Wednesday 5 February 2014

Telford show the 'Eye of the Tiger' against Phoenix















MANCHESTER   PHOENIX           3   -   6         TELFORD TIGERS




Manchester Phoenix recorded their first pointless weekend since October time, as the current league leaders failed to capitalise on their current games in hand on their title rivals. Defeat on successive nights have seen the Phoenix go from two points clear at the top to now be level with the Basingstoke Bison, who themselves beat Phoenix conquerors on the Sunday night in the Sheffield Steeldogs.




Saturday Night saw Phoenix travel over the Pennines to Sheffield where they take on the Steeldogs in the Roses derby at Ice Sheffield. Manchester made a good start as they took the lead through Frantisek Bakrlik strike in the 3rd minute of play, before the home side responded with Ben Morgan scoring past Steve Fone to draw level at 7:47.
Craig Elliott then picked up a High Sticks call at 17:21 to see him ejected from the game and put the Visitors on a 5 minute powerplay, to which they made hardly anything of at all.




Lubomir Korhor gave the home side the lead at 36:10 to see them go 2-1 up. Then in the final period Sheffield got a bit of luck, when a penalty on Greg Wood had just elapsed and saw Wood jump out of the penalty box and onto the puck , only for him to make it 3-1to Sheffield and looked to be it for Manchester. Phoenix had only themselves to blame in the game as they failed to capitalise on any powerplay opportunity they had, plus Sedlar in the Steeldogs goal had a great night too.
At 57:10 Bakrlik scored his second to make it a 3-2 game and with time running out they pushed for the tying goal. Phoenix pulled the netminder for the extra attacker, but saw Greg Chambers score to seal the win for the Steeldogs 4-2. However the action wasn`t over yet, when at 59:53 chaos ensued when we saw both teams end up in a scrum that involved Lee Haywood, Andy Hirst, Lloyd Gibson and Callum Pattinson of the Steeldogs and Richard Bentham, Jacob Heron, Rob Schnabel and Andy McKinney of the Phoenix as they had a couple of battles that saw the penalty minutes rack up for both teams.





Sunday night saw Phoenix looking to bounce back against the Telford Tigers who are the only side this season to have beaten Manchester on home ice and it was fair to say that in that previous game, it was a case of Phoenix losing concentration with some very contentious decisions going against them.
This time thought, there was no complaints by Manchester. A very well drilled Telford side shown the league leaders that the win in Manchester previously wasn`t a fluke as they powered to a 6-3 victory.


Telford started off the game the brighter of the two sides with Manchester unable to clear their lines without a Orange and Black shirt getting to the puck first, that constant pressure by the Tigers told as at 2:00 into the game. When Former Phoenix man Scott McKenzie scored the opening goal of the game to send the travelling Tigers fans up on their feet, with McKenzie beating the netminder to make it 1-0.
Manchester was given an early power play chance when another former Manchester player in Finnish forward Timo Kuvuulainen , was sent to the box for a Hooking call at 4:02. Just like the night before the P. P (power play)unit was diabolical again, with Telford looking by far the more threatening side than Manchester.





Manchester then found a way back into the contest after Tony Hand managed to cut out a pass by the Telford defense and then fed Michal Psurny who roofed it past Declan Ryan in the Visitors nets for a 1-1 score at 11-37.
Phoenix forward Frantisek Bakrlik then received a 10 minute misconduct penalty after Declan Ryan shoved his gloved in Bakrlik face after the play was whistled, Bakrlik wasn`t very pleased with Ryan face wash and then Bakrlik push Ryan back and resulted in the Czech forward getting a misconduct call for continuing his displeasure over the whole incident towards the official.




We then saw a move that infuriated the crowd, when Ryan lost his goalie stick during a play it ended up by the boards. This saw the referee skate over to hand it him back while play was going on down the other end and normally it is always a team mate or the goalie himself who retrieves the stick, but the sight of the referee passing the netminder`s stick back to Ryan, drew a loud sustained chorus of boos towards that official.





