MANCHESTER PHOENIX
5 - 4 GUILDFORD FLAMES
Bakrlik x 3 Opatovsky
Psurny Hemmings
Kovar Kristoffersson x2
Manchester
knew they had to bounce back right away after a disastrous game down in
Peterborough on Thursday night in which saw them lose 6-4 to the Phantoms and
seen Andy McKinney thrown out of the match for High Sticks, along with Rob
Schnabel and Tony Hand getting Game Misconducts after the game. Richard Bentham
also saw his original Match penalty downgraded to a game penalty too, as it was
a very much a night to forget for the Phoenix.Phoenix welcomed the current League Champions to the Altrincham Ice Dome in the Guildford Flames Saturday night and saw them wanting to get revenge on the Phoenix after they inflicted a home defeat on the Flames not too long ago, Phoenix led in the head to heads with a 3-2 record in games over the seasons.
Play
early on saw Manchester having the lion share of possession, but they wasn`t
causing Mark Lee in the Guildford nets any trouble what so ever as he hardly
faced much rubber on him in the opening period of play, Phoenix was out working
the normally drilled Guildford team and seen them have more possession but
wasn`t making use of it.
The
Flames had Slovakian forward Martin Opatovsky head to the box for High Sticks
at 13-21 and saw the home side unable to get their Powerplay working at all in
the two minutes with the extra man. However as the seconds ticked down on the
penalty to the Flames, they then scored the game opening goal.
As time had
just expired on Opatovsky penalty, Branislav Kvetan just flipped the puck out
of his zone and went towards the Slovakian forward who had just stepped back on
the ice from the penalty box. Milos Melcherik then skated up ice to see a 2 on
0 for the visitors and saw after a neat one-two between the Guildford attackers,
Fone dragged out of position and gave Opatovsky the easy task of tapping it
into an empty goal for a 1-0 Flames lead after 15-29 in the game.
The goal
was very much against the run of play in all honesty as the Home side had the
puck more but never really cut out any chances at all, but they weren`t
shooting the puck much at all and was just passing and recycling the puck down
by the corners in the Flames zone for the main. Both teams had a player go the
box when during a Phoenix attack, Jez Lundin and Frantisek Bakrlik decided to
get closer behind the Flames net as they both picked up penalties in the
incident with Inteference and Holding calls at 18-04. Phoenix on every occasion
tried the same method and was coming to nothing, which seen the visitors take
their chance when it came and went into the first break 1-0 up, with the Phoenix
more than shading the opening period on possession and play but not the score.
Second
period saw Guildford shade the middle stanza with Opatovsky once again causing
problems for the home team with his trickery and skill and had Phoenix in a lot
of trouble during the second period. Flames Swedish forward Marcus Kristoffersson
then started to get some joy against the Phoenix defence, as he began to make a
couple of plays and then saw Nicky Watt head to the box, for a High Sticks
penalty at 24-24 and was soon followed by Branislav Kvetan, who got called for a
Delay of Game penalty at 24-37.
Phoenix
found themselves on a 5 on 3 powerplay and saw Manchester finally get on the
scoreboard thanks to a nice finish by Frantisek Bakrlik who blasted home his
effort for a powerplay goal as he beat Mark Lee to see Phoenix level at 1-1,
with assists going to James Archer and Michal Psurny at 26-04.
Guildford
then retook the lead at 29-11, when play down the left wing saw Martin
Opatovsky take a pass by Milos Melicherik and the Slovakian skated by the
left boards before putting a low pass across the face of goal and Andy
Hemmings was on hand to turn the puck in for 2-1 score and saw the Champions back
in front.
Rob
Schnabel then headed to the box for a High Sticks call and a call that would
come up at least Six times in this game. Guildford looked the side more likely
side to score again as Kristoffersson and Opatovsky was really making it
difficult for the home side, with the home side defence unable to deal with the
Import forwards. Former Phoenix man Kristoffersson, then came close to making
it 3-1 for the opponents towards the back end of the period, when the Swede
skated towards goal and Kristoffersson made a little move, even though he miscued on his shot the momentum saw the
puck continued to travel and hit the foot of the post before being cleared away.
Guildford
then made it 3-1 after 54 seconds in the third period when Marcus
Kristoffersson skated on goal an made a little move on Steve Fone before putting
it in the back of the net for a lead that looked to kill the game off.
Phoenix
then shown some grit to try and get back into the contest, with some quick
passing display between the Czech Connection on the Phoenix powerplay unit and seen
Robin Kovar pass to Frantisek Bakrlik and his diagonal pass found Michal Psurny
free at the side of the net to slam it home for a one goal game and make it 3-2
at 44:38. After the goal Michal Psurny was trying to pump up the crowd a bit
more as he skated back to the bench, but the crowd was ready in it.
