Phoenix 'buzzing' after Schnabel shoot out winner

MANCHESTER PHOENIX  3 - 2  BRACKNELL BEES  

 (AFTER PENALTY SHOTS 1-0)

Rob Schnabel scores winner in Shoot out for Phoenix

Rob Schnabel scored the only penalty shot in a marathon shootout Sunday night in which it took the seventh round of penalties, before the former NHL defenseman put his penalty past the Man of the match for the visitors Alex Mettam for a 1-0 shootout win and see a reversal of the score the previous night down in Bracknell.

Manchester hoped to avoid their first pointless weekend of the season as they went down to the Bracknell Bees 3-2 after a penalty shoot out. Phoenix had battled back from being 2-0 down at the 'Hive'. Phoenix then saw Jacob Corson-Heron kicked out of game for being 3rd man in during a heated moment in the game, when Richard Bentham boarded Bees player Grant Rounding by the boards and then brought James Galazzi taking action on Bentham, before Heron then got involved too as referee Dave Cloutman, handed out a 5+Match penalty against the Phoenix forward and just a 2+2 for roughing to the Bees man.

Kamil Tvrdek and Matt Foord put the home side 2-0 up, before Jack Watkins pulled a goal back and then late on with 3:30 in the game, Czech forward Michal Psurny popped up and tied the game at 2-2 to send us into overtime. With Neither side scoring in the extra five minutes, we then went to penalties for the 2nd successive game for the Phoenix having lost out to Telford last weekend in similar fashion.

Despite Phoenix forwards Psurny and Bakrlik scoring for the away side, the Bees made it 2-2 after the third round of penalties each and so it came down to sudden death. James Archer stepped up for the Phoenix and saw him fail to score, which then gave Kamil Tvrdek the chance to win it and so he did as he gave the Bees the extra point and set up the return fixture in Ice dome.

Sunday night saw the two sides struggle to get to grips with the game as the Phoenix looked lethargic and sloppy in the passing department, while Bracknell buoyed by their victory the night before had the early chances in the game with Phoenix seemingly still asleep from turning the clocks back this weekend. Manchester were at times looking like a side that was  tired after their punishing game with their opponents for the 2nd straight evening, Bracknell should have took the lead early on when play down the left wing, saw a shot come in and the rebound was stopped by Steve Fone and the puck came out to Grant Round with at over half a net to aim and he contrived to hit the side of the outer post and let Manchester off the hook.

Manchester used that miss as their wake up call in the game as Jack Watkins and Joe Graham went close for the home side, but for the Bees netminder Alex Mettam having yet another stunning game at the Ice Dome for his side. Then at 7:13 Lewis Turner got called for Tripping when he brought down Jack Watkins which then put the Phoenix on the powerplay, it took just 32 seconds into the power play with them taking the lead. As some play by Michal Psurny and Tony Hand by the sideboards saw Hand pass to Franitsek Bakrlik to the right faceoff circle of Mettam , Bakrlik them who took control of the puck and had time to place his shot past the goaltender as the home led 1-0 at 7:45.

The period then became end to end, with Bracknell feeling they should have converted their early chances they created early on as they now found themselves a goal down as Manchester were starting to pick up a bit of steam now. Manchester had chance upon chance on the Bees nets but Mettam was producing save after save to repel the Phoenix attack as they couldn`t find this second goal that would give them a bit of a cushion heading towards the 1st intermission, However the Bees drawn level with 42 seconds left in the first period as Bracknell were putting the home side under  a bit of pressure late on in the period and the pressure told as Phoenix netminder Steve Fone was forced into making a couple of quick saves from rebounds till his luck ran out on the 3rd rebound attempt, with Grant Rounding putting home for the visitors at 19:18 with the home side unable to clear the puck away from goal.

In the Second period the Phoenix huffed and puffed at the Bracknell goals, but always found Mettam that little bit quicker for the home side as he stopped every shot that they threw at him.

The attacking play was mainly down in the Bracknell zone with Manchester continuing to pummel the Bees with chances, but just couldn`t find a way past Mettam at all. Phoenix had the Bees players run ragged as they kept possession superbly as they nearly retook the lead when, Psurny had an effort trickle behind Mettam as he took the sting of the shot and he was called upon once more was the Bees netminder, with Jack Watkins getting his effort turned away and with good play the puck came to Bakrlik who was positioned at the front of the net, but the Czech forward fired over the bar somehow and thoughts were creeping in whether they could score past Mettam again.

Tony Hand went to the penalty box at 26:06 for a dubious Tripping call that looked more like a dive than a trip as the Bracknell players seemed to try and jump over the stick and go to ground. During the penalty kill for the Phoenix ,Michal Psurny produced a fantastic solo effort to almost single handily kill off the penalty all by himself as he stalked the Bees players in their own zone and then held the puck up by the boards for a good 15 seconds as the time on the penalty ticked down.

