Manchester Phoenix 4 - 5 Milton Keynes Lightning
(MK win on agg 10-9)
Neil x 2 Jokila
Bakrlik Lascek x2
Boothroyd Carr x2
Manchester Phoenix crashed
out of the EPL CUP at the Semi final stage for the Fifth season running against
the Milton Keynes Lightning in Overtime to give Phoenix more heartbreak in the
competition and a lost that was very frustrating on many levels for the home
side too.
Let it never be said that games
between Manchester and Milton Keynes games don`t lack excitement, gripping
tension and plenty of drama over the years and this game was another to go
along with the classic battles between the two, with another chapter added last
night (Thursday).
Both sides went into the
Second leg, level pegged at 5-5 from the first leg down at Coventry`s Skydome Arena
where the Phoenix had done the hard work dragging themselves back into the Cup
tie, having been 5-2 down with only three minutes of play left to then score
three late goals to see Manchester claw back a draw in another exciting game
between the two sides.
Manchester was hoping
to get out of this recent slump at home with them experiencing three
consecutive losses at the Altrincham Ice dome with their last loss coming in
the 'Roses’ derby to the Sheffield Steeldogs where they lost 3-2.
Early exchanges in the game
saw the Phoenix create a few early chances which seen the MK defence do well to
limit fairly tame shots on Stephen Wall in the Lightning goals. For the Visiting
Milton Keynes, they had their share of chances too with both sides playing it kind
a cagey game at first as the neither side wanted to make a mistake early on.
In recent weeks it`s become
a worrying and familiar trend of Phoenix conceding freely at the back post of
late and that same trend continued for the game opener. Play around the Phoenix zone saw MK Lightning
players Tom Carlon and Lukas Zatopek go on the attack for the visitors and after
Zatopek effort was blocked the puck then fell into the path of Finnish Forward Janne
Jokila, who has enjoyed a lot of success against Manchester this season and he
put buried it home with no one from the home side hear him to see Lightning
take a 1-0 lead at 7-55.
Phoenix replied through an
unlikely character in Defenceman James Neil. Nottingham-born Neil skated on
goal taking a pass off Tony Hand with Michal Psurny starting the play off and
Hand`s pass toward Neil, saw his effort bounce back off Stephen Wall pads and
in turn come off the leg of Neil who was skating on goal with a Lightning defenceman
and was still looking for the puck, despite it being in the back net for a 1-1 game
at 11-16.
Over a minute later the
hosts went 2-1 up through a strike by Frantisek Bakrlik as Hand once again was
in part of the move with James Archer combined as well, to set up the Czech
forward who stick handled brilliantly to then slide it home at 12-36 and saw Manchester
build up of pressure on the Lightning eventually pay off. After a couple of
early penalties on both sides, we then saw Ben Wood pick up a Interference call
after the Phoenix man tried to skate away, but had his stick caught up with a
MK player that was down on the ice and once he got free, the official Dan
Boardman then called him for Interference at 12-54 which was one of many
bizarre calls made.
There is a phrase that goes,
' It takes two good teams to make a great game and only needs one person to
spoil it' and this game was certainly true of that saying, as Ben Wood once
again headed to the penalty box and picked up one of the most ridiculous calls I’ve
seen in 19 years of watching Ice Hockey. With the home side in possession, Wood
skated into neutral ice and was almost on the halfway line as his attempted
shot around the boards ended up going out of play. This then led to same
official that called him for Interference then give him a Delay Of Game penalty
that saw both sets of players especially Wood himself puzzled by the call and
incensed the player-coach of Manchester Phoenix in Tony Hand, who furiously
challenged the decision.
After it seemed that the
officials were bit unsure of things if it was a penalty or not, we saw Wood eventually
get given a Delay of Game call with Tony Hand collecting yet another 10
misconduct penalty for Abuse of Official and seen the Scottish player-coach for
Manchester showing his displeasure for all to see, as he gave the penalty box
door a good forceful slam twice. Play came to an end for an eventful period
with the home side 2-1 up and had the home fan`s giving a chorus of boos to the
officials as they left the ice.
