Manchester Phoenix 4 - 3 Basingstoke Bison
After Penalties
Aother tight Match on Sunday night at the Altrincham Ice Dome witnessed a second successive weekend of penalty shots to determine the winners of the game and this time round it was the hosts that took victory with the forgotten man in the Phoenix line up in recent weeks in Czech forward Michal Psurny, with the forward netting the only penalty of the shootout, to give the Manchester Phoenix a 4-3 win over a Stubborn Basingstoke Bison.
The game started off with no side really controlling play in the early part of the match as both sides had equal chances, with the goaltenders at both ends making stops to keep the game scoreless. Manchester killed off an early penalty kill against them for too many men and the hosts at the half way point of the first period started to take the game to the Bison and looked to be the more aggressive side of the two in the game.
So it wasn`t much of a surprise when the host led at 12.25 through a Frankie Bakrlik blast that nestled in the far left hand corner of the Bison`s net as the Czech man took a cross ice pass and then picked his spot in the far corner to give the Phoenix a 1-0 lead with Robin Kovar and returning defenseman to the line-up this weekend in Joe Graham both grabbing assists. Skinns in the visitors net made a few saves in the opening period of play as Basingstoke were getting frustrated through the Phoenix stifling their play, when in previous games it had been the other way around.
Steve Fone came under a bit of pressure from the opposing forwards and had to make a few good saves to stop the puck from going in and his defense led to their oppostion not having much luck in the scoring aspect. Bison got called for a High Sticks penalty with Miroslav Vantroba catching Robin Kovar in the face and that saw the Phoenix power play on the ice, but they were unable to score with the man advantage.
With the Phoenix on top in the game, it saw the hosts getting caught out at the end of the period, with the Bison in the Phoenix zone and leaving Steve Fone in the firing line on three on nothing and saw Joe Rand`s quick release at the near post level the game at 1-1 with just 11 seconds of the period left to play. That was a real blow to the hosts who had played brilliantly throughout and undone all their their good work.
In the Second period and the Phoenix tried to regain their advantage, but Skinns was in no mood to allow that to happen and saw him close the door on early efforts by the Phoenix. Vantroba for the visitors made his second trip to the penalty box, this time he was called for Hooking at 20.29 and yet again the movement of the puck by Phoenix was not quick enough to set up any type of play and resulted in a kill by the Bison.
Joe Graham then picked up a Holding call at 22.53 after him and Ciaran Long tangled in front of the goals and by the boards and when Graham held the jersey in a defensive play, it led to Dan Boardman signalling for the penalty against the Manchester man. Manchester killed it off and almost saw what would have been a sensational goal by Robin Kovar as he cut through the Bison power play unit, unfortunately his effort was just too high over Dean Skinns for a shorthanded score.
Manchester carried on their search of a second goal and it came at 27.28 with forgotten man recently in Michal Psurny, as the Czech man netted his first goal in four games to put the hosts back in front at 2-1 after a Shaun Thompson pass bounced at the feet of the forward and he managed to put it in the back of the net to. Basingstoke though, aren`t a side to go away easily and three minutes later the Herd drew level once more, when Joe Rand attempted a wraparound of the Phoenix net and drew everyone to the near post, except for Aaron Connolly who skated in from the far side to just simply push it on goal for a 2-2 game at 30.25.
The rest of the second period was evenly contested with neither side really gaining an upper hand in the remaining ten minutes of play, though Shaun Thompson did put the puck in the back of the Bison net but the whistle had gone for a Man in the crease call by the official which was the correct call as there was at least four men in the crease battling for the puck. Kurt Reynolds picked up a little knock as he went down after a fall when players all skated looking for a rebound, but he eventually got up and skated back to the bench.
The game at times got chippy in the second without it really coming to anything and was just the fact that both sides weren’t giving an inch to their opponents and made the game a tight and interesting contest to watch. With less than two minutes remaining in the second to go, it saw Tomas Karpov produce a ‘Bobby Orr’ like dive with no one around him and saw him clearly frustrated as he wasn`t having much luck in the way of chances, due mainly to the Phoenix defense notably Ben Wood and Joe Graham, as they stopped him and him held down throughout the game.
The Third period and it became a kind of tactical battle, with both sides playing cagey and trying to grab the next goal of the game. With under ten minutes of play left to go, it seemed like a ‘next goal wins’ style about the game and at 53.42 Joe Graham gave Bobby Chamberlain the puck and the Hull-native put it top shelf on Dean Skinns to give Manchester a 3-2 lead and put them back in front and that looked to be the game winning goal. However six seconds later and the Bison equalised when a Vantroba shot wasn`t collected by Fone and the rebound fell to Joe Greener and he made it 3-3 to make all-square yet again.
Both sides had chances to win the game within the 60 minutes of regulation but no one was able to score the winning goal and so the game headed to an extra period of overtime. Basingstoke had the lion`s share of the possession in the extra period as the home side just couldn`t take the puck off them and the tiredness was starting to show now from some members of the Phoenix, with five games in eight 8 days catching up with a short bench.
With no further scoring in the game, we went to the lottery of the penalty shootout and the second in successive weeks at home for the home side. Basingstoke went first in the shoot out and saw Steve Fone deny Tomas Karpov. Adam Walker failed to hit the target for the Phoenix with their first before Ciaran Long then attempted a ‘Forsberg’ shot for his penalty, but Fone was wise to the former Phoenix man and shut the door. Then saw ‘That Man from the Czech Republic’ in Michal Psurny taking the second penalty shot for the home side and he made a little move before roofing his effort by Skinns for the 1-0 score and needed Joe Greener to score for the Bison to keep the game going. Greener failed to score with his effort after Fone had committed himself early to the shot and when it looked like an easy goal for the forward it saw Fone just do enough to put Greener off and get the slightest of toes on the puck and give Manchester victory and the extra point in the shootout win.
Manchester Phoenix Coach Tony Hand said after the thrilling game:
“Basingstoke are a good side and very well organised at the back. This was a good win for us, especially after our schedule over the last 8 days. It is good to have the injured players back and I am sure we will consolidate our league position as we get well into the critical stage of the season.”
Michael Wales of the Basingstoke Bison spoke to Phoenix TV after the game and said:
“If you ever wanted an advert for the EPL (English Premier League), then come watch a Bison/Manchester game. At home, away it`s just been fantastic this year.”
He added later: “If we meet in the playoffs it will be a cracking game”.
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