MANCHESTER PHOENIX 4 - 1 M.K LIGHTNING
Hand, Psurny, Schnabel, Bentham Lascek
 |
| Altrincham ICE DOME |
Sunday night saw the Manchester Phoenix return once again to the top of the English Premier League (EPL) table, after a frustrating match against a depleted Milton Keynes Lightning at the Altrincham Ice dome, which saw them victorious 4-1 and open up a one point gap ahead of the Guildford Flames, won had lost out in overtime 4-3 to 3rd placed Basingstoke Bison.
Basingstoke in that game had actually battled
back from 3-1 down to score two quick goals before winning it in overtime.
Meanwhile in Manchester, the Phoenix were
hoping to make it their first four point weekend since the weekend of the 9th
&10th.
Manchester were the brighter of the two
sides early on as they tested Stephen Wall in the MK goals with a few good
shots. Milton Keynes then started to pick their game up a bit more as the
period went along and nearly caught Phoenix out numerous times at the back, with
the Lightning catching the hosts out with them playing high up the ice and
broke away on the counter attack much like Manchester do.
Milton Keynes struck the pipe work on a couple
of occasions in opening ten minutes of play including having the puck rolling along
the cross bar as well as them missing some good chances that went begging for
the visitors too.
Manchester seemed to be slow over all the
ice and you was almost expecting them to just burst into life and take over a
depleted MK Lightning side that was missing 5 of their regular roster due to
the U20 World Championships up in Dumfries,Scotland this week.
Paul Gore and netminder Mark Wolfe was
drafted in to help with the Lightning numbers, as Jordan Hedley, Ben Russell,
Josh Nicklin, Jordan Cownie were all away on GB duty, plus if you take in
account Lewis Christie was also out injured for the Buckinghamshire club, then
it showed they were down to the bare bones.
The game was end to end and saw the
goaltenders for both look a little uncomfortable it seemed at first.
Phoenix had the puck in the net early on
too from a James Archer wrist shot, unfortunately it came on a long delayed
offside call against the home side.
Then at 7:16 the home side took the lead and
give the big crowd inside the Ice Dome something to cheer for, as Manchester Player-Coach
Tony Hand, had a shot that saw Wall screened by his own man as the puck flew
past him for a Manchester 1-0 lead, with James Neil credited with the Assist.
Luke Boothroyd was then called for
Hooking by Referee Steve Brown at 9:33 and MK didn`t make anything of the extra
man advantage, as Manchester successfully killed the penalty off.
Phoenix found themselves back in penalty
trouble soon after, when Jack Watkins then picked up a unlucky two minute call
for Tripping, when the Durham-born player lost control of the puck and as he
turned to collect it he tripped up the Lightning with his stick catching the
skate, that was at 15:40.
Phoenix were very thankful for Lightning`s
poor finishing as well as the pipe work too, MK could easily have been leading
this game if they had their shooting skates on.
We then a case of a penalty shot for the
home side, when James Archer skated in from side got in front of the MK man and
was subsequently brought down by Michael Farn at 17:03. Brown didn`t think it
was goal scoring opportunity which had home fans up in arms over the decision
as it certainly looked like one.
Brown then decided to call a soft penalty
on Andy McKinney at 19:36 for Slashing, with the Phoenix man giving a slightly
forceful tap on the glove to try and knock possession away, but it was deemed
too hard by the official and so gave Milton Keynes Lightning a chance to draw
level before the first break and that`s how it turn out.
After a poor Phoenix power play, that saw
little movement or inventiveness by the home side. MK powerplay was the complete
opposite with them moving the puck around quickly and saw Tom Carlon and Janne
Jolika combine to set up Stanislav Lascek, who found the back of the net for a
1-1 game at 19:48 and saw both teams head to the locker room all square.
Manchester were again the better side
early on in the Second period, with MK having to weather the Phoenix storm, as Wall
had be on his metal to stop the puck from going in.
Steve Fone made a few good stops in the
Phoenix nets to deny giving the away side the lead in the game. Manchester
retook the lead at 27-43 with Ross Bowers sat in the box serving a penalty for
Hooking at 26:01.
With a Phoenix powerplay that was
seemingly in danger of fizzling out, Michal Psurny then took the puck and made
some happen as he skated into space and ripped a shot past Wall for a 2-1 lead,
with Tony Hand and James Archer assisting on the second Phoenix goal.