In the second period of
play, Milton Keynes picked up an early penalty with Michal Farn called for
Interference to which he protested about the call as it may have been a case of
mistaken identity on the Lightning man. Phoenix was on the powerplay and it`s said
by many people that the home side are more likely to concede with the extra man
advantage than they are of actually scoring themselves and yet again that point
was proved right.
With no danger at all for
Manchester they then managed to create a problem which led to MK drawing level,
as Michale Psurny played the puck round the boards behind the net and it bounced off Luke Boothroyd skate and Steve Fone swept it forward, unfortunately to Stanislav
Lascek who put it in high over Fone to score a short-handed goal MK to level it at 2-2 at 24-52.
Milton Keynes then struck
again at 30-59, when play with Lewis Christie and Stanislav Lascek led to Adam
Carr skating down the wing and his shot somehow beat Fone at his near post and was
another goal he`d want back as the net minder’s in the game, weren`t playing to
their usual standards, it may have been a case of semi final nerves getting to
them to both.
Lewis Christie of the
Lightning was then sent to the box for a Hooking call at 34-17, which saw the Phoenix
knot the game up at 3-3 thanks to Phoenix Captain Luke Boothboyd netting at the
back post after Rob Schnabel & James Archer helped assist on the goal.
Milton Keynes players
furiously protested over the decision to award the goal as it seemed to be case
of 'man in the crease’, but the goal stood much to the annoyance of the Nick
Poole`s Milton Keynes side.
Stephen Wall then picked up
a 10 minute Misconduct penalty for abuse of official with some of the visitor`s,
still questioning the goal standing. MK though had their response as they came
right back to make it 4-3 to the Lightning thanks to Adam Carr once again, as
he skated down the wing and fire far post to find the back of the net in this
topsy-turvy game with the goal coming at 36-06 and make the overall score
(9-8).
Then we saw three more controversial
moments in as many minutes towards the back end of the period and shown the
officials making more problems for themselves.
First off Manchester
thought they had scored an equaliser through Robin Kovar, with the Czech man
dancing his way through to score but the goal got waved off immediately for a ‘man
in the crease’, when the previous goal was far more fitting of that call than
this one and some will suggest that this was evening up the goal that in
honesty shouldn`t have stood.
Manchester then broke up
the ice minutes later with Michal Psurny who was one on one before Lewis
Christie chases the Czech man down, having his stick come right up round his
head and drew blood which resulted in the MK man getting a Match penalty for
Accidental High Sticks at 38-24.
With Manchester on a five
minute powerplay, play then came to a stop instantly with the referee throwing
Robin Kovar out of the game, after the Czech man got frustrated with the
lineman getting in his way and gave him a whack to the leg which was born out
of frustration. It wasn`t the smartest move by the Kovar and he deservedly picked
up a Match penalty as he headed straight to the locker room after the incident
and wasn`t a happy camper at all at 39-28. Time fizzled out on a controversial Period
with the entire rink booing the officials off the ice, with some very
questionable calls on both sides in the game.
In the third the Phoenix
looked in search of the goal to level the game at 4-4 and it came on another
power play goal, this time by James Neil who had become a goal machine in this
game as he netted his second of the game after Stephen Wall looked have got a
fair chunk on it, but wasn`t able to fully grab the shot was helpless to stop
it going in as the game was level on the night and in the tie overall too. This
made the rest of the period exciting for the remainder of the game and after
120 minutes of play we still couldn`t separate the two sides and so we went to
overtime to find a winner.
Both sides then had chances
to win the game and the game and tie winner was an absoltute heartbreaker too. It
all came by the way of a mistake in the Phoenix zone with Michal Psurny and James
Neil passing it between themselves, till a poor pass by Neil was knocked down by Ross Green and was gathered by Stanislav
Lascek who was in the middle of the Phoenix zone saw him fire the puck in and end MK Lightning through to the final and meet the Basingstoke
Bison in the EPL Cup Final, which left leave Neil and Manchester with another year of falling
at the Semi final stage in this competition as the Lightning won 10-9 on aggregate.
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