Flames once
again responded straight away though another Kristofferson strike as he scored
his second goal of the game, with him slotting the puck past the netminder and
celebrated by sliding on his knees to celebrate after he made it 4-2 to the
visitors with the goal clocked at 45-03, as Paul Dixon and David Longstaff was credited
with assists.
Despite
Guildford scoring, there was a feeling that the game was far from over and so
when Phoenix cut into the lead once more; it started the recovery operation
with another powerplay goal being score by the hosts. Guildford's ill
discipline was starting to show now, Firstly Branislav Kvetan was sent to sit
for a two minute call for another Delay of Game call and then Neil Liddiard was
called for Tripping, to put Manchester once again on a 5 on 3 powerplay.
Czech
forward Frantisek Bakrlik then smashed one home after Tony Hand pass from behind the goals and saw Bakrlik one time it home, with Michal
Psurny helping set up the winning goal for the import forward to make it 4-3 for Phoenix and got the momentum back and swinging it in their favour in this
enthralling contest.
Manchester`s
tail was well and truly wagging now and seen them net the equaliser through
Bakrlik once again, as a Andy Mckinney pass found the Czech sniper and his shot
found the bottom corner to beat Lee and seen him fuming conceding these goals as
they went from 4-2 up to now being level at 4-4 at 47-53.
As
Manchester and Guildford both pushed for what would most likely be the winning
goal in the game, Phoenix with time ticking away got given big chance to take
the lead for the first time. Nicky Watt
got called for a High Sticks call at 56-16 and then with Manchester looking dangerous
and pulling the Flames defence about, Kvetan then stupidly whacked the stick
out of Robin Kovar`s hands twice, to see the Flames under the cosh at 56-52 and
give the hosts a great chance with another 5 on 3 powerplay.
Phoenix
looked a lot more dynamic and mobile compared to normal on the powerplay and at
57-24, the Roof almost blew off the Ice dome with Psurny and Hand passing before
Robin Kovar drilled it past Mark Lee and the Dome exploded with noise from the
home fans, to see the Phoenix complete the turnaround and lead 5-4 with over 2
minutes of play left in the game after looking dead in the water at one point.
Sunday saw the Phoenix travel down to Shropshire to play the Telford Tigers and came away with a 5-4 victory in another thriller, with goals by James Archer, Richard Bentham, former Telford man Andy McKinney and two strikes by Frantisek Bakrlik.
So with
4 games to go in the regular season, there are still many possible outcomes
that may happen yet, with Phoenix ahead by four points heading into the
penultimate weekend of the season as they have their fate in their hands and
the chance to seal the championship with two wins this upcoming weekend.
However
they are two tough games and no gimmie`s for sure, as they have to get past the
recent in form Swindon Wildcats and the Link Centre isn`t the easiest place to
go and win. If they complete that, they then return home to the ice dome for what
looks likely to be the title decider against the Basingstoke Bison on Sunday
and Phoenix will have to go into the two games looking at it as two wins to
seal the title, anything else and it then favours the Bison.
English Premier
League
|
GP
|
W
|
OTW
|
OTL
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
Pts
|
|
1
|
Manchester Phoenix
|
50
|
32
|
4
|
2
|
12
|
219
|
147
|
74
|
2
|
Basingstoke Bison
|
50
|
29
|
5
|
2
|
14
|
194
|
147
|
70
|
3
|
Guildford Flames
|
52
|
25
|
5
|
5
|
17
|
204
|
169
|
65
|
4
|
Milton Keynes Lightning
|
50
|
22
|
6
|
3
|
19
|
188
|
171
|
59
|
5
|
Telford Tigers
|
50
|
22
|
4
|
0
|
24
|
175
|
170
|
52
|
6
|
Swindon Wildcats
|
49
|
18
|
6
|
2
|
23
|
171
|
165
|
50
|
7
|
Sheffield Steeldogs
|
50
|
17
|
2
|
8
|
23
|
178
|
209
|
46
|
8
|
Bracknell Bees
|
51
|
17
|
3
|
4
|
27
|
162
|
203
|
44
|
9
|
Peterborough Phantoms
|
50
|
17
|
0
|
8
|
25
|
169
|
211
|
42
|
10
|
Slough Jets
|
50
|
15
|
2
|
3
|
30
|
152
|
220
|
37
|
Phoenix TV Highlights: http://t.co/YObQq7fVyL
Phoenix official match report: http://www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk/news/2448/flaming-good-win-phoenix
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