Tuesday 28 January 2014

Penalty king Graham sees Phoenix win Marathon shootout









MANCHESTER PHOENIX  3 - 2 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING
After Penalaties
Watkins,Kovar GRAHAM (P.S)                          Cownie, Carlon







Joe Graham fires the Winning shot




 


Manchester Phoenix pulled off an unlikely victory on Sunday evening winning 3-2 on penalty shots over the Milton Keynes Lightning as for a majority of the game it looked an impossible scenario for Phoenix.  
However the combination of Phoenix duo netminder Steve Fone and Defenseman Joe Graham were the two important figures in helping Manchester edge past Milton Keynes and saw them open up a two point gap at the top of the table.




Manchester nearly scored the game opening goal within a minute of play when a shot saved by Stephen Wall in the MK Lightning goals saw the puck bounce loose in front of the nets and Michal Psurny poke at the puck , somehow managed to miss the target and seen the visitors clear their lines.
Milton Keynes had previously beat the Phoenix in the last two league encounters,  although both of those games were played on the bigger surface at the Coventry Skydome, to which is the current home for the Lightning as their home in Milton Keynes is undergoing development this season.




The Lightning took charge of the game fairly quickly as they out battling the home in every department of the game. Whether it was face-offs, checking or loose pucks, the Lightning was always a step ahead in the game and came as no suprise when they took their opening chance of the game through Jordon Cownie, who found the back of the net scoring past Steve Fone, who had his team mate screen him on the goal at 1-13 and gave the away side a great start.





Milton Keynes played a great road game as they frustrated the home side with their pressing and defensive wise they were immense too as gave Manchester a real headache trying to breakdown.
The game first penalty came at 6-20 against the MK Lightning and namely the rambunctious Grant McPherson, as he sat for two minutes for Roughing after he hit Andy McKinney and then tried to draw a penalty from him, but the Phoenix man was very wise too his tactics.
Ben Wood saw his wrist shot strike the pipe work and go high into the netting above the plexi.



The powerplay was an absolute shocker by Phoenix and one that an under 10's would cringe at. It took the last couple of seconds from it to see a shot at Wall and one that the netminder dealt with accordingly.
Phoenix had a chance to make up for it, when Ross Bowers slashed at the back of Ben Wood skates when they were both heading off the ice and he was forced to sit for two at 12-07, but yet again the home disappointed on the extra man attack as they failed to even skate over into the MK zone during the whole two minutes of the power play.




Phoenix managed to shoehorn their way back in the contest slightly, that was till one of the two referees on the ice made a weird call on a James Neil for Interference at 19-13 when there seemed to be nothing in it.
Too be fair the referee`s was missing calls on both sides and as they tried to let the game flow, Milton Keynes were certainly flexing their physical prowess as they were finishing off their checks everytime, something that Manchester wasn't doing at all since Robin Kovar put a hard stiff check on a Lightning forward in the boards after minute of play.







In the second period, Milton Keynes continued their physical play as well as their defensive display too which quelled any Phoenix attacks in the opening two periods of play, that despite the fact Manchester was heavily out shooting their opponents in the game.
Nearly all the shots the home side had was aiming far to high over Stephen Wall nets as the puck was flying over the bar and if it had been rugby, then they would have been miles ahead of the Lightning. A majority of the shots was far too high and hitting the plexi glass behind the goals and those that were on target was harmlessly right at Wall and was catching practice for the MK netminder really.





Robert Schnabel then got called for Roughing when Ben Russell was slashing at Steve Fone while the Manchester goalie had the puck covered up and despite the whistle blowing he still continued too whacked away at the glove of Fone, which then brought Schnabel dashed over to push Russell away from goal and into the boards behind as he protected his netminder. That then led to the players on the ice coming together and saw Russell escape the scrum and head straight to the bench and saw an absolutely irate Schnabel, furiously protest his innocence over the call at 29-48.
Manchester did well to kill off the penalty as they held off a determined MK power play unit, which saw the tall Czech man eventually skate right back to the bench with the Phoenix launching an attack of their own.




It was then the turn of the away side to go shorthanded once again, with a Too Many Men call at 32-05 and saw Phoenix still unable to set up a decent power play in the match to this point. Tom Carlon then took a trip to the box a minute later for a Slashing call at 33-41 and saw Manchester have a 5 on 3 opportunity as they looked to draw level.
Referee Dan Boardman then called Leigh Jamieson for Slashing at 37-57 to see the home side back on the power play and despite good movement of the puck, they just couldn`t find a way through the M.K defense at all with the opponents diving in front of the attackers to block any incoming shots on the power play.






Milton Keynes headed into the third period leading 1-0 and was in control of the match without dominating it as their stifling play had Manchester bamboozled and looking for answers as the third got underway.
However, Tony Hand must have delivered one of the best team talk in his term time as Phoenix coach with Manchester seemingly looking a completely different side to the ones that was struggling to put passes together and looked toothless in attack, to now looking like a side that was threatening and looked like they could score.
Then at 42:22 Manchester drew level as Liam Chong and Richard Bentham set up Jack Watkins whose wrist shot beat Wall to go far corner and see Phoenix tie the game up at 1-1, Phoenix had finally decided to stop shooting high and wide and aim lower and got the results.




Phoenix then pressed Milton Keynes back with them having a good spell of possession and had the visitors caught all at sea, with a wave upon wave of Phoenix attacks and saw Stephen Wall stand up excellently to every shot the home side thrown at him, especially a James Archer chance that seen Wall roll to save it spectacularly.
Lewis Christie was penalised for Tripping James Archer up along the side boards and put Manchester once again on the power play at 44-17. They were then given another opportunity with the two man advantage with Phoenix having another 5 on 3 chance that saw after the whistle, Michael Farn go for a Manchester forward much in the way that Schnabel had done in the second period. 





