MANCHESTER PHOENIX 3 - 2 SWINDON WILDCATS
Psurny, Archer, Bakrlik Hoog, Symonds
Saturday Night saw an below par Manchester Phoenix grind out a victory at the
Altrincham Ice Dome as they beat the Swindon Wildcats 3-2, in a game that saw that saw them edge the Wiltshire outfit.
Manchester came into the match sat on top of the EPL (English Premier
League) table with both teams tied on the same amount of points with the reigning
champions Guildford Flames, who picked up a win on the road at Telford 6-3
while the Phoenix were playing the opening period of their game.
Swindon couldn`t believe their luck, as exactly a minute after their first
goal they then doubled their lead when Alex Symonds shot got deflected by Ben
Wood`s stick and beat Steve Fone in the Phoenix nets at 1:31, to make it a 2-0
score to the Wiltshire club as Sam Smith helped on the goal.
Manchester were extremely poor for the opening period while Swindon played a
good road game, as the Wildcats had a short bench after they released Finnish
forward Juha Silvander after hewas let go by Ryan Aldridge who felt he wasn`t
contributing enough to the side after posting only 3 goals and 8 assists in 16
games.
Swindon
were the better side in the first period as they frustrated the home side with
their play, plus it didn`t help too when the Phoenix players deciding to check
their own players instead of the red shirts of Swindon. It was a horror show by
the home side in the opening 10 minutes of play, as they just couldn`t get to
grips with the game what so ever. Passing by the Phoenix either saw them go
astray or going to the sticks of the opposition, as they just weren`t at the
races at all.
Manchester
started to show some improvement mid way through the period, when they started
to take some meaningful shots on Wildcats netminder Stevie Lyle who wasn`t
exactly having a solid game in the Swindon nets, as he was looking unsure and
not comfortable at all.
At the other end Fone wasn`t having his most memorable game for the
Phoenix, as the two early strikes by the visitors will be two he will most definitely
want back as he tried to shrug off the two early blows, he did slowly regain
his confidence as the game went on for the home side.
Phoenix were coming into the game more and more, yet they weren`t
looking that threatening compared to past games so far at the Ice Dome this
season.
Swindon netminder Stevie Lyle then picked up a Delay of game call at
2:34 when he shot it out of play and Referee John Liptrott pointed to the
penalty box to which a team mate sat out his penalty.
Manchester did respond as at 6:46 in the period, a solid build play up
by the Phoenix forwards saw them pull it back to a one goal game when James
Archer pass to Player-Coach Tony Hand was then passed towards forward Michal
Psurny and the man from the Czech Republic, then tapped it home with Lyle and
'Cats defense leaving the back post open and went into the break with the
Wildcats taking a 2-1 lead.
Second period of play, saw Manchester up it a bit in the attacking ranks
as they started to take more threatening shots on the Swindon nets with Lyle making stops from the forwards of the home
side to preserve the Wildcats lead.
James Archer then picked up a
Hooking penalty at 24:59, which then gave Swindon a chance to extend their lead
on the powerplay, Phoenix killed it off successfully and then minutes after
sitting a penalty, James Archer popped up and scored for a 2-2 game with Joe
Graham and Michal Psurny grabbing assists on the goal at 29:40.
The game was more end to end now with both sides having chances as the puck seemed to be on like a see saw, due the amount of times it was going end to end. Swindon thought they had retook the lead again in the period, when an attack by the Wildcats saw Henrik Sandvik trip up Joe Graham who then slid in his own goals, knocking the net off in the processt. Sandvik then ended up too in the goals with the puck next to him with arms stretched up in celebrations, only to see the ref signal no goal as the nets were dislodged before the puck went in and despite a couple of remonstrating Wildcats to the referee, the goal remained washed out.
Jonas Hoog then found himself one on one with Fone and the Manchester
goaltender denied the Swedish forward with a golden chance to give Swindon the
lead again, with the Phoenix defence caught napping at the back.
Phoenix not for the first time had a good deal of constant pressure and
puck retention in the 'Cats zone, which saw Lyle thwart the goal attempts of
Manchester as both netminders kept it a tied game.
Wildcats Captain Shane Moore, then headed to the box at 38:27 after he
was caught for Cross checking Tony Hand at the front of his own nets and gave
Manchester a powerplay to which they didn`t produce anything of note. Neither
side managed to score in the remaining few minutes of the second and saw both
sides head into the final period level 2-2, with Andy McKinney picking up two
minutes for Tripping at 40:00 just before the end.
In the final stanza, Manchester paced themselves as Swindon`s short
bench tired and Manchester looked to try and capitalise whenever they could.
The home side had a long spell of possession as they camped in the visitor’s
zone for at least a minute and tired the opponents out.
Swindon survived the home side attacks as Phoenix were looking the
better side now, Swindon just couldn`t avoid keeping the puck of out their net
in the period as the Phoenix scored at 51:49 through Frankie Bakrlik. The goal
came about`s after Robin Kovar kicked a pass out to Luke Boothroyd, whose pass
saw him aim towards Bakrlik at the front of the net and the puck bounced in off
the back of Bakrlik skate.
Swindon couldn`t find the goal to tie the game late on as Phoenix held
on for the victory and remain top of the table against joint top side the
Guildford Flames, who they played down in Surrey Sunday evening.
* Phoenix went down 4-2 in the clash between the top two in Guildford, as it was another Former Phoenix forward to haunt the Manchester club. Last time round it was Tom Duggan breaking Phoenix hearts, this time it was Marcus Kristoffersson who scored 2 late goals for the home side as they opened up a 2 point gap at the top of the EPL TABLE. Phoenix forwards James Archer and a late strike by Frantisek Bakrlik were on target for Manchester as they look to bounce back next weekend in their solitary game against 3rd placed Basingstoke Bison.
| English Premier League | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford Flames | 21 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 101 | 64 | 34 |
| 2 | Manchester Phoenix | 20 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 97 | 50 | 32 |
| 3 | Basingstoke Bison | 20 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 79 | 54 | 30 |
| 4 | Milton Keynes Lightning | 18 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 71 | 60 | 24 |
| 5 | Slough Jets | 20 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 72 | 77 | 19 |
| 6 | Swindon Wildcats | 20 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 58 | 75 | 17 |
| 7 | Sheffield Steeldogs | 21 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 66 | 85 | 17 |
| 8 | Peterborough Phantoms | 19 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 62 | 83 | 15 |
| 9 | Bracknell Bees | 20 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 56 | 83 | 15 |
| 10 | Telford Tigers | 19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 53 | 84 | 10 |
Manc Phoenix Official Podcast: http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/a-tough-weekend.html?spref=fb
THE ANGRY BUDGIE PODCAST: https://soundcloud.com/the-angry-budgie/the-angry-budgie-podcast-2-at
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