shot was caught by the young net minder as he gloved it for a whistle and Wood skated hard and sprayed Ice all over the net minder and more pushing and shoving but yet again no calls were made. Phoenix had a couple of attempts as Andy McKinney went close as his effort struck the post and Liam Chong was unable to get the puck for a rebound as Sheffield cleared their lines.

James Archer went close but can`t reach the puck after Tom Duggan backhands puck towards him.

The first penalties of the game came as the puck was along the boards in the corner and as Richie Bentham was hit hard from behind from Greg Wood the Referee decided to call something finally, And Bentham took exception and he went to get to Wood as both sides piled in by the plexi glass and with Big Schnabel being held by 3 Steeldogs players as Ben Morgan had a glove in Bentham face and then in Schnabel as he was "Staple gunned" to the boards.

After all the penalties were dished out the resulting calls were for Sheffield: Greg Wood was given 2 minutes for CROSS CHECKS and Ben Morgan was given ROUGHING & on the Manchester side was Richard Bentham & Rob Schnabel all getting 2 minutes each at 4-26. Luke Boothroyd was then called for HOOKING at 4-46. The resulting power play wasn`t that great by Steeldogs as they made no headway as shots were fired over the nets and missing by a distance. Phoenix had a couple more chances but their shots as well were going wide.

Then we had another coming together in front of the nets as play was whistled a Phoenix stopped by net minder Sheffield player pushed him on top but the Manchester player stayed upright, Both sets of players came in Steve Duncombe was trying to irritate any Phoenix player into a penalty, Schnabel then entered the fray and gave a face wash to Duncombe and Schnabel called him out as Duncombe was doing everything behind the players back. So when the same was done to him big Rob Challenged him as he was British and Schnabel an Import it helped Sheffield taking another import to the penalty box and so they both dropped the gloves.

Schnabel kept drawing him in but Duncombe was shying away and not backing up what he was doing, so when they did grapple Duncombe tried desperately to grab him down to the ice and avoid being punched and Schnabel was trying to throw and keep him from going to the ice quickly. But the Phoenix player just pushed him down and lay on him and both went to their penalty boxes, both getting the standard 2+2 for ROUGHING at 10-27. Wasn`t really much of one to be honest.

Sheffield had a spell of good pressure where they were in the Phoenix zone but most of the shots were blocked by a stern defence or they went wide of the nets as they couldn`t capitalise on any offensive play they posed. Player coach Tony Hand then picked up a 10 Minute MISCONDUCT penalty for shouting at the ref over the constant running the goalie over by Wood for the 4th time, that penalty was timed at 18-15.

Sheffield thwarted much of the hockey with constant needless roughing and dirty play to be honest, But as annoying as it was it worked especially as they took the lead through a Edgars Berbris goal as he backhanded his shot over the shoulder of Jaszczyk in the Phoenix nets and gave them a 1-0 lead at 19-02, Assist going to Lee Haywood.

2ND PERIOD

Phoenix came out and looked a different side from first not responding to the constant cheap shots that was being dished out by the Visiting team. Phoenix tied the game early in the period as a breakout by Phoenix from Joachim Flaten played it to the left wing to Andy McKinney and had Liam Chong up in support and passed it on to the tape and his slap shot beat Dalibor Sedlar in Steeldogs goals for a 1-1 game at 21-27.

Then came a complete joke decision by the 2 officials, namely Lineswoman Leigh Hetherington & Referee Tom Pering. The incident came at 21-46 when after play was frozen, Players were heading to the bench when Lee Haywood of the Sheffield Steeldogs skated slowly in front of him on purpose then was side by to which he Butt Ended McKinney in the body and tried to trip him up, McKinney reacted by trying to trip him back up as he lifted the Steeldogs leg up and he nearly fell as he didn`t expect it to be given back.

Heywood cried wolf to the female lineswoman and Rob Schnabel just looked on chuckling at him being made to look a bit stupid. She then had a word with the referee, so those watching expected both men to get 2 minutes each for delay of game. However shock around the Ice Dome as booing went around the rink as McKinney was sent to the changing rooms as he was adjudged to have "Kicked" the Sheffield player and so the Manchester player was given 5+Match and hopefully the decision will be reviewed as it was a scandalous call.

The rest of the period was spent with the hockey side trying to outdo the constant stop start interruptive style Sheffield brought, as Manchester was pushing for the go ahead goal in the game. A lot of chances were made and it was Sheffield who struck the post and luckily Manchester cleared away to the Steeldogs zone. We also had the Suspended player coach for Sheffield one Andre Payette sat in with the Phoenix fans as he was serving the final game of his 4 match ban for Spearing a player a couple weeks back.

Though apparently a player coach isn`t allowed to be sat in the stands when suspended and was barking no pun intended orders to his players. Phoenix did take the lead as a few minutes of pressure by the returning Player coach from his 10 minutes resulted in Manchester camped inside the Sheffield zone and was giving them headaches as they struggled to get the puck. Hand danced his way round into a gap passed to Flaten who set up Bentham whose fist shot was saved by Sedlar in nets but he got his own rebound for a 2-1 lead 30-59. Better was to come as couple minutes later Bari McKenzie scored from a tight angle almost level with Sedlar and his shot somehow found a way in for 3-1 and Steeldogs looked a bit lost goal was timed at 32-00.

There wasn`t much time to celebrate as that man for the Steeldog Greg Wood put home from a rebound as Jaszczyk lost sight of the puck and as it came to Wood, He couldn`t force in his initial effort but he did second time and made it 3-2 at 35-49.

And there was more chippiness by the young Upstarts from over the Pennines as Duggan was clearly caught along the neck by a Sheffield player, punches and slashes going missed by the Referee. Which was angering the crowd as these penalties weren`t so hidden from the ref as more done in front of the referee but nothing was getting called and you felt the game was straining to be get out of control as these were more blatant calls than I’ve seen in hockey.

Greg Wood then tried to check someone and came off second best and stayed down but the referee carried on but had a look on his face that was "I can`t stop this now" So Phoenix attacked and just missed the target. Wood looked round and dashed off to the bench as the puck was sliding along the boards. Then in the last couple of minutes we had a when is a "ICING not a ICING?" riddle as Sheffield cleared it down the ice and players were skating around the Steeldogs zone for a face-off the Referee and Linesman called it no icing! Which drew shouts from the stands and when Phoenix did exactly the same they were called for icing themselves. Very inconsistence all game the officiating was.

End of the period came to a big cheer from the Home fans as they rose to their feet for their players as they headed to the locker rooms and one of the most loudest boos I’ve heard in ages directed towards the officials and could be heard clearly outside.

3RD & FINAL PERIOD

Manchester had to decide whether they would attack an go in search of a goal to and attack all period or play smart and hit Sheffield on the break, As Phoenix were slightly tiring a bit being men down and defending the one goal lead. Phoenix came out pushing hard for this 2 goal cushion and when Bari McKenzie was twisting and turning and making a fool out a Sheffield player near the nets, It was no surprise he was pleased with that and tried to shoved on top of the Sheffield nets and carried on pushing and shoving him nearly send the net toppling. Clear penalty and was FINALLY called by Perring which drew one of the Biggest cheers of the night and was against you know who Greg Wood for somehow "HOOKING" when there was hook to be seen at all, penalty timed 42-56.

Phoenix was given an extra man advantage and a 5-on-3 Power play, which is the worst thing for Manchester as they have conceded more goal Shorthanded than they have scored on the Power play. So Gibson was called for TRIPPING up Tony Hand in mid ice and Hand just slid from one side of the ice to the other and Gibson proceeded to make gestures of Diving and Holding up an imaginary card for what he deemed a dive! Penalty coming at the 43-57 mark. Most refs would give 10 Misconduct for that as we`ve seen a lot worst given for 10 at the Ice Dome this season.

