MANCHESTER PHOENIX S.H.C 7 - 2 PETERBOROUGH PHANTOMS S.H.C
Nicholson x6, Booth Coleman, Le Galloudec
Manchester Phoenix`s Sledge Hockey side got their home opener underway this
past Saturday, when they faced off against the current reigning champions
in the Peterborough Phantoms at the Altrincham Ice Dome.
Peterborough came into this match having a few
key players out missing as well as some not available for other reasons too. It
saw the Phantoms icing with just 7 players in the game and that included two
players that they drafted in very late in the day to make up the numbers and to
make sure a game could have been on.
Manchester
was hoping to kick start their season against the undefeated Peterborough side
after the Phoenix first match saw them beaten 7-1 by the Kingston Kestrels and
so needed to try and get their first win on the board to get some confidence
going.
The game saw it`s opening penalty
after just twenty seconds gone in the contest when Barry Sprakes who was
guesting from the Widnes Wildcats became the first player of the game to pick up
a penalty, as he took a Teeing penalty to put the Manchester Phoenix on an
early powerplay opportunity.
From
the resulting powerplay, it saw the Phoenix take the lead through Great British
Paralympic International Karl Nicholson with the Manchester forward collecting
a pass from the combination play of Anthony Booth and Rob Allen, which then saw
the veteran forward bury his effort past another late draftee to the Phantoms
line-up in netminder Matt Lloyd, to put the home side 1-0 at 1-14 in the
opening period of play.
Both sides had chances in the game early on with Matt Lloyd in the Phantoms goals coming under pressure from the home side, as Lloyd had come out of retirement to help the visitors with their crippling numbers problem and probably wished he hadn`t at time with the amount of rubber he was facing.
At
the other end of the ice, it saw Steve Midgehall having to be alert to stop another
Great British Paralympian in Matthew Coleman as he had his effort saved by the
Phoenix netminder and saw Midghall do well to stop from the G.B forward and
keep his clean sheet intact in the process.
Anthony
Booth then went close for the home side, as his pass come shot across the front
of the net almost found it`s way into the nets when Lloyd was almost caught
out. Peterborough though was quick to react to the danger and cleared the puck
away from harm and to see it stay within one.
Manchester
then made it 2-0 shortly after at 10-35 when defenseman Graham Wilson sent a pass
towards Karl Nicholson and the veteran forward fired from just inside the right
hand face-off circle, to see the puck find it`s way over the line and into the
back of the net, with Lloyd unable to deal the shot fully.
From
the re-start it saw Karl Nicholson once again finding himself in space and the
Phoenix man fired by the goaltender only to see and hear the pipe work deny him
of a goal as it pinged off the near post and away from goal.
Anthony Booth then scored goal
number three for the home side at 12-10, when Nicholson held the puck up well
and then played a precise pass for Booth to get up the ice and quickly onto,
which then led to him finishing nicely and shooting the puck under the
netminders blocker to extend the lead for the Phoenix.
Peterborough
then got on the scoreboard at 12-40, when the visitors stretched the home
defense and saw Rob Gaze and Daryl Quelch combine to set up Matthew Coleman for
the Phantoms to break away on goal and seen the forward fire low past Steve
Midghall for a 3-1 score to see the league champions back in the game just
before the end of the first period of play.
The
Second period saw a change in goals for the Phantoms with Matt Lloyd having
aggravated his shoulder in the opening period and meant that a ten minute delay
was called between periods and led to Rob Gaze put his goaltending equipment on,
as he took his normal place between the pipes for the Phantoms.
When play
resumed it took just thirty-nine seconds into the second stanza to see the score
line change, with Karl Nicholson scoring his hat trick goal courtesy of play by
Rob Allen and Graham Wilson, as they worked well to help set up the chance for
the Manchester forward and seen him fire high over the shoulder of Gaze to make
it a 4-1 game at 15-39.
Manchester carried on their
aggressive pressing in the game and saw a frenetic scramble around the Phantoms
goals, which had the forwards and defenders all battling away as both sides tried
to gain control of the puck before Peterborough were able to come away with it
and clear their lines.
Karl
Nicholson shown his devastating attacking prowess once again, as he fired in
goal number 5 for the home side coming a minute before the end of the second
period with an unassisted strike at 29-00.
