MANCHESTER PHOENIX 6-0 GUILDFORD FLAMES
(Boothroyd, Psurny, Kovar x2
Archer, Schnabel)
Manchester Phoenix stormed their way to the top English Premier League (EPL)
table Sunday evening, with a crushing victory over the then first placed
Guildford Flames to be the league leaders at Christmas.
Manchester were the fresher of the two
title rivals having had the previous weekend off, due to how the fixtures came
out and the Phoenix knew as well they had a chance of regaining top place if
they recorded a 4 point weekend, which would put them top of the EPL tree at
Christmas time.
They won a tough road game down in
Peterborough on Saturday, as they beat the Phantoms in a shoot out, coming out
victors with a 3-2 win thanks to ex-Phantom James Archer.
The Altrincham Ice Dome was packed to a
near full capacity for the battle between the two sides in the EPL.
In the opening exchanges of the game, Manchester
had a few good shots on the Flames netminder Mark Lee early on, the home side
had some good possession with the Phoenix trying to score an early goal, as the
first goal would possibly be huge in a game like this.
Phoenix lost their "top"
import before the game, with Frantisek Bakrlik watching the game from the bench
after he picked up an injury down in Peterborough and had to limp out of the
game and despite being in the warm up, the injury proved too bad to play on.
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| "Ball chucking goes early!" |
Phoenix thought they had took the lead
after a couple of minutes into the game, when a scrum at the front of the
Guildford crease saw the puck slide into the back of net, but the referee had
already blown to kill the play dead before the puck went in. We then had some
balls thrown onto the ice as part of the ball toss that was going to take place
when the first goal was scored, as it was in connection with the Manchester
Children`s Hospital that.
So typically, when the puck went in a
fair few balls was thrown onto the playing surface and was a false start due to
the Referee washing the goal out.
Guildford then lost Neil Liddiard for
two minutes, when he was called for Holding the Stick at 5-32 and saw the
powerplay for the home side struggle to get much going in the way of goal mouth
action in the two minutes with the extra man advantage.
It was then Manchester to be penalised
as Luke Boothroyd was called for Tripping at 7-52 for bringing a Flames player
down at the back post and saw Guildford have the opportunity to go in search
for the games opening goal.
Manchester managed to thwart all chances
the Flames created, with Phoenix Netminder Steve Fone standing tall against the
visitors attack with him
Repelling any chances the visiting team
was carving out for themselves. Guildford it seemed then started to play a bit more,
despite still having an air of conservativeness to their play, but they were
still making plays and dangerous going forward.
Ben Wood then sat for two minutes in the
Penalty box, when he was called for Cross Checks at 10-20 and that put the home
side back on the penalty kill and had Steve Fone to thank, as he made a couple
of good stops to avoid the guests from scoring.
Manchester`s defence was looking solid
at the back, with the Flames unable to find a way past them at all, with Rob
Schanbel and James Neil playing very well at the heart of the Manchester D.
Ben Wood`s Penalty expired and just as he
rejoined the game he very nearly found himself on a breakaway, but the puck bobbled
and couldn`t control it.
Former Phoenix man Tom Duggan came the closest
to breaking the deadlock for the away team, when the forward out skated the
Phoenix defence man and was one on one with Fone, but the netminder made a good
stop to deny the Flames from taking the lead. Both sides headed to the locker
room after a scoreless first period which was scrappy at best and had their
opponents cancel each other out.
In the Second Period of play,
Manchester got an early wakeup call or more so Rob Schnabel did, when the big
Czech defenseman took the puck to the head as he went down quickly from David
Savage shot from the blue line, however Hockey players are tuff cookies and he
got straight back up and skated round a few seconds to try and shake off the shot.
Milos Melicherik then picked up a
penalty call for Tripping at 23-17, as he upended Andy McKinney when he was at
mid ice.
This gave Manchester Phoenix another
chance on the power play to take the lead and on this occasion they did, as at
23-54 the combination play of Czech forward Michal Psurny and Player coach Tony
Hand, saw Hand pass to the front of the net where Boothroyd tapped home at the
back post for a easy goal and saw the fans throw the balls onto the ice, for a
goal that stood this time round.
Phoenix then doubled their lead less
than 3 minutes later, when Michal Psurny scored after James Neil pass to Tony
Hand who was positioned behind the net pass to Hand his vision saw Psurny skating
towards the near post and his pass to Psurny was buried and gave the home side
a two goal lead at 27-26, as Manchester had now started to take control of this
top of the table clash.
Guildford tried to respond as they had a
few attempts on goal, but Fone was producing some fantastic stops to keep the
Flames at bay.
Phoenix defense played a great game too
as they snuffed out any type of attack the away side conjured up in the second
period of play, as Fone really was on top form for the home side and was seeing
the puck like the proverbial beach ball.
Andy McKinney then took one for the team
when the Flames broke out and caught out Phoenix defence as David Longstaff
skated into the Phoenix zone, McKinney then tried to stopped the Whitley Bay
born Longstaff causing the forward to fall and seen the Phoenix man head to the
box at 29-56 for Tripping.
