ICE HOCKEY: The rocky Phoenix Horror show

Manchester PHOENIX   3 - 4  Peterborough PHANTOMS 

Thursday evening witnessed a horror show on ice by the English Premier League champions as the Peterborough Phantoms carved open their opponents with three goals in the opening period that rocked the home side in this pre Halloween game and made it very scary viewing for the home fans to watch. After the thrilling match on Sunday night that saw the Phoenix unfortunately lose out 3-2 to an overtime goal, it was hoped that the performance given that night would be seen as a bit of a jump start for the champions and that they could kick on from that game, what transpired though was the most opposite end of the scale possible.

It was a performance to forget for the home side for a majority of the game, with the Peterborough team asserting their dominance from the off and that was pretty much the story of the game. The last time the Phantoms travelled up to Manchester, it saw them edged out 3-2 that night could count themselves very unlucky not to have picked up a point in that last encounter.

The Phantoms looked more focused and had a gameplan that they put into practice and saw them not just dominate the Phoenix in the opening period, but absolutely dismantle their opponent too in the game. To say it was a below par performance by the hosts, would be the biggest understatement of the year, as all aspects to the Phoenix game was appalling whether it was in attack, defense or even passing.

Things started badly early on for the home side, when Shaun Thompson was penalised for Tripping after just 38 seconds into the match when pushed a Phantoms player one too many times into the back by the boards and the referee raised his arm resulting in him heading to the penalty box.  From that resulting Phantoms power play it saw Edgars Bebris fire in the opening goal of the game with the home defence being pulled all over and when the home side failed to deal with the puck in their zone, it saw James Hutchinson finding James Ferrara who pass found Bebris near the front of the goal and he buried it after 1-52 in the game for a 1-0 score.

Peterborough rarely attacked much in the first period as their hosts was having a great deal of difficulty trying to find a teammate with their passing and was getting out skated by the Phantoms forwards as the away side took it to the league champions. 

Steve Fone looked a bit rattled by the goal and the fact he had no support from his defence in which saw the home side concede a second goal didn't help matters, as yet again it saw a defenseman being beaten for speed with Bebris again being a thorn in the Phoenix side, as the Latvian made a little move at the net to slide the puck under Fone for a 2-0 score. Phoenix looked lost and unable solve any questions that the Phantoms posed them in the match at that point and looked to a long night ahead for the hosts. 

The home side then went on the power play at 12-12 as Alan Lack was given a delay of game penalty for the visitors and saw the Phoenix waste their man advantage with the Phantoms killed it off without ever breaking sweat for the two minutes.  Peterborough was the only side that seemed to turn up for the game and they soon hammered home their advantage soon after, as at 16-26 a counter attack by the Phantoms that saw them move quickly up ice on a 2 on 1 that was led by Edgars Apelis , he had Luke Ferrara in support with him and the Latvian defenseman passed the puck to Ferrara and he fired top corner over the glove side of Steve Fone and gave them a 3-0 lead.

That then saw Player-coach for the home side in Tony Hand, making the decision to change netminders as Fone was pulled in place of Declan Ryan and had the home fans supporting Fone as he skated to the bench as it was a rare bad night for the shot stopper, as on Sunday he was Man of the Match and just goes to show how quickly things can change in hockey.

Adam Walker had the only decent chance in the period for the hosts, as the puck came to him unmarked at the back door with Janis Auzins stranded and with no defense about either, the Scottish forward then proceeded to strike the foot of the post from 2 foot away, to squander a perfect opportunity and pretty much summed up Phoenix as they lacked hardly any threat at all. The Phoenix fans then eventually had something to cheer as 11 seconds from the end of the first period a Tony Hand throw on net was redirected in by Adam Walker`s stick that gave the hosts a goal back and was very much against the run of play too.

In the second period it was more in the way of penalty based action, as yet again another poor 20 minutes by the Phoenix outfit saw them unable to cut out any decent chances on any of their four power play`s that came their way in the period.  Peterborough had come with a game plan to just frustrate the Phoenix forwards and make full use of their counter attacks and that worked to perfection, as Phantoms coach Slava Koulikov will have been very pleased to see his men cut out every attack that the Manchester side tried to create in the match. 

Edgars Apelis picked up the opening call in the second, with the Latvian sitting for two over a Slashing call against him at 20-28. Frantisek Bakrlik then picked a unlucky two minute call himself not long after, as he went for a Boarding call on a Peterborough player that seemed to be a clean hit, but referee Tom Pering didn`t agree and so sent the Czech forward to the penalty box.  Phantoms then picked up a bench penalty for a Face-off Violation and yet again the Phoenix were unable to create anything clear cut in the way of shooting opportunities as they took far too long setting up their power play and had next to nothing in the way of shots in the two minutes they had.

Tom Norton then took his turn to sit in the Phantoms penalty box for a Slashing call at 32-22, as a Phoenix player skated over the centre circle and Norton just hacked him a bit too forcefully for Pering liking and so he headed to the sin bin. The only time Phoenix looked threatening on the power play, seemed to come with three seconds remaining on the clock and saw Hand pass the puck out towards the front of goals where Joe Graham a former Peterborough player, then had the best effort for the hosts in the twenty minutes.

At 37-07 the final penalty against the Phantoms was called, when Marc Levers was given a two minute penalty against him for a Holding the stick call. The former Nottingham Panthers forward wasn`t too happy about it as in the lead up the penalty it saw Bakrlik seem to trip the Phantoms player up, so in retaliation Levers grabbed the stick of the Czech man and Pering caught him red handed and a furious Levers headed to the box.

After two periods of hockey, the Phantoms had out played, out fought and out worked the champions on both ends of the ice and looked to be a foregone conclusion to the final period. Manchester seemed to come out for the third period a different side and eventually looked to have awoken from their slumber, slowly coming in it as the game progressed in the final twenty.  Phoenix scored their second goal of the game at 43-30, when a Shaun Thompson pass found Czech forward Robin Kovar and the forward took a tumble to the ice just as his effort beat Auzins to make it a 3-2 game.

Manchester then gave away a poor turnover in their zone and despite the attempts to try and clear the danger away, it was very predictable outcome in the end as Luke Ferrara manage to gain possession in front of a crowded Manchester goal and found the back of the net for Peterborough as he netted the fourth for the travelling side and made it a two goal game again and looked to have killed the game off.  Peterborough then looked in search of a fifth goal and after Graham had cut out a pass by the away side he attempted to bank it off the boards and away from trouble, but instead he managed to clear it out of play and picked up a delay of game call at 52-38 to see the Phantoms on a power play.

Less than a minute later it saw a goal go in, but not for the away side. Michal Psurny managed to get control of the puck in his defensive zone and then had Tony Hand set off ahead of him, with the Czech man playing the puck up ice to him and despite the efforts of a Phantoms D man partly blocking the attempted pass up ice, it saw Hand drag the puck back up towards him and then blast it by Auzins for a short-handed goal at 53-26 for a one goal game.  Manchester killed off the penalty and saw them push for the tying goal and had Auzins a bit unsure at times with the Phantoms defense scrambling clear the puck as the hosts looked to have final big push in the final 3 minutes.

With less than a minute remaining the match, the home side huffed and puffed at Peterborough net and in honesty never truly looked like they would find this tying goal and after a misplaced pass in the middle of the Phantoms zone, it  was just what the visitors wanted and saw them wind time down by the Phoenix end to pick up a big two points and record only their second ever victory at the Altrincham ice dome with the 4-3 win that definitely flattered the Phoenix.