Then we had a controversial incident in
the game involving Frantisek Bakrik and Adam Carr. Both players were fighting
for position at he front of the Lightning net, Bakrlik jumped in front of the
MK man at the front of the net and then saw Carr did the same and seemed to
Interfere with the Phoenix man first off, before then falling behind his own
net as he ran out of room and hit the boards, as well as getting a stick to his
face in the incident while he brought Bakrlik down with him.
Originally no call came from it, then
after a few complaints by Jamie Jamieson and a couple other MK players, Brown
then 3 minutes later called Bakrilk to the penalty box and with blood on the
ice too, the Czech forward was told he was kicked out by his team mates as the official
handed out a 5 + Match penalty for Checking to the Head.
When home fans saw the sight of Bakrlik
leaving the box and heading to the locker room, the fury of the fans was vented
on Brown as it was literally impossible to check a player in the head from the
position he was in. Carr, was behind the Phoenix man the entire time until he
tried to get in the position, the penalty was later downgraded to a game penalty,
with Carr returning to the game the call was made at the 30:13 mark.
With Manchester already on a five minute
penalty kill with the Bakrlik incident, it got worse for them when Rob Schanbel
then shot the puck out of play at 31:31 and was given a Delay of Game call, which
put MK on a 5 on 3 Power play for 2 minutes.
Phoenix brilliantly killed the penalty
off and that was the turning point of the game, if Milton Keynes had scored
then it would have been a different game indeed from that point. However, they
didn`t score and so the home side headed into the break with the one goal lead.
In the final period of play, Phoenix
grabbed full control of the game as they pressured the away side with some good
plays. By this time, the visitors were struggling in the game due to the lack
of the bodies they had on their short bench and Phoenix was forcing the pace a
bit now.
Lukas Zatopek took a trip to the penalty
box at 47:21 for Tripping and Manchester needed something on this power play to
just give them some breathing space and they got it through Rob Schnabel, when
the big Czech D-man skated uncontested to the blue line and blasted a rocket
past Wall for 3-1 at 49:05 to give Manchester a two goal cushion.
Forty seconds later, Richard Bentham made
it 4-1 with a lovely moved finished by the Blackburn forward after some great
play by Andy McKinney, as the Phoenix forward skated by the boards and then
round the back of the net before passing to Bentham, who quickly dispatched it
with a one timer in the Lightning nets.
Despite the early play by the away side
in the game, It was the lack of bodies that was their downfall, along with the
missed chances they failed to capitalise on. They did though play really well
and made Manchester fight for the win, which surprised some who thought them
being short benched would be a walk over and this game was far from that.
Phoenix won the match and collected the
two points to make it a four point weekend, following on from their win down at the Link
Centre in Swindon on Saturday Night. The Phoenix beat the Swindon Wildcats 4-2, thanks to
goals by James Archer, two for Michal Psurny and a fourth added by Liam Chong as it gave the Phoenix some confidence on the road after having lost their two
previous against away games at Guildford and then Bracknell last weekend.
English Premier
League
|
GP
|
W
|
OTW
|
OTL
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
Pts
|
|
1
|
Manchester Phoenix
|
25
|
17
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
120
|
65
|
40
|
2
|
Guildford Flames
|
27
|
18
|
0
|
3
|
6
|
126
|
84
|
39
|
3
|
Basingstoke Bison
|
25
|
15
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
101
|
68
|
38
|
4
|
Milton Keynes Lightning
|
24
|
12
|
3
|
0
|
9
|
89
|
80
|
30
|
5
|
Bracknell Bees
|
26
|
8
|
3
|
3
|
12
|
89
|
107
|
25
|
6
|
Slough Jets
|
26
|
11
|
1
|
1
|
13
|
95
|
102
|
25
|
7
|
Sheffield Steeldogs
|
26
|
8
|
2
|
2
|
14
|
86
|
112
|
22
|
8
|
Swindon Wildcats
|
25
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
14
|
70
|
89
|
21
|
9
|
Peterborough Phantoms
|
25
|
7
|
0
|
4
|
14
|
83
|
114
|
18
|
10
|
Telford Tigers
|
25
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
18
|
66
|
104
|
14
|
Table taken from :ManchesterPhoenix.co.uk
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