Phoenix goal blitz sees them Muzzle the 'Dogs

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 6 

SHEFFIELD STEELDOGS 4

  6  -  4 

 A slightly bizarre game saw the Manchester Phoenix  overcome the Sheffield Steeldogs 6-4 at the  Altrincham Ice dome, after a rampant second period  performance by the home side, saw the Phoenix  score 4 unanswered goals in the space of 2:08 to set  the Phoenix on their way to victory. Phoenix had  found themselves trailing 2-1, before the a crazy  period of Phoenix goals caused them to turn the  game on it`s proverbial head well and truly, as they  then led 6-2 after the second period break.

Andre Payette wearing a Phoenix shirt

Manchester and Sheffield games are always competitive and physical encounters and this match proved to be no different either. Both sides came into the this ‘Roses derby' having picked up wins the night before, with the Steeldogs shutting out the MK Lightning 3-0 at home and the Phoenix winning on their travels ,3-2 down at the Hangar in Slough after an overtime winner by ex Slough Jets man Frantisek Bakrlik netting the game winning goal. 
In the pre-match warm up Sheffield Steeldogs Player-Coach Andre Payette wore a Manchester Phoenix Children In Need charity shirt as part of a bet he had with Phoenix TV & podcast contributer Jim "Tambo" Piper, the bet being which ever side lost the previous encounter between the two sides then the other would wear a shirt of their rival club. As it was Phoenix had won the match in Sheffield, meaning that Payette had to wear to a Phoenix shirt in warm up and the Sheffield coach was true to his word and once again donned a Manchester Phoenix shirt. 

The game started off fast paced and with the first attack in the game for the Steeldogs, saw Andy Hirst try a one-time shot that struck the post and then came out sharply to Lubomir Kohorn and the Sheffield forward didn`t need a second invite, as he beat Steve Fone with a quick tap home for a 1-0 lead to the White Rose county after just 44 seconds in the match gone.

The response was almost instant by the home side, when Richard Bentham and James Archer played the puck round the boards around the Sheffield end, where Archer then passed the puck to the front of net where there was loads of space for the Czech forward Michal Psurny to skate freely into and blast home past Dalibor Sedlar in the Steeldogs nets for a 1-1 game at 1:10.

 Frankie Bakrlik then created a chance for himself from his own end, when he dispossessed the puck just outside his own zone and seen the Czech forward then skated up ice into the Sheffield zone and let rip finding nothing but the pipe, as it pinged round the rink.

Sheffield then found themselves not surprisingly on the penalty kill, as Lee Haywood was called for Tripping as he upended Richard Bentham in front of his teams nets and then tried a desperate attempt to drawn a Phoenix man into a penalty. Jacob Corson-Heron then gave him a little shove and the tall Haywood then went down like a sack of potatoes from the smallest of touches by the smallest man on the ice at the time, the move even had his team mates look at him funny too over at 7:15.

 Greg Wood followed Heywood into the box 11 seconds later, when he threw a punch at Bakrlik who was positioned in the slot , before Wood swung at him and made himself to look foolish at 7:26 as it put the Phoenix on a 5 on 3 power play. 

On the power play,  the Phoenix struck the post yet again as this time it came  from Jack Watkins as his effort struck the pipe work, Phoenix hit the pipe work a couple more times in the period as well as Psurny shooting from a tight angle with an empty net to aim at with the goalie out of position and Psurny, somehow managed to shoot it across the face of goal instead of on target. Tim Smith then took a call for tripping at 12:17 and yet another failed power play.

Sheffield retook the lead very much against the run of play, as Manchester were the most dominant side by a distance, but they just couldn`t a find a way past Sedlar or the goal frame.

Kohorn grabbed his second goal of the game when he picked the puck up outside his zone and the skated up ice before playing a little one-two with Andy Hirst with the forward as he then put the puck past Fone for a 2-1 lead at 15:16 in the game and was their second decent shot of the game as it was 2 shots and turned into 2 goals. The difference being, that the Sheffield Steeldogs were the more clinical in their finishing.

Then couple of minutes later we had some pushing and shoving between Andre Payette and Rob Schnabel, this led to Andy McKinney joining Payette at the face off, to which Payette then sent his young enforcer out on the ice in the shape of Callum Pattinson and from the following faceoff both he and McKinney dropped the gloves.

McKinney v Pattinson

McKinney launched in with some hefty right hooks and a couple of left uppercuts on Pattinson, Pattinson responded with a couple of rights of his own before McKinney fired back, with a few more right handed shots which got through and started to see Pattinson lose all of his gear as his shirt was over his head and padding was pulled off.

McKinney swapping shirts with the Sheffield man

McKinney then tried to to turned him and saw him lose his footing and fall down as he trod on the shirt of the Sheffield player during the fight, the young Phoenix forward after the excitement of winning the battle, tried to celebrate and found himself trip up embarrassingly on Pattinson shirt as both players headed to the box. Callum Pattinson made the effort to come over to McKinney and shake his hand in acknowledgment of a decent scrap between the two combatants at 15:48.

The two young Brits shake hands after a great fight

Schnabel then put a great hip check on Kohorn by the boards as he sent him crashing down to the ice from the hit, time ran down on the opening first period of play with the Steeldogs very much with their tails wagging.

