ICE HOCKEY: Manchester Dish Out Revenge On Steeldogs

       

      

 

        

Manchester Phoenix  8               Sheffield Steeldogs 2

Manchester Phoenix completed a First period demolition job on their bitter local rivals the Sheffield Steeldogs on Thursday evening, as the English Premier League champions stunned their foes in their 8-2 victory scoring five goals in the opening period of play to gain sweet revenge over their rivals after their loss in Sheffield this past weekend.

It was only five days ago that the two sides met in Sheffield and on that occasion the Steeldogs won 4-3 in overtime through a Janis Ozolins hat trick, which saw the Phoenix side unable to finish off their opponents despite lead three times in the encounter. This game was the complete opposite and from the first puck drop it was evident and the Phoenix had a much more determined look to them, as they looked to have a lot more bite and intent to their play and that showed for the opening twenty minutes of hockey.

Phoenix spent almost the entire opening five minutes camped inside the Sheffield zone with the Steeldogs finding it extremely difficult to clear the puck from their end of the rink. In previous games against their opponents Manchester have dominated play but luck in front of goals have always gone against them and not got the result they deserved.  This occasion though saw the Phoenix grind their opponents well and truly into the ice and destroy them from the first minute to the last.

All the great work by the home side saw them eventually break the deadlock at 6.43, when a Johan Burlin pass to Shaun Thompson saw the forward picking out Frankie Bakrlik and he fired through the legs of Dalibor Sedlar to give the Phoenix early lead. One became two 33 seconds later, with James Archer and Tony Hand combining to set up Michal Psurny and the Czech forward made it 2-0 and the Phoenix were flying in this ‘Roses’ clash already.

Bobby Chamberlain then made it 3-0 to the hosts at 9.52 after some fabulous team play from James Archer and Tony Hand, led to patience build up by the Phoenix and when Hand spotted the movement of Chamberlain towards the back post it saw the Hull born forward skating unchallenged to bang it into the back of the Steeldogs net and give the home fans another chance to revel in their rivals misery.

Roll on 3 minutes later and the Phoenix added a fourth goal to the scoreboard as this time Jack Watkins struck a one timer past Sedlar to see Manchester embarrassing their foes with goals that was all so clinically taken, and in which the visitors just couldn`t get to grips with their opponents at all.  The game as a contest was over in reality and led to Steeldogs player-coach Andre Payette taking a timeout and gave his side a serious dressing down on the bench over the play.

With the Steeldogs looking to have shored up their defence after the timeout taken, it then saw one more moment of brilliance by the home side and in particular Ben Wood, as the Macclesfield born utility man finished off another tremendous move by the hosts to move the Phoenix 5-0 up. Bobby Chamberlain and Adam Walker between themselves worked well together to see a low pass played into Wood at the front of the net and his back handed effort found twine at 19.43 to see the Phoenix dominant after the first.

After what was a nightmare period for the Sheffield side, it saw them replacing their netminders as Dalibor Sedlar made way for Brad Day and saw them opening their account at 23.07, when Andrew Hirst managed to force the puck in by Declan Ryan after Lloyd Gibson assisted to see them gain a small amount of pride, as that was pretty much all that they had to play for in the game.  

Incredibly the first penalty call of the game came in the second period, where Andre Payette got sent to the penalty box after a Roughing call on Frankie Bakrlik, and 14 seconds later saw the Phoenix forward restoring their five goal cushion as he netted with his second goal of the game with a blast from the blue line on the power play.

Michal Psurny had a couple of efforts for the home side to possibly extending their lead in the game, but the pipe work came to the Steeldogs rescue on more than two occasions in the period an so the score remain as it was.  Just short of the midway point in the game it saw Andre Payette trying to generate a spark in his misfiring team and seen Payette pinning James Archer by the boards and trying everything to get the former Sheffield player engaged in a fight, but in the end he failed to do so and incurred a 2 minute for Holding and a further 10 minute call for Incitement.

James Archer then picked up a ludicrous penalty off Tom Pering for Tripping after Lubomir Korhon and him collided and saw both men crashing into the boards and had both wondering what the call was over as the referee baffled both teams by the call. Sheffield then scored from the extra man advantage, with the hero for the Yorkshire club five days ago in Janis Ozolins netting for the Steeldogs as they scored another consolation goal at 30.49 with assists going to Lee Haywood and Lubomir Korhon for the Yorkshire outfit.

