Manchester Phoenix 8 - 3 Basingstoke
Bison
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| Both sides reflecting on their game |
English Premier League (EPL) Champions Manchester Phoenix completed an incredible fightback that saw them overcome the EPL Playoff champions the Basingstoke Bison with five goals coming in the third period, as the Phoenix showed signs that they may have turned the corner finally. The league champions came back twice in the contest to as they took victory at the Altrincham Ice dome 8-3 thanks namely to forward Michal Psurny, as the Czech man netted his first hat trick of the season for the Phoenix in what was a crazy game.
The win looked extremely unlikely after the opening period of play when the Bison rampaged over a lacklustre Phoenix side that looked low on confidence, out of ideas and very below par at times too. Basingstoke who sat in second place prior to the game, looked as always a very well drilled side and looked to execute their game play as the opening half of the period saw the game even with no one really on top to start with.
Bison though never really got out of first gear and in all truth they didn't need to either as Manchester was having a difficult time trying to clear their zone with the Bison playing a quicker game and mainly not putting a foot wrong. On the flip side, the Phoenix was making bad decisions all over the ice and despite the hosts enjoying early possession in the opening half of the period; they just couldn't get any kind of meaningful shots on Dean Skinns as he kept a clean sheet. Basingstoke in the second half of the period saw them attack Phoenix with quick counters attacks that saw the home side having just one defender back covering and led to multiple odd men rushes for the Bison.
Eventually the numbers game told and saw Phoenix yet again being caught on a 3 on 1 rush by the rampaging Bison, which saw Tomas Karpov make it 1-0 for the visitors at 11-29 with Declan Balmer and Michael Wales getting assists. The visitors then thought they had scored less than a minute later, but referee Andy Miller washed it out for a 'man in the crease' and had the Bison's protests fall on deaf ears. As it was the Herd didn't have to wait very long for their second goal to come, as another Phoenix defensive fail saw the Bison double their lead through a Michael Wales strike at the back post to see the visitors looking good for their lead at 13-45 and the home side looking dead and buried at that point in time in the game.
Phoenix fans vented their displeasure towards the players, as they were putting in a poor display in front of their home supporters and any errors that the home side made was greeted with a collection of frustrated groans around in the stands. The hosts then got given a powerplay opportunity after Joe Baird went for Hooking and saw Phoenix unable to take a single shot in the two minutes, with passes going astray and going nearer their own goals than that of their opponents. Play ticked down and saw the Bison seemingly having got the better of the Phoenix already in the game, after they snuffed out all attacks in the first period of the game and saw one said dejected and flat, while the other was massively upbeat and looked on course for victory, repeating a worrying trend of late for Phoenix being beaten in the opening periods of games.
In the second, it saw a better period for the hosts as they tried to find their way back in the game after a stern Tony Hand team talk seemed to work, with the Phoenix coming out and looked to be a much different side to that, that played out the opening period. One indication of a change in the game, saw a passage of play that saw Phoenix and Bison players battling hard down towards the corner and saw no one shying away with fully blooded hits and some slightly questionable ones too, that saw the Phoenix almost make a statement during it, that they weren't going to be bullied anymore in the game.
Manchester then got given another chance on the powerplay and saw them this time make the most of it, with player coach of the Manchester side Tony Hand and Michal Psurny combining to see Robin Kovar redirecting it in at the front of the net for a 2-1 score at 26-53, then a couple minutes later at 28-25, it saw Hand and Psurny once again team up to see another Czech forward get in on the act as Frankie Bakrlik found the twine with his blast for a tied game at 2-2. Basingstoke hit back 93 seconds later to retake the lead after an unlucky break for Steve Fone, as the Phoenix netminder thought he had stopped the puck completely but could only take the speed off it as it unfortunately squirmed through his defences just trickling in over the line, much to the frustration for the hosts after there was a mad scramble by both sides in the crease as it seemed no one could touch it.
That lead for the Bison lasted all of 41 seconds, with the Phoenix striking right back themselves, after Michal Psurny converted from Hand to see the score tied at 3-3 and saw the hosts edging the final half of the period as the game had completely turned in favour of the home side now. Basingstoke though did have chances, but was now getting their shots half blocked and were still getting breakaways as the hosts pushed on for goals and left the back gate open far too many times against a top outfit in the Bison, but they couldn`t capitalise now. The buzzer sounded for the end of the second and had the game nicely poised heading into the third, with the match to close to call on who would come out the winner.
An old puppet show called 'Stingray', had a phrase "Anything could happen in the next half hour!" and by crikey didn`t it half. Manchester just flat out dominated play from the drop of the puck in the third to the final buzzer, as they dismantled their opponents, though part of it was down to a lot of ill discipline within their side too and partly led to their downfall. Frankie Bakrlik sat for two minutes in the open early stages of the period, with the Czech forward getting a High Sticks calls at 40-21 and saw the Phoenix on the penalty kill. The home side snuffed out their opponents chances and not only that, but they also took the lead too. As Joe Graham saw the spotted the movement of Tony Hand and his attempted pass up ice was stopped by Kurt Reynolds at centre ice, but Hand managed to gather the puck back and blasted one by Skinns for a short-handed goal at 42-17 to see the Phoenix lead for the first time in the contest.
Declan Balmer then picked up a needless 2+10 minute penalty for a Check from behind on Shaun Thompson, with the Phoenix forward pushed into the goal frame from behind by Balmer and that started the implosion by the Playoff champions from that point onwards. Adam Walker made it Six for the Phoenix at 45-40 as a quick attack by the home side saw Hand slow play right down, before he found his fellow countryman and Walker fired a quick shot in the Bison net for a 5-3 lead and had the fans finally seeing the Phoenix click for the first time properly all season. Joe Greener then lost his cool with the official over something he saw, to which the forward would not let drop and saw continue on at the match official and spoke out of term to the referee and picked up a ten minute Abuse of Official call at 50-14.
Michal Psurny then scored his second goal of the game and looked to be looking like his old self again, as the man from the Czech Republic banked the puck off the back of the net with an oncoming Bison defender coming towards him and then tried a mini wrap around and made it Six for the hosts, with the Bison quickly losing the plot big time in the game now and saw a timeout taken to gather their thoughts. The timeout temporarily halted the goals, with the Phoenix netting twice more through an excellent Ben Wood solo goal and then saw the Bison defence go walkabouts, before a 2 on 0 by Manchester saw Hand feed Psurny and the Czech forward completed his hat trick to round off the rout at 57-47 and had everyone in shock over what they saw.
No one could have predicted the outcome and turnaround in the game after viewing the 1st period and the 3rd, it was quite incredible. Phoenix had played abysmal and looked likely to ship more goals, but to then come out and by the end look like the defending league champions, no doubt that this result will have raised a few eyebrows in the league and perhaps a sign to come, that the Phoenix are rising once more and are back in business but for now the win is springboard for the Altrincham side to use now for the rest for the season. Manchester have a weekend at home next week, as they entertain the National Ice Hockey League outfit the Dumfries based Solway Sharks on Saturday night in the EPL cup, before hosting another tough game in the Guildford Flames the following evening in the league.
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