In the Second period, Phoenix were then on the penalty kill at 26:36 after Richard Bentham was called for Tripping as he accidently brought the Sheffield player down behind his goals.

Steeldogs didn`t make use of the one man advantage at all as it was the Phoenix who seemed to look the far more dangerous side even though they were on the penalty kill.

Then at 27:21 the home side drew level, with a touch of good fortune about it, Manchester had tried to clear the puck up ice and as the Steeldog player started to skate back towards his own zone to retrieve the puck, the linesman had stopped it and gave the home side a decent 2 on 1 chance which saw Archer and Kovar on break away and then Kovar put home between the legs of Sedlar for 2-2 scoreline.

Manchester had 2 chances in the space of 10 seconds to take the lead, as first off Psurny had shot turned aside by Sedlar and then Psurny twisted and turned before firing a quick pass out to the front of the net for Archer, who must`ve thought he was going to score, but he saw Sedlar flash the glove high to make a great stop off the British forward and keep the score level.

However Phoenix wouldn`t have to wait much longer for the go ahead goal, as they came like buses then. First to find twine was Michal Psurny, who scored on the power play as he stopped the puck going out for a offside before cut back inside the Steeldog player, skated towards goal and unleashed a blaster stick side of Sedlar for a 3-2 lead for the home team at 37:04. The goal put them in front for the first time in the game and they never looked back.

This then sent the Manchester Phoenix goal machine into overdrive, as Frantisek Bakrlik got involved as he took hold of the puck by the sideboards down the Sheffield left, before he skated round the nets and fired high past Sedlar for a 4-2 lead and a brilliant solo move at that at 37:25.

Action shot

The home fans were still enjoying clapping the fourth goal when Ben Wood made five, the Macclesfield born Utility man had battled in his zone for the puck and started a break out with Richard Bentham, who then played a one-two themselves as Wood finished it off getting the puck back and then aiming far side for a 5-2 lead at 38:52, with Jack Watkins getting an assist on the goal.

Better was to come for the Phoenix as Frankie Bakrlik made it the joy of Six at 39:11, as the Phoenix went on the rush with every Manchester player now joining on every play as they were dismantling the Steeldogs defense with ease and they felt they would score on every attack too. Goal Six was more of a team goal really, as near enough everyone had touched the puck in the build up it, as Joe Graham started from the back passing up Ice to Andy McKinney who tipped it into the path of Baklik, the Czech forward fed Kovar who skated over the Sheffield blue line passing it back to Bakrlik and the Czech sniper doubled his scoring tally for the game as his effort went in possibly off the skate of the Steeldogs defenseman for a 6-2 score line and Manchester had all but not wrapped up the 2 points.

Third period was pretty flat really as the result was beyond doubt now, as it was how Manchester would play the 3^rd and also how would Sheffield respond to going 6-2 down in the previous period.

At 43:11 Andre Payette and Joe Graham had a bit of a slash and hack at each other, before they pushed and shoved with the gloves coming off and had a mini scuffle with Payette throwing a couple of punches without connecting.  Graham had his shirt way over his head and had the linesmen jump in early as it wasn`t really much of a fight more an exchange of views, with Both players  receiving 2+2 for Roughing and Payette drawing an extra 2 minute penalty for Slashing.

Payette and Graham have a disagreement

Sheffield found Manchester sleeping at the back as Kohorn sent a pass right up the ice and saw Hirst collect it and as he went one on one with Fone, it was the Phoenix netminder making the save. 

Sheffield then pulled a goal back to make it 6-3, with Ashley Calvert putting home at the back door after a diagonal pass across the front of the net for the Sheffield man to score at 51:12.

Sheffield made it 6-4 with 9 seconds remaining in the game at 59:51, when Lloyd Gibson banked it in off Fone for a closer score to the game, as apart from the goal crazy couple of minutes in the second, it was a tight game.

Manchester remain in first place after the win, as their rivals had a mixed Sunday with the Guildford Flames winning 6-3 at home against the Swindon Wildcats and the 3^rd placed Basingstoke Bison lost out to the Milton Keynes Lightning, going down 4-3 at the Coventry Skydome. Next week sees the Phoenix play at home to Swindon on the Saturday Night before making the trip to the Spectrum in Guildford as the top of the table clash sees the Phoenix and Flames battle it out to see who leads the table after Sunday.

English Premier League		GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Manchester Phoenix	18	12	2	2	2	92	44	30
2	Guildford Flames	19	14	0	2	3	91	59	30
3	Basingstoke Bison	18	11	1	2	4	73	51	26
4	Milton Keynes Lightning	16	9	1	0	6	63	54	20
5	Slough Jets	18	7	1	1	9	66	72	17
6	Sheffield Steeldogs	19	6	2	1	10	62	77	17
7	Swindon Wildcats	18	4	3	1	10	52	70	15
8	Peterborough Phantoms	17	6	0	2	9	57	75	14
9	Bracknell Bees	18	4	2	2	10	50	75	14
10	Telford Tigers	17	3	1	0	13	48	77	8

PODCAST:  http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/sheffield-ship-six.html

McKinney v Pattinson: http://youtu.be/444HggZPGgU