In the third it saw pretty much both sides playing out the final stanza with neither pushing themselves and so had them reserving energy for this weekend. However though the scoring was far from over and saw the Phoenix scoring two fairly quick goals, as James Archer netted goal number 5 on the power play after another Payette penalty and then Joe Graham finished off the Steeldogs scoring from a very tight angle to see him score the 8^th and see the Phoenix victorious in their derby clash and avenge their loss. 

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Manchester Phoenix:   James Archer 1+4 , Tony Hand 0+3, Bobby Chamberlain 1+2, Frankie Bakrlik 2+0 ,Michal Psurny 1+1, Ben Wood 1+0, Adam Walker 0+1,  Joe Graham 1+0, Johan Burlin 0+1, Robin Kovar 0+1, Shaun Thompson 0+1

Sheffield Steeldogs:  Andrew Hirst 1+0, Janis Ozolins 1+0, Lloyd Gibson 0+1, Lubomir Korhon 0+1, Lee Haywood 0+1

SHOTS ON GOAL:

MAN:   Declan Ryan  26 (2)                       SHEFF:   Dalibor Sedlar 21 (5),  Brad Day 39 (3)

Official Phoenix Match Report 

ICE HOCKEY: Thompson Inspires Phoenix Win

Manchester Phoenix         4 - 3    Basingstoke Bison

Sunday night saw the Manchester Phoenix battle back twice in the game as Shaun Thompson scored a vital double in the game to help take the game to an overtime period before the home side won in a shootout 4-3, with James Archer and finally Adam Walker netting the winning penalty to see the Phoenix yet again defeat the Bison from a losing position.  Manchester was coming off the back of a disappointing 4-3 loss the night before in Sheffield, in which saw the Phoenix leading on three occasions before the Steeldogs struck back every time after two strikes by Frankie Bakrlik and a goal by Joe Graham, that was till Janis Ozolins completed his hat trick to sink the Phoenix in overtime.  

It saw a pretty torrid opening twelve minutes to the first period by the home side, as they lacked any kind of edge to their play and despite two big hits by Ben Wood the Phoenix lacked bite or anything to stir the home supporters, to which the Bison in fairness didn`t play that well but they were just more clinical when it came to shooting.  There was a bizarre occurrence in the first 18 seconds of the contest, when Frankie Bakrlik shot beat the netminder and saw the puck go near the goal line and saw the red light come on and had Bison netminder Dean Skinns fuming over the decision by the match official to award it. After a discussion it was deemed that the puck had never crossed the line and saw the start of the referee making poor decision making in the match.

Basingstoke took the lead at 7.12 in the game, when some clear calls going missing on both sides and then saw Joe Graham penalised when reaching out for the puck saw a Bison player go to ground and had Paul Brooks who was wearing the armbands gave a poor call for Tripping and from the resulting power play saw the Bison score.  Joe Rand had a chance to score seconds prior to the goal, but Stephen Fone in the Phoenix nets down made the initial stop from Rand effort but when the red light flashed for a goal and went off it saw Andrew Melachrino put home the rebound to make sure it was a goal and saw no complaints from the Phoenix side over the goal.

Manchester had a large majority of possession in the first period, but they just never looked like scoring as Doug Sheppard side once again demonstrated their ability to frustrate the opposition and was showing off how well drilled Sheppard had his men.  The Phoenix forwards looked toothless and unable to get any type of meaningful shots off on Dean Skinns and saw the visitors snuffing off the danger and keeping the home side to the outside.  Bison then doubled their lead at 11.56 when Doug Sheppard netted at the front of the net to see the visitors go 2-0 up and looked on course to go onto victory. The game did have a very similar pattern to the match earlier in the season, when the Bison did the same scoring two early goals before being blown away later in the game, so was history going to repeat itself.

Player-coach for the Bison in Doug Sheppard put his side in good stead for the rest of the game as him scoring the second so soon after the first, had the Hampshire outfit on top in the game and saw Manchester player-coach Tony Hand calling a time out and venting his anger towards his players and giving a few home truths to his side in the thirty-seconds he had to force their way back into the game.  Manchester marginally improved towards the end of the period, but they hardly shown anything that made you think they would get back into the contest at all after the opening twenty minutes of play.