Second period witnessed yet another collapse in the middle stanza for the Phoenix, as it has become something of a worrying trend since Christmas time.
James Archer was sat in the box serving a penalty for Hooking, when Rick Plant tipped the puck in at the front of the net to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead at 22-26 and to be honest at that point, you never felt Manchester would back.
Things got even better for the Shropshire club when another power play goal went in for them at 29-18, thanks to Joe Miller as the Tigers were well and truly 'Roaring' in the game.
Manchester desperately needed to find some intervention from somewhere as they were looking tired from after their bruising encounter with Sheffield the night before, meanwhile Telford was looking much more fresher than the home side with a bigger bench that was helping their cause massively .





Manchester was then given a powerplay opportunity when James Pease was called for Slashing and the PP unit managed to create a couple of chances which resulted in defenseman, Rob Schnabel netting a goal at 35:35 thanks to a quick pass out front by Tony Hand, after Michal Psurny had worked along the boards to start the move for goal.
Phoenix defense and Steve Fone then had a meltdown of epic proportions in the final minute of the second and it took the game away from the Phoenix in the end. 
A great build up play by Telford`s Finnish duo, Timo Kuvuulainen and Mika Kiviranta on their First line, saw the pairing carve Phoenix open with ease and a pass across the slot was turned in by Rick Plant for 4-2.




Then with literally the last play of the 2nd period the Tigers made it 5-2. Callum Bowley skated round the Phoenix nets before laying off to Adam Walker, whose shot was stopped initially, but Fone was unable to see the puck and the Phoenix defense unable to clear their lines and the puck managed to find it`s way in the net just before the horn.
Telford skated to the locker room with a major boost heading into the third, whereas Phoenix looked like a side that was out of ideas and out of gas.




In the final period, Telford seemed to play a counter attack style much like Phoenix have played this season and with Manchester struggling to make any kind of impact on Declan Ryan in the Telford nets, you just never thought Manchester was really in the game after the double blow at the back end of the Second period.
Phoenix then grabbed a consolation goal on the powerplay when Tony Hand pass come shot seemed to trick everyone on the ice, including Ryan and went in for a goal at 46-34 to make it 5-3. Telford still seemed to have another gear left in them though it felt and Manchester was then starting to get chances, but found Ryan once again in sparking form for the Tigers as he pounced on every puck to keep the Phoenix out.





Then to cap off a miserable weekend for Phoenix, Telford scored a bizarre Sixth goal that killed off any hopes at all Manchester had at that point. A puck shot round the boards harmlessly then struck the metal post that secures the plexi glass together and with Fone coming out to play it, the puck deflected towards the front of the net where Mika Kiviranta was on hand to just tap home into the empty net for a very lucky bounce for the Tigers and when you`re in the kind of run that Telford are, then those bounces go your way. 
The goal was made worst as it was shorthanded with Phoenix on the powerplay at that time and it seemed to take the rest of what the home side had in them, out of them.




Telford`s travelling support never stopped singing or cheering all game and with the way they put the League leaders away so easily, it`s a thought many of them will have thought about as what would have happened, if this side had been together at the start of the season.
As based on this game they would be more likely challenging towards the top of the table, than the bottom of the table that they have been doing for since coming back in to the league a few years ago.




For Manchester, this whole weekend was a massive blow for them considering having the extra games in hand, Phoenix haven`t been able to make them count and with the Basingstoke Bison stealing a win in Sheffield that result brought them level with the Phoenix once more at the top of the EPL.
Manchester now have the tough ask of playing 8 games in 17 days, with all the fixture congestion piling up with two EPL Cup Semi Finals fitted in against the Milton Keynes Lightning. The 1st leg of which starts on Wednesday down in Coventry and has been a bad place for Phoenix so far, having lost the last two games there 7-2 twice.




 BOLTON NEWS







ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
GP
W
OTW
OTL
L
GF
GA
Pts
1
Manchester Phoenix
38
23
4
2
9
172
111
56
2
Basingstoke Bison
41
23
4
2
12
155
124
56
3
Guildford Flames
41
21
4
3
13
167
133
53
4
Milton Keynes Lightning
40
20
5
1
14
154
128
51
5
Swindon Wildcats
39
14
4
2
19
137
139
38
6
Telford Tigers
40
17
2
0
21
136
145
38
7
Sheffield Steeldogs
41
13
2
7
19
146
178
37
8
Bracknell Bees
42
13
3
3
23
139
172
35
9
Slough Jets
40
15
1
2
22
135
172
34
10
Peterborough Phantoms
40
13
0
7
20
138
177
33





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