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| Add caption |
Guildford then went back on the penalty
kill, with Josef Kohut heading to the box for Hooking at 32-28 putting Phoenix
on another powerplay with Branislav Kvetan going to the box for High Sticks. It
gave the home side the 5 on 3 powerplay to which Manchester couldn`t make anything
off it with the 2 man advantage.
Just as Kohut had finished serving his
two minutes, he then found himself back in the box as an irate Kohut
begrudgingly sat for a High Sticks call at 35-06. On the resulting powerplay
McKinney then took a puck to the body from a Robin Kovar blast, which seen the
forward skate to the locker room in a great deal of pain.
The Flames killed off the penalty and
looked to be heading into the intermission 2-0 down. However Robin Kovar had
other ideas as Phoenix turned defence into attack with Hand clearing to
Schnabel, who then passed out to the wing to Kovar who skated hard down the wing
and was sent tumbling to the ice from Savage trying to stop Kovar cutting to
the front of the net and as he was falling to the ice he managed to get shot off
and beat Mark Lee in the Guildford nets for a 3-0 game and seemed to kill the
game off,The goal was timed at 39-30.
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| Phoenix on the attack |
Guildford looked a side playing damaged
limitations in the third period as the goal before the 2nd period break seemed
to have knocked the stuffing out of the Flames, as they looked all out of ideas
and unlike a Guildford side in the past.
Manchester then found themselves with a
power play, after an Icing Infringement by the visitors at 48-16 saw Phoenix have
a chance to show their ruthless side and they didn`t mess around either, as 4
seconds later Phoenix made it 4-0 with a onetime effort by James Archer made
the game all but over now as his blast past Lee, gave Manchester a second power
play goal in the match and more importantly a commanding lead now in the game.
Phoenix attack was relentless and pushed
for further goals and 1-24 after they scored their fourth, they scored goal
number 5 with Schnabel being a passing machine in the game, as he put Kovar
through one on one with Lee and the Czech made a nifty move committing Lee
forward, before then dispatching it past him in the net for a fantastically
taken goal at 49-44.
Guildford had chances to score, but they
couldn`t find a way past the wall that was called Steve Fone in the Manchester
nets and he carried on making some good stops, with some of them being worthy of
the man of the man award he collected.
Phoenix then used the Flames nets a
target practice as the home side rained shots upon Lee and they eventually
broke down the defenses of the away side again.
Goal number came when Rob Schnabel was
given the puck and he lit up the lamp with an unstoppable rocket of a shot that
beat Lee for a 6-0 score line as the huge home crowd revelled in the punishment
they were dishing out to their rival and it was getting embarrassingly easy for
the home side, with Flames well and truly capitulated now with Phoenix firing
at will on Lee.
This wasn`t was a far cry from a normal Guildford
performance, Manchester just wanted the game bit more as the short bench for
the Surrey side and something you rarely ever hear for them had caught up with
them, but don`t take anything away from Manchester, they out played and out fought the Flames on home ice and doing do cemented their position as leaders at Christmas time, with them making a statement against the League champions as they shown off a mean streak against a rival that will be certainly challenging come
end of the season.
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| Scoreboard says it`s all |
Links:
Official MANC PHOENIX PODCAST:
Phoenix TV:
OFFICAL MANC PHOENIX report:
====================================================================
Shots on goal
Manchester Phoenix : 41
Guildford Flames : 24
Goalie Stats:
PHOENIX: Steve Fone 24 shots 100.00 %
FLAMES: Mark Lee 41 shots 85.37%
PENALTIES IN MINUTES ( PIM)
Manchester : 6
Guildford: 16
|
English Premier
League
|
GP
|
W
|
OTW
|
OTL
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
Pts
|
|
|
1
|
Manchester Phoenix
|
27
|
18
|
3
|
2
|
4
|
129
|
67
|
44
|
|
2
|
Basingstoke Bison
|
29
|
18
|
3
|
2
|
6
|
113
|
75
|
44
|
|
3
|
Guildford Flames
|
30
|
19
|
1
|
3
|
7
|
135
|
96
|
43
|
|
4
|
Milton Keynes Lightning
|
28
|
14
|
4
|
0
|
10
|
112
|
95
|
36
|
|
5
|
Slough Jets
|
29
|
12
|
1
|
1
|
15
|
104
|
118
|
27
|
|
6
|
Sheffield Steeldogs
|
30
|
9
|
2
|
4
|
15
|
101
|
131
|
26
|
|
7
|
Bracknell Bees
|
29
|
8
|
3
|
3
|
15
|
91
|
117
|
25
|
|
8
|
Swindon Wildcats
|
26
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
15
|
73
|
93
|
21
|
|
9
|
Telford Tigers
|
28
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
18
|
81
|
111
|
20
|
|
10
|
Peterborough Phantoms
|
28
|
7
|
0
|
6
|
15
|
91
|
127
|
20
|
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