Second period brought a better response from the home side, to which they had a bit more purpose to their play in the middle stanza and saw calls that wasn`t going the way in the first not getting some favourable calls for the Phoenix. It saw an unsuccessful power play earlier in the period with Manchester given another opportunity to score after Joe Baird was guilty of tripping up Bakrlik at mid ice and was called weirdly given a penalty for Slashing.  The power play unit came back out soon after and saw Phoenix get back in the game after some work from Shaun Thompson and Frankie Bakrlik, saw the Czech forward shot from the blue line diverted in off fellow Czech mate Robin Kovar stick and so had the hosts trailing by a single goal at 28.18.   Basingstoke found themselves a man down again, when Declan Balmer headed to the box for a Boarding call but the better efforts came the way for the opposition as twice the Bison came close to scoring, but Fone came up big for the Phoenix making two massive important stops and had the Manchester netminder showing signs of him getting back to form after injuries of late.

Bakrlik then made the trip to the penalty box for the hosts after he collected a Interference call that was unlucky to be called on, as a Bison player grabbed the Manchester player stick and when Bakrlik was skating down the centre of the ice the Bison player fell to the ice while still clutching the stick of the Czech man and the referee penalised the Czech forward who was extremely unimpressed with the call.  At 39.56 it saw the score line tied up with just four seconds of the period left to go, as Ben Wood sent a pass towards Bakrlik and had Shaun Thompson then gather the puck and make a nice little move on a Basingstoke defenseman in the Bison zone to leave him one on one with Skinns and then the puck found it`s way in the net for a 2-2 game and made it level for the start of the third period.

With the final period starting off on a level keel, it had both teams creating chances and needing the goaltenders to be focused on their game, with Skinns and Fone playing very well indeed.  Midway through the third there was a collision just outside the Bison zone, in which Jack Watkins accidently caught Vantroba with a stray knee and sent the Basingstoke Import down to the ice for a couple of minutes as the player was in distress from the collision. Vantroba managed gather himself together and had Watkins accepting his wrong doing, and had the opponents understanding that it was purely accidental and saw the import helped to the team bench to be checked over.

The power play lasted just ten seconds as Tomas Karpov netted the third for the Bison, with assists credited to Joe Greener & Joe Rand on the go ahead goal at 50.20 to see the visitors lead 3-2.  Time was running out on the home side to try and draw level in the contest and when pushing forward towards the two minute warning, it saw Shaun Thompson at the back post put home a loose puck at 57.31 and then took a hit from behind on the play and left him down on the ice for a minute and was slow getting up after contact.  It saw from then on the game become an extended overtime period in which neither side wanted to give up a late goal as time ticked down. With 60 mins of hockey played it saw the game head into an extra period of hockey and with both sides looking like playing for a point, Robin Kovar was then caught out on a line change for the home side and saw the referee penalise the hosts for Too Many Men, much to the clear annoyance of Tony Hand as he gave Kovar both barrels from the ice towards the bench. Manchester successfully killed off the penalty and saw the game go to a shootout where the remaining point would be decided.

With the game going to a shoot out, it saw Basingstoke up first and saw Steve Fone denying Joe Rand while James Archer put home the Phoenix in front with their first penalty to lead 1-0 after the opening round.  Ciaran Long stepped for the Bison in the second round of penalties and pulled out a few nice moves to bamboozle Fone and put it home for 1-1.  Frantisek Bakrlik then took the second shot for the hosts, but he was denied by Dean Skinns to leave it level heading into the final round of penalties.  Tomas Karpov then took the final penalty shot for the visitors and as he tried to go backhand on Fone, it seen Fone keep it out with a pad save and so gave Adam Walker the chance to win the game for Phoenix and he did just that, which his wrist shot beating Skinns stick side to win 2-1 on pens and 4-3 overall to claim the extra point on offer.

Manchester Phoenix Podcast:  LISTEN HERE 

Manchester Phoenix Official match report: Listen Here

ICE HOCKEY: Walker double helps Phoenix thunder on past the Lightning

MANCHESTER PHOENIX  5 - 3 MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING

Two goals by forward Adam Walker proved to be the difference in the 5-3 win over the Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday evening, as the English Premier League Champions leapfrogged the Buckinghamshire side into 6th place in the table in what was a fairly scrappy and at times a cagey contest between the two established teams.

It saw the Phoenix take the lead after 1.48 gone in the game, as fresh from his Gold medal winning exploits with the GB-u20 team in Bobby Chamberlain as his pass was taken by Robin Kovar who in turn found Luke Boothroyd and the Phoenix Captain found himself with acres of space in the MK zone, before blasting by Stephen Wall to put the home side one up.

It then took visitors till 11.57 in the period to respond and it came from a drive up ice by Michael Farn, to which saw the Lightning glide uncontested by an opposing player, before he played it to Blaz Emersic and the forward made no mistake as he tapped in at the front door to draw the scores level at 1-1, while Lewis Hook picked up an assist on the goal.