The home side from somewhere was given a boost of energy and urgency about their play now with the Phoenix testing Wall in the Milton Keynes goals and they found a way to finally break down the Lightning`s defenses compared to the 44 minutes of the game, in which they were second best and the tide looked to have turned.  
At 46-21 a fast passing move by the Phoenix Power play unit, saw James Archer and Michal Psurny assist to set up Robin Kovar who drilled his shot past Wall from close range to see the Phoenix go 2-1 up in the game looked to have given them control at that point in time. 
With 6 minutes of play left to go in the game it seen the game ebb and flow one way and then another. Manchester then found themselves back on the penalty kill with Richard Bentham called for Cross Checking at 53-25.




Manchester had been able to stop and block any shots that was aimed on the home sides net, but the visitors got a favourable bounce 1:05 into their powerplay when Janne Jolika cut through the home defence he laid it off to Leigh Jamieson whose effort was partly saved by Fone and saw the rebound fall to Tom Carlon and he was quick to turn it into a goal and make it all square again at 54-29, with the remaining minutes played out like a sudden death period.
The game then became a bit tighter with neither side wanting to make a mistake with the seconds ticking down.
Phoenix had a couple of late chances to win it at the death but couldn`t find the goal so we headed to Overtime.




In the Overtime period, Manchester had a couple of early shots on Wall that saw him like the proverbial brick wall at the back and helped his side out. The ice seemed to be on a sea-saw, with the way the play moved from one end to the other in quick style and made for an exciting period of hockey with both sides pushing for the winning goal.
Phoenix fans thought they`d scored the overtime winner but was disappointed when the referee called Bakrlik for a Cross Check into the MK man back at 61-27. Neither side was able to claim the extra point in the five minute extra period, so we headed to the lottery of the penalty shootout.




Manchester went first in the shoot out through Michal Psurny and saw the Czech forward wind up move before slipping under the goalie for a 1-0 lead to the Phoenix. Blaz Emersic then stepped up for the Lightning and he slotted it past Fone for 1-1.
Robin Kovar scores on Wall
Robin Kovar was next up for the Phoenix and he managed to commit Wall before backhanding top shelf in the net to see them lead 2-1 and seen Adam Carr`s effort saved by Steve Fone to give Manchester the chance of victory if James Archer could score the final penalty.
Archer skated fast down the left side before moving across goal and tried to lift it in over Wall, but the netminder was in a good position to narrow the angle and see him stop the shot denying the home side victory for now.




Janne Jokila was the third skater for MK and he made no mistake as he back handed past Fone to see the shootout head into sudden death.
Frankie Bakrlik was the fourth penalty taker for the home side as he tried to pull off a "Malik" move  by shooting between his legs, but Wall was clever to save his attempt and gave the visitors a chance to win the game through Jordan Cownie. Fone though, was equal to him and saw us head into a 5th round of shots in the match.
Robert Schnabel had hoped that history would repeat itself again as the last time he took a penalty shot he was the hero for Phoenix. 



However, it wasn`t to be this time around as he failed to even hit the target as  he pulled it wide of the goals and saw advantage MK once again.
Leigh Jamieson was next to go for the Lightning, with a chorus of boos hurled at him and he tried to back hand his penalty past Fone and saw him miss the target and so we carried on to the 6th round.
Player Coach for the Manchester Phoenix Tony Hand, then took the next shot for his team and saw him fire over the goal hitting the plexi glass and standing with a look of bemusement on his face.
Tom Carlon then missed his effort, which saw Luke Boothroyd try to do his Captain`s duty and score a penalty to put them in the driving seat. Boothroyd though never got a shot away as he lost control of the puck as he approached Wall in the goals and his ‘effort’ very nearly deceived the netminder and saw Wall getting a toe on it.




Jokila beats Fone
We then had Grant McPherson go for MK and he seemed to won the match as he drew Fone out of position and as he pulled the trigger, Fone made a top draw great save to rob him and McPherson couldn`t believe it!
That saw us move to Round 7 in the shoot out and up step unlikely hero Joe Graham, as the defenseman made a couple of dekes before firing to Wall`s right and had the home fans on their feet as the puck found twine.
Michael Farn was the man to try and keep it going for the visitors, but he was unable to do so as Steve Fone blocked his penalty and seen Manchester take the win 3-2 in the shoot out.
The win saw some daylight for the Phoenix at last at the top of the tree, with them opening up a two point gap, whilst both Bison and Flames lost their respective games to Peterborough and Swindon.  Manchester now have have the edge at the moment having these three games in hand over Basingstoke and two in hand on Guildford as they know they will need to make these count.




Psurny gives Phoenix the lead in Shootout
Plus there is also the little matter of the EPL Cup semi-finals in a couple of weeks time against the MK Lightning, which is a mouth watering prospect after another enthralling game between the two side on Sunday. Who ever wins that game will meet the winners of the other semi between the Bison and Flames to see who will meet in the final.



English Premier League
GP
W
OTW
OTL
L
GF
GA
Pts
1
Manchester Phoenix
36
23
4
2
7
167
101
56
2
Basingstoke Bison
39
22
4
2
11
149
118
54
3
Guildford Flames
39
21
3
3
12
160
124
51
4
Milton Keynes Lightning
37
18
4
1
14
144
123
45
5
Swindon Wildcats
37
14
4
1
18
129
129
37
6
Sheffield Steeldogs
39
12
2
7
18
139
172
35
7
Telford Tigers
38
15
2
0
21
122
137
34
8
Bracknell Bees
40
12
3
3
22
127
161
33
9
Slough Jets
37
14
1
1
21
124
160
31
10
Peterborough Phantoms
38
12
0
7
19
132
168
31


Next Weekend: 

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