                                                                                         

James Galazzi then took a trip to the penalty box for Tripping at 33:43 which saw the home side struggle to put a decent powerplay together as the home side tried hard to get the goal they deserved in the period. Bracknell were still looking to find a way back and couldn`t find anything to get them going, luckily for them Alex Mettam was standing on his head for his side which was frustrating the home side and he was the proverbial brick wall. Richard Bentham had a great chance as he was put through one on one with Mettam and the netminder once again thwarted another Phoenix attack.

Eventually the home side scored the elusive second goal, when Luke Boothroyd put Robin Kovar through down the left wing and the Czech forward used his speed and vision to drag the lone Bees defencemen out of position and pass across ice to James Archer, who was skating hard up ice on the right wing. Kovar fed the Yorkshireman and he buried it for a 2-1 lead at 38:26.

Phoenix found themselves back on the power play once more when Pavel Strycek boarded a Manchester player at 38:50 and saw Phoenix play out the period on the power play with not much of a threat on goal.

In the final period of play Andy McKinney was called by Referee John Liptrott for Boarding at 43:17 in the period and it took all of four seconds for them to score off it, thanks to Sam Oakford firing home off the faceoff win, by Bees Captain Rob Lamey to tie the game at 2-2 at 43-21.

The contest was closely fought and ebbed and flowed between both sides, with Phoenix looking likely to score then play would switch in a blink of an eye and then it was Bracknell that looked more likely to score and this continued for the whole of the period and made a fascinating game. Galazzi went in the box again for the Bees on a Delay of game call at 46:36, when he chose to sit on the puck from a faceoff and refused to move. The referees knew what he was trying to do and so pointed to the box and have him sit for 2 minutes despite him not agreeing and fighting his corner over the decision.

Mettam stops Michal Psurny

In the final 5 minutes of the third it became a shoot out, with both sides having chances to win it regulation. Mettam breathed a huge sigh of relief late on when a puck seemed to become loose and the puck fell a foot from the back post with every player and officials on the ice losing sight of where the puck was.  Bracknell in the final couple of minutes seemed to create a couple of good chances themselves with the home side fans desperately not wanting to see more overtime at the Ice dome. In all honestly if it wasn`t for Mettam then Phoenix would have been out of sight due to the chances they created as the shots on goal told the story of the game with the home side out shooting their guests by 52-30.

Fone saves Bendik Penalty

3rd period came to a close and despite another overtime period scoreless between the Phoenix and Bees in following nights, we went to a penalties and a 3rd successive penalty shoot out for Manchester having lost both previous shoot outs again Telford last weekend and the Bees the night before.  After the traditional opening 3 rounds of penalties and as neither side were able to find a winner we went to sudden death. The shoot out carried on, with save upon save and miss after miss by both sides till then in the Seventh round of shots, when Czech D man for the Manchester Phoenix Rob Schanbel stepped up and fired past Mettam to give the Phoenix a 1-0 lead, meaning that the Bees shooter had to score to keep the game going. Grant Rounding was their seventh shooter and was their most threatening player in the game in attack. The Bees forward tried to make a move but lost the puck and gave the home side a massive two points, to put the Phoenix back at the top of the table by a solitary point ahead of 2nd placed Basingstoke , who crushed the then joint leaders Guildford Flames in Hampshire 5-1.

Tony Hand`s men now prepare for yet another tough weekend, as they take the trip over the Pennines to Sheffield to take on their local bitter rivals the Steeldogs at Ice Sheffield before facing the Milton Keynes Lightning at home at the Ice dome on the Sunday night as they hope to start a new winning streak.

EPL LEAGUE TABLE :

1	Manchester Phoenix	14	9	1	2	2	73	31	22
2	Basingstoke Bison	14	9	1	1	3	57	39	21
3	Guildford Flames	14	9	0	2	3	66	50	20
4	Milton Keynes Lightning	12	7	1	0	4	51	41	16
5	Sheffield Steeldogs	15	5	2	1	7	50	62	15
6	Swindon Wildcats	13	3	3	1	6	40	48	13
7	Slough Jets	13	4	1	0	8	46	58	10
8	Peterborough Phantoms	12	4	0	2	6	38	59	10
9	Bracknell Bees	14	3	1	2	8	41	56	10
10	Telford Tigers	13	3	1	0	9	38	56	8

PHOENIX TV:http://youtu.be/AnBkrmWyG8I

PHOENIX PODCAST:  http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.com/2013/10/to-buzzer.html?spref=bl

My version:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnMgZmqept0