Peter Brads SPORTS Blog: Phoenix bring the Jets crashing down!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 12 - 2 SLOUGH JETS

Victorious Phoenix celebrate

League Leaders the Manchester Phoenix preserved their unbeaten run in the EPL so far this season, with yet another 4 point weekend for the Altrincham outfit which saw them open up a 2 point gap at the top of the table at this early stage of the season after a blowout victory over the Slough Jets winning 12-2 at the Altrincham Ice dome this past Sunday night. Saturday night saw the Phoenix return to the place which saw their triumphant moment last season in the EPL Playoff finals, as they played at the Skydome Arena in Coventry facing off against the "home" team, the Milton Keynes Lightning. The Lightning are currently based there this season due to their rink being refurbished so they are having to play all their home games at the Skydome.

Phoenix took the lead in the contest early on when at 8:23 Frankie Bakrlik scored with Robert Kovar assisting, James Archer then doubled the lead for the visiting Phoenix at 27:27 in the game with Czech forward helping on the goal. Richard Bentham then took a 10 misconduct penalty before Player Coach Tony Hand made it 3 for Manchester, with Jacob Heron and Ben Wood helping out on the goal. The Lightning then struck back immediately when Jokila scored a lovely goal to give the MK fans something to cheer about in the Skydome, but the damage was already done and Phoenix moved to 7 out of 7.

McKinney tip in just misses the goals

Attention then turned to Sunday`s clash with the Slough Jets at the Ice dome, as this was the 3rd meeting between the sides already in this early part of the season. Phoenix had only just clawed victory last time out at the Dome winning 3-2 so it was thought that this game would be of a similar one to that played only a couple of weeks back. The Opening couple of minutes was a tight affair with neither side edging play, the home side was then put on the penalty kill for an Icing Infringement at 2:04 and a High Sticks call going against Manchester D man Joe Graham for a 5-on-3 Power play for the Jets. Phoenix P.K unit looked very assured of themselves as they did a great job to kill off both penalties and looked to take that forward and build momentum and they did just that, as while the Graham penalty was coming to an end and ticking down, Tony Hand intercepted the puck in his own zone and skated off down the left wing on a 2 on 1 breakaway, before the playmaker passed over for Frankie Bakrlik to rifle the puck home into a open net for a 1-0 scoreline and Phoenix shorthanded goal at 5:26.

Andy McKinney then found himself making the trip to the penalty box for a Roughing call at 5:46, with the Phoenix yet again killing off another power play by the Jets and then they were peppering Gregg Rockman in the Slough nets with a lot of shots in the opening period. Slough were definitely not at the races at all in the game as the Phoenix were overloading them with fantastic team play and tremendous work ethic throughout the side.

Phoenix then got a helping hand from the Jets defenseman Lee Richardson on the second goal , when he passed straight to the stick of Michal Psurny and you don`t need to give him a second opportunity as he put it past Rockman for 2-0 at 11:50 and the Phoenix were flying now. Andy McKinney nearly made it 3-0 soon after for the home side, after his tip-in attempt at the front of the net went just past the post and let the Jets off, as Manchester were hammering home their advantage yet again and could easily have been a couple more goals up by the end of the opening period.

Phoenix go close

In the Second period Manchester Phoenix netted 7 more times in the middle stanza as Manchester went goal crazy! Tony Hand scored the first in the period from after he capitalised on a Luke Boothroyd rebound around the front of the net for 3-0 at 24-39. Robert Kovar then went coast to coast with from behind his own goals as he skated unopposed by a Jets player before feeding Bakrlik on the left and he buried it in the Slough goal for 4-0 at 26:10, Liam Chong then got in on the act too, with McKinney making a nice move down the right wing as when he had Chong skating in support of him, McKinney passed his teammate the puck and he put it high in the net for a 5-0 score at 29:43. Slough couldn`t stem the flow of Phoenix goals as they kept on a coming, Dan Davies then put his side in more trouble when he lost possession of the puck in his own zone to the Phoenix forwards and Jack Watkins passed it to Bakrlik who shot on goal was stopped and went loose only for Robert Kovar to be on hand to tuck home the rebound for a score of 6-0 to the Manchester Phoenix and the Jets were in free fall and out of ideas.

Steve Fone then made an amazing save to keep his clean sheet intact, when Slough worked the puck down low Ryan Watt made a spin move which brought the netminder out of the crease and when Watt had the goal at his mercy he fired at an open net, only for Fone to dive across and throw the glove up and rob him of a goal with Watt giving a little tap to Fone after it to say good save, but through clenched teeth you can bet.

PHOENIX celebrate a goal

Slough then created a bit of pressure on the home side for a period of time in the second, with Phoenix seemingly taking their foot off the gas a bit. A Darius Pliskauskas shot was stopped by Fone with the strong rebound coming out in the slot to which Ales Padelek collected and then wristed one past Fone top shelf at 35:45 to make it 6-1. Hand then grasped his face and dropped his stick as he took a stick to the face from a Jets player which drew a death stare by Hand toward one of the match referees in Dan Boardman, who didn`t see the incident as blood was coming from Hand lip as it had busted his lip. Phoenix weren`t very happy and instead of losing focus it seemed to spur them on as they went on to smashed three more past Slough instead.

James Archer made it 7-1 at 36:23 when Psurny and Kovar combined for Archer to one time it past Rockman who had looked to have been hung out to dry by his team mates all match, but also the goals were all very well taken too.

Jimmy Archer goes sliding as he scores goal 10

Goal number 8 came in the form of a delayed penalty goal, when a Robert Kovar no look pass was thrown towards the front of the net it was then jumped on by fellow Czech forward Michal Psurny, who despite being hooked he still had the upper body strength to hold him off and back hand in it for a goal at 36-46. The Phoenix juggernaut kept on rolling over the hapless Jets as from a Robert Schnabel blast from the point, the puck came loose around the crease and Jack Watkins was there to control the puck and flip it in for a 9-1 score line as we headed into the second break of play.

EL HAGE is called upon to make a save

Third period saw Jorge El-Hage between the pipes for the home side, as the Rochadale born netminder got more valuable ice time for the Phoenix with, Steve Fone being given a rest in the final period. Goals were still coming though, with James Archer helping Phoenix hit double figures as after Boothroyd fed Psurny the Czech forward then slid in Archer and as he waltzed past the Jets back line and put home under Rockman at 48:01 as he was brought down on the ice. Soon after Richard Bentham made it 11-1 with the young Blackburn youngster started the goal off in his own zone weaving between Jets players, before tapping home from a Kovar rebound at 49:40. At the 53:05 mark, Jacob Heron was given a 5+Match penalty by Baordman for an apparent slash on a Slough player and saw him hitting the showers early. From that resulting 5 minute major penalty against the home side, Michael Wales scored a powerplay goal as he beat El Hage in the slot to make it 11-2, but Phoenix had the final say on the game as Liam Chong broke away on a 2 on 1 and he finished it off as he skated on goal and fired past the netminder for a 12-2 victory.

Phoenix looked dominant and move on to 8 from 8 and now face the litmus test next weekend as they go in to the double header with the second placed Guildford Flames, looking to gain an early psychological edge in the league early on. As if Manchester could net another big 4 point weekend next week, then it would give Manchester a huge boost early on in the season to go on and give them real belief that this side has big plans this season.