Manchester then found themselves on a 5 on 3 penalty kill with Jared Dickinson and Robin Kovar serving time for Tripping and Interference offenses and Unlike the night previous where a 5 on 3 was the down fall late on for the Phoenix lost to the Peterborough Phantoms in a Shootout, this time round the Phoenix managed to kill off the penalties without having to do much in the way of blocking shots with the two man disadvantage.

Manchester then retook the lead again in the final minute of the 1st, when frantic play at the front of the MK goal saw Bobby Chamberlain effort stopped by Wall to which the goalie had no clue where the puck was. The crowd was screaming and willing it in and saw a bit of a scramble at the front of the crease, with Lewis Christie being the unfortunate man to accidently put the puck in his own net for a 2-1 score.

The visitors were trying to see how far they could push the line before being penalised, as a few noticeable calls went missed by referee Steve Brown to which included a nasty Check to the head by Chris Wiggins on James Archer which wasn`t called and then led to Robin Kovar being called for Interference, as the Czech man bundled into the back of Wiggins off the puck with a hard check in the back.

Jordan Cownie was lucky not to get a checking from behind call after his hit on Frankie Bakrlik, to which saw him catch the Phoenix man full on the numbers on the back of the Manchester man shirt and saw him crash into a two players by the boards that saw a MK man and Phoenix take a tumble with Bakrlik crashing into them both.

However Brown did call something eventually for the hosts, with Shaun Thompson holding the puck up in the corner board, he was eating time on the penalty kill and saw Michael Farn trying his best trying to get the puck loose, but it led to Farn at least on two or three occasions stamping down on Thompson leg/foot and saw Farn pick up a Unsportsmanlike Conduct call against him.

The start of the Second period saw the Lightning and Emersic once again level things up with Lewis Hook and Jordan Cownie combining to set up the forward for his second goal, as he ghosted round the Phoenix defence and somehow found a way by Declan Ryan in the Manchester goal for the tying goal at 20.58.

James Archer then picked up a bizarre Holding call, as he was more the one on the receiving end of it than committing it, but the official saw it other way round and sent him to the penalty box and put Phoenix back on the penalty kill. This saw from the resulting penalty against Archer, the home side retaking the lead once more in the game after a short-handed effort by Robin Kovar had the Czech forward drill a shot low past Stephen Wall and make it 3-2 at 31.45 in the game.

Manchester then scored twice in the space of five minutes, with both goals coming on the power play from Adam Walker, with the Scottish forward netting both power play goals for the home side. His first came with an element of little deflection that may have tricked Stephen Wall in the Lightning nets at 34.16, but his second goal had no luck to it at all, as the forward danced his way through the MK defence and made a little move on Wall to score at 38.26 and put the Phoenix 5-2 up heading into the final period and see them all but break the Lightning spirit.

An early goal in the 3rd period for the visitors seemed to be a perfect response for the rest of the period, but the Phoenix bounced back and closed down all the shooting lanes that the MK side seemed to be using and saw them unable to get many shots off on Declan Ryan. Their third goal of the game came from a break from within their zone and saw Marek Curilla come away with the puck, before a stretch pass across the ice beat Johan Burlin attempt to stop it reaching Jordan Cownie, but the puck did reach Cownie and after skating over the Phoenix defensive zone, his pass at the front of the net was superbly tipped in by Leigh Jamieson and saw the Lightning still not out of the contest yet.

Phoenix had a chance for a Sixth goal after some good team play by the Phoenix forwards, had Tony Hand set James Archer off on a charge and his one-two with Michal Psurny nearly saw Archer score but was stopped by the glove of Stephen Walls, with the netminder keeping his side in the game once again.  Declan Ryan was then called upon to make a few saves for the home side and he dealt with the shots pretty well and saw the game come to a close and saw the Phoenix moving up to Sixth position in the table, trail by just two points on the Swindon Wildcats as we head into the festive season now and a tough couple of games against the league leaders the big spending Telford Tigers in a Home and Away weekend.

  

Adam Walker told Phoenix TV:  “It has been a good weekend for us. I thought we played well last night in Peterborough and were unlucky not to get both points. Milton Keynes are always a tough side to beat and we worked hard for the win. We are still a bit short on players but we are putting a run together that hopefully will see us climb the table.”

 ===================================LINKS:===============================

MATCH REPORT: http://www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk/news/2557/three-point-weekend-resurgent-phoenix

Game Highlights: PHOENIX TV 

Official Podcast:  Phoenix Podcast