Psurny 'high five' sees Phoenix FLY past the Jets

MANCHESTER PHOENIX   7   -   2  SLOUGH JETS 

Bakrlik, Watkins, Psurny x5                                                             Line, Keiras

 Manchester Phoenix`s Czech forward Michal Psurny scored five goals as he helped move the Phoenix back to the summit of the English Premier League table Sunday night, after a 7-2 victory over the troubled Slough Jets at the Altrincham Ice Dome. 

From the first puck drop Phoenix were taking the game to the young side from Berkshire way with the young Croatian netminder Andrej Vasiljevic in the Jets goals and as the game went on they`ll wonder if their bus had ran over a group of Black cats, they walked under ladders or had cracked mirrors on the way up to Manchester with some bad luck they got.

Phoenix got the scoring underway at 3-35 in the game with Frankie Bakrlik netting against his former club after Czech team mate Robin Kovar helped assist on the goal alongside Andy McKinney as Bakrlik tipped the puck home to give Phoenix an early 1-0 lead. Manchester doubled the lead when they broke away through Liam Chong as he hit the puck around the boards to which Richard Bentham skated on to, he then passed back to Liam Chong and his pass out from goals fell to Jack Watkins who then roofed it home past Vasiljevic to double the lead for the home side at 8-08.

Phoenix were in control of the first twenty with Slough struggled to get anything in the way of an attacking play going at all after the home defence were in a miserly mood at the back.

Slough only two players to make any impact in the period was Jamie Line and Matt Towalski as they looked to try and generate a few shots on the Manchester goals but when they did Steve Fone was ready to answer the call (no pun intended).

Michal Psurny then turned into a goal scoring machine for the rest of the game as he made it 3-0 with absolute ripper from the face off circle as it went as quick as a flash over the shoulder o the netminder for 3-0 at 18-30 with James Archer assisting on the Czech forward first goal of the night.

With the period coming to a close, Slough had one last effort before the break and saw Jamie Line put past Fone to make it 3-1 and Tony Hand would have been livid to have conceded a late goal in with just six seconds remaining on the first with the timed at 19-54.

Second period saw Slough play a bit more hockey as Manchester seemed to slightly take their foot of the gas and saw Slough battle back in the game. Mindaugas Kieras was called for Tripping at 23-44 which saw a good powerplay by the Phoenix, in which they moved the puck round quickly and had Slough scrambling with the extra man advantage but couldn`t convert on it. 

The Visiting Jets killed off the penalty and saw them go on their own power play with James Archer being called for Holding along the penalty box side of the rink as he held an opposing player by the boards a touch too long for Referee Steve Brown liking and put Manchester on the Penalty Kill at 27-52.

Jets power play never got going and they were made to pay for it, when Rob Schnabel dispossessed the Jets PP unit in the Phoenix zone and passed towards Michal Psurny positioned on the edge of his own zone, he then sent a pass off down centre ice to the open Tony Hand.

Hand then skated on goal before making a spin move and playing Psurny in, who in turn tried to play a pass back across the net for Hand and with the netminder out of position the puck ricocheted off the skate of Matt Towalski and slowly wobbled in over the line for a 4-1 game at 29-44 for a Shorthanded goal too.

Phoenix went on the power play two more times in the period, starting off with Daniel Rose heading to the box for the away side after he chipped the puck out of play for a Delay of Game call at 33-07 and then James Buckingham followed him at 36-31 with the player adjudged to have Clipped Frantisek Bakrilk leg after the forward stayed down clutching his knee which Bakrlik has recently come back from injury with.

The Jets then struck the post as they tried to pull a goal back with the last mintue of play of the period, once again the away teams scored at the end of the period. With five seconds remaining in the period the Jets pushed for a final shoot and after Steve Fone was nudged slightly in his crease, as a Slough player was stood in the crease behind Fone before Mindaugas Kieras scored and the puck went in the net with as the horn sounded.

Steve Fone who is usually mild mannered skated towards the referee and wasn`t a very happy camper as was a couple of players who asked about the man in the crease prior to the goal going in, However Brown ignored all views in the Red and White of the Phoenix and saw the lead down to to two with the goal timed at 40-00. 

Manchester can say they were fortunate too for a few goals especially the fourth goal as a couple of goals were scored by deflections in off Jets Defenceman and summed up the bad luck they are having at the moment too. 

Michal Psurny grabbed his Hat-Trick goal at 47-32 when his pass across goal took a bounce off Jamie Line as he tried to block the puck and ended up diverting in his own net for a 5-2 scoreline. Psurny then scored his fourth less than a minute later when a long pass by Hand found the Czech forward and buried high past the netminder for 6-2 timed at 47-51 with Hand and Schnabel assisting exactly like the previous goal.

Manchester still had one more goal left in them or should i say Michal Psurny had one more goal left in him, the Czech sniper found the net for the 5th time in the game to make it 7-2 at 53-24 with Richard Bentham getting an assist on the goal after his shot hit the boards behind the net and fell kindly to Psurny who put home to finish off the game. 

Steve Balmer then headed to the box for shooting the puck out of the playing area for a Delay Of Game penalty before we had saw a little scrap between Brad Watchorn and Phoenix Andy McKinney as they dropped the gloves.

Both combatants threw some good punches before the linesman came into break up the fight and saw both respective players head towards their own lockers room as both received 2+2 for Roughing at 58-30. 

Victory meant that along with Guildford falling to the Swindon Wildcats 5-2 down at the Link Centre, that the Phoenix moved top to the tree with a better wins record over the other two sides around them and seen then lead for this weekend at least.

Phoenix tv:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUZBvmNFYzo

PHOENIX PODCAST: http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-jets-bomb.html

OFFICIAL Report: http://www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk/news/2420/psurny-five-goal-haul-phoenix-take-points

			P	W	OW	OL	L	PIM	F	A	Pts
1		Manchester Phoenix	34	22	3	2	7	258	159	97	52
2		Basingstoke Bison	37	21	4	2	10	353	141	108	52
3		Guildford Flames	38	21	3	3	11	321	158	121	51
4		Milton Keynes Lightning	35	18	4	0	13	336	139	116	44
5		Sheffield Steeldogs	37	12	2	7	16	673	131	160	35
6		Swindon Wildcats	35	12	4	1	18	293	115	123	33
7		Bracknell Bees	37	11	3	3	20	510	120	150	31
8		Telford Tigers	36	13	2	0	21	428	115	134	30
9		Slough Jets	35	13	1	1	20	231	116	152	29
10		Peterborough Phantoms	36	11	0	7	18	345	126	159	29