MANCHESTER PHOENIX 6 - 1 BASINGSTOKE BISON
Bakrlik x3 (Hat Trick) Sheppard
Archer x2, Psurny
Manchester Phoenix on Sunday shown they ability to bounce
back from disappointment, after they were beaten by rival Guildford Flames last
weekend 4-2 and seen them slip to second place with the loss down in Surrey
last weekend. Phoenix with the extra day rest made it count on their
other rival vying for the League crown in the Basingstoke Bison. Bison had been
in hot form of late, winning 4 games in-a-row as well as having a hot goalie in
Dean Skinns, who hadn`t conceded a goal in a 180 minutes of hockey with 3
shutouts in a row. His latest came against the Peterborough Phantoms on
Saturday Night as well as the two games against Slough Jets the previous weekend,
winning both 2-0.
Phoenix had an another reason to make sure they bounced back
as both Bison and themselves were level on points, plus it was another team
challenging and knew a victory and result elsewhere could have saw Phoenix jump
back into first place.
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From the opening faceoff, both teams had chances with
Basingstoke going closest in the opening stages of play. Phoenix managed to
avoid going behind early on in the game, as has become a recent trait by
Manchester in the last few weeks or so. Manchester tested the Bison netminder,
as they peppered him with shots and he stood up to them well as he his defence
wasn`t fully helping him as he looked unsure of himself in the game.
Skinns was nearly caught
out at one point, when he thought he had covered up the puck with his glove in
his crease facing the net, but instead the puck had been knocked behind him into
play and if not for his team mate, then it would have been a embarrassing
moment for the goalie.
Ben Wood was the first player in the game to visit the
penalty box, when he was adjudged to have to have Interfered with a Basingstoke
player around the Bison crease, when it looked like the Bison player had lost
his footing near the net and with Wood a couple of feet away from the Bison
forward, Referee John Liptrott called the penalty upon the Macclesfield born
Wood at 8:41.
Tony Hand then had a great chance to give the Home side the
lead when play was all crowded around the visitors net. So with Hand free at
the back post, instead of putting it in a predominantly empty net he chose to
pass to Michal Psurny who was marked by 2 Bison players at the front of the net
and a huge groan from the Home side greeted the pass, when a shot was the only
real option.
The game was end to end and it was the home side who broke
the deadlock, ending the run of Basingstoke keeping a clean sheet in a game,
when a Frankie Bakrlik rocket from outside the Bison right faceoff circle made
it 1-0 at 13:33 and with a Czech flavour
too it too. As fellow Czech Republic natives Robin Kovar and Rob Schnabel helped
out on the goal Bakrlik to see Phoenix take the lead.
Three minutes later Phoenix doubled their lead with Bakrlik
doubled his goal tally as well, when the Czech sniper tucked home a rebound to
beat Skinns and give the home side complete control of the match, where they
had much of the period with
Joe Graham and Jack Watkins assisting on the goal at 17:43,
as Bakrlik looks to be back in form. Phoenix went into break holding a two goal
advantage and looked good for the lead too after twenty minutes of play.
Phoenix increased their lead a minute and twenty seconds
into the Second period of the game, when James Archer one timed his shot past Dean
Skinns for a 3-0 lead at 21:20, which saw Rob Schnabel leading the rush for Tony
Hand, who then fed the Sheffield-born forward with a pass to the far side and
he made no mistake at all.
Player coach of the Manchester Phoenix Tony Hand then sat
for two minutes in the penalty box, as he called for Hooking down a Bison
player at 28:11 and put the the travelling Bison a power play.
Manchester put on a good penalty kill to stop the Herd from
scoring as in the previous meeting it was power play goals that cost them, but
the Phoenix side looked to be in no mood for letting up and they pressured the
Bison power play and had a couple of sniffs in attack, with former Bison player
Liam Chong having an effort on Skinns which was easily dealt with by the
Basingstoke netminder.
For some reason the Bison lacked any real threat on Steve
Fone for a majority of the game. Their game plan seemed to consist for a
majority of it trying to score wrap around type goals when trying to make him
move around or another technique would have better suited.
But you have to give Phoenix defence credit too, as they
kept the top British goal scorer at the time quiet in Joe Miller, along with
Doug Sheppard and Joe Rand as the forwards for the Bison who are normally the
surge of the Manchester side were anonymous on the ice.
Phoenix then spent another two minutes on the penalty kill,
when this time Richard Bentham tried to stop the attack of the Herd and instead
earned himself a penalty for Hooking back the visiting player at 34:03.
History shows Manchester have always seemed to play better a
man down than with the extra man advantage over the years and this was shown
again, when Frankie Bakrlik knocked the puck to the boards and skated onto it.
The Czech forward then spotted the movement of James Archer free and so dished
it over to him and Archer stick handled his way to goal, with the British
forward outsmarting Skinns and put home before the net came off as Zach Sullivan
minus stick pushed Archer hoping to stop him from scoring but couldn`t as he
made it 4-0 at 36:01 with Ben Wood grabbing an assist too.
Things got worse for the Bison when it became 5-0 after
Bakrlik completed his hat-trick, when James Neil dash down the Phoenix left
side saw and seen him lay off to Andy McKinney, whose effort was turned away
but sadly for the visitors the rebound came out to the Czech sniper and he
poached his third of the night and his 23rd of the season at 39:28 wand made the
contest all but over now.
Basingstoke was looking like a side out of ideas and a very
different from one from the one that had kept clean sheets and been in red hot
form of late.
With the final few seconds elapsing in the period, James
Archer and Nicky Chinn were battling against the boards when Joe Greener then
skate towards the two and leapt with a elbow connecting on Archer, which then led
to Bentham and Bakrlik skating over and not taking kindly to the elbow from
Greener as both sides then had pushing and shoving match.
Before the third period started, we saw a few penalties
dished out to players over the end of the 2nd aggro. James Archer picking up
two minutes for Holding the Stick for
the home side and on the Basingstoke Bison, Nicky Chinn got a 2 minute call for
Hooking and Joe Greener got called for Elbowing all timed at 40:00.
In the third not much happened really with Tony Hand decided
to sit the period out and coach from the bench, both sides had equal chances which
included a fantastic save by Steve Fone. With the netminder flinging him across
goal to deny a certain goal for the Bison, while keeping his clean sheet going in
the meantime.
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Michal Psurny then got his name on the score sheet for the
home side, with the other Czech forward who is scoring well this year. Psurny
was put through on goal and his effort was stopped by Skinns in the Bison net initially,
however he had ended being behind his own line as he tried to pass it off in
his glove and then realised it was in his pads.
The Linesman had a
word with the referee and he then gave the goal without the light flash from
the goal judge, with the telling fact he was in the back of his goals and it
could only have been a goal, as only his head was sticking out of the nets at
the time.
Basingstoke remonstrated with the officials and had started
to go mad at the goal judge, till he signalled he never put the light on for
the goal and told the Bison player through mime it was the officials that gave
it, which didn`t sit well with the travelling side at all.
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| BISON celebrate goal |
Bison did break Steve Fone shutout cruelly though with 1:04
left in the game, when a pass by Joe Miller saw Player-coach of the Hampshire
outfit Doug Sheppard score at 58:56, it gave them something to cheer as well as
the few hardcore fans who came up to support them on a otherwise bad night at
the office for the away side.
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