So the ensuing Power play took place and 1 shot on the entire 2 man advantage on what has to be said yet again a lacklustre power play by Phoenix. Both Steeldogs were let out of the box and play resumed, and then we had the rare rare sight of Captain Luke Boothroyd or "cool head Luke" and Andrew Hirst of visitors grabbing hold of each other. Behind play and fans expecting fireworks after a heavy hit by Hirst on Ben Wood moments after Wood had put a hard hit on him. Both players were given 2 minutes each for HOLDING at 47-07 (and the interview about it on the podcast is bit funny too).

Phoenix were caught in more penalty trouble as Steve Duncombe was skating at an angle with Richard Bentham who looked like he wanted to take someone of the Steeldogs on in the entire game, both were side by side Duncombe lost control and went down looked back and Perring called the penalty on him to which he was massively frustrated which as was a lot of fans as the call was the softest all game. So he headed to the box for TRIPPING at 49-57.

The Power play for Sheffield was quite good they moved the puck about and were pulling the defence out of position; Just the final pass or shot was eluding them at the final hurdle. Then both sides had chances Phoenix had 2 great chances as one shot went across the face of crease and goal line missing the goalies legs by inches & then one pinged off the foot of the post by James Archer. The game was played liked a early Playoff game and both sides upped the checking a bit and Schnabel found him on the end of a penalty for INTEFERENCE at 51-30 as Sheffield looked surprised too at it.

Phoenix looked to be holding on for the last 10 minutes it seems as Sheffield came at them with everything, The power play was good again by them and when ex Phoenix defenseman Ben Morgan skated towards goal with a mostly easy chance he ballooned it into the netting high above the plexi and they knew that could have been the last effort. Sheffield 2 players that seemed to just play hockey was Edgars Berbris and new Import Lubomir Korhon as he was the most noticeable player wearing white gloves.

The 2 imports gave Phoenix a bit of a run around especially Korhon, as he used a lot of stick skills and speed as he twisted and turned the phoenix inside out during the game. He found Bebris and his effort went just wide of the post, the play switched down the far end as they tried to start another attack but Tom Duggan batted the puck out of the air while on a 1 on 3 waited for Archer to skate freely in and Sedlar produced one of the most stunning cart wheeling saves I’ve seen.

Everyone in the rink applauded him even the linesman as everyone expected a goal as he went down early to save it. Fantastic save and worth the admission for that glove saves alone. Time was ticking by and then Phoenix were struggling Tony Hand tried to clear the puck only for it fly in the netting and so he was given a 2 minute penalty for DELAY OF GAME at 57:33.

Home fans were biting their nails as they urged their side to stop their bitter rivals tying the game up and shots came whistling past the net and Jaszczyk saved and covered up. In the final minute and a bit Duncombe was literally dragged off the ice by team mates as he was injured somehow in a play and the net minder Sedlar was trying to dash to the bench and bring the extra attacker on 2x he tried and the 3rd time they replaced him.

Phoenix net was like the Alamo as defenders blocked, sticks were all over and slashing the puck behind the net and trying to hold the puck against the boards it was a frantic finish. And for Phoenix the horn sounding was the best sound they`d heard as the phoenix players celebrated one Sheffield player was so frustrated he smashed his stick against the glass so hard as they were clearly annoyed by losing to their local rivals.

STATS:

PENALTY MINS:

Manchester Phoenix: 32 PIM Sheffield Steeldogs: 14 PIMS

SHOTS ON GOAL:

Andrew Jaszczyk: 24 Dalibor Sedlar: 39

MAN OF THE MATCH:

Manchester Phoenix: #31 Andrew Jaszczyk Sheffield Steeldogs: #35 Dalibor Sedlar

LINKS:

http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/putting-boots-in.html MANC PHOENIX PODCAST