Nicholson had managed to weave
his way through two defensemen, before then roofing it high up into the
Phantoms cage for his fourth goal of the game and had all but killed off any
hopes that Peterborough had of making a comeback in the match.
With the hosts 5-1 up after two
periods of hockey, you`d be forgiven if Manchester took their foot slightly off
the pedal and took pity on their helpless opponents, to which the game and lead
up to wasn`t exactly the best way to prepare for a game for the away side.
But credit
where credit is due, the visitors plugged away all game long and even with the
numbers game not in their favour, it saw them given a chance to try and pull
another goal back when Rob Allen was called at the end of the previous period
for Interference.
Peterborough`s
powerplay unit never got going at all to be fair and it was fairly clear to see
that the tiredness and fatigue had set into the Phantoms now, with Manchester`s
defence on top and led by Graham Wilson who played a fantastic defensive game
for the hosts, saw him and his team doing an excellent game of shutting down
the Phantoms play and hardly saw them create much in way of chances created.
Phoenix then
found themselves on a 5 on 3 penalty kill and with some good defending and
netminding too by Steve Midghall between the pipes for Manchester, it seen the
hosts maintain their four goal cushion.
Minutes later saw Phoenix Captain
Karl Nicholson pick apart the opposition once more time, as he started a move
off in his own zone before a nice move with Charles Tomlin saw him play it back
towards the GB international for 6-1 as he lifted it high in the goals at 34-06
to see him take his scoring exploits to five goals now and the worry for the
visitors was, there was still enough time to score more.
Manchester..or
should i say Karl Nicholson made it 7-1 at 36-33, when play between Graham
Wilson and Rob Allen saw them set up the Phoenix forward yet again and when he
found himself 1 on 1 with Rob Gaze, it was the goaltender who came out on top
initially as he made a stop to deny him, but Nicholson wasn`t going to be out
done and saw him put in his own rebound to slip the puck under Gaze and get a
stroke of luck too, as he watched the puck bounce in off the inside of the far
post, to see Manchester equal the score line that they had inflicted upon them by
the Kingston Kestrels in their previous match.
The Six-goal hero for the
Manchester Phoenix then got called for Interference by referee Kris Wells at
51-32 and seen them on the penalty kill to which more defending was needed, but
they were able to hold out with the man down to see them kill off the penalty.
Peterborough
though then had a bit of purple patch towards the end of the match, when the
home side seemed to have a couple of lapses in concentration as the visitors
created a great chance for a second goal when Barry Sprakes who was guesting
for the Phantoms from the Widnes Wildcats. It saw him go to the front of the
net and then fanned on his shot to see the puck go past him and away from
danger.
If the home side thought that Peterborough would just go away they were wrong to come to that conclusion, as the Phantoms did eventually pull a consolation goal back, when the Phoenix couldn`t deal with the puck in their own zone and saw Peterborough determination finally pay off. Barry Sprakes pass to Matthew Coleman saw him fire at Steve Midghall in the Phoenix goal, but the netminder couldn`t deal with it fully and saw Jon Le Galloudec follow it up with a tap in at the front door to see him score his first ever sledge hockey goal at 42-46 .
The
goal was well deserved for the East Anglian side, if just for the effort and hard
work they put in for the final two periods of the game and never giving up to,
as it made it score line 7-2 and saw with no further scoring in the game it saw
Manchester pick up a vital win.
The result saw the league champions 100% record go up in smoke as all sides in the league have now lost a game and makes it an interesting Planet Ice Sledge Hockey league for the rest of the season now.
For Manchester the win will give
them a massive boost ahead of their upcoming two games against the win-less
Cardiff Devils side, as the Phoenix travel down to South Wales on the 5th of
July to visit the Devils and where they will hope to push on after this
fantastic result against one the forces in British Sledge Hockey.
PLANET ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY LEAGUE
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | T | L | Goals | Diff | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | • |  | Kingston Kestrels | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 23 - 3 | 20 | 4 |
| 2 | • |  | Peterborough Phantoms | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 - 9 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | • |  | Manchester Phoenix | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 - 9 | -1 | 2 |
| 4 | • |  | Cardiff Devils | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 - 22 | -22 | 0 |
No comments:
Post a Comment