Ice Hockey: Walker 'purrs' as Phoenix edge Wildcats in Thriller

MANCHESTER PHOENIX   6 - 5 SWINDON WILDCATS 

Manchester Phoenix completed their English Premier League programme with a home double this past weekend with wins over the Bracknell Bees and the Swindon Wildcats to finish in sixth position, their lowest ever finish to a EPL season.  It sees them however setting up arguably the tie of the Playoffs Quarter-Final with a two legged affair against the Basingstoke Bison this coming weekend to see who makes it to Coventry, for the Playoff finals weekend.

Sunday night saw another late show by the Phoenix, as they beat the Swindon Wildcats 6-5 with former Wildcats player Adam Walker who not only netting two goals and an assist  but scored the winner with just 26 seconds remaining from time, to see him not only give Phoenix the victory but also denied his old club the point that would have seen them claim 4th position in the table.

The game also coincided with Phoenix player-coach Tony Hand icing in his final regular season game, in what has been an illustrious career from the former Great Britain legend, after playing 34 successive seasons in the sport.

The opening period was like akin to a phrase used in football, of which it truly was a ‘game of two halves’.  Manchester came out the traps very attacking and with a purpose in their play at the start and had the Swindon side in all sorts of bother in the early part of the contest.

Stevie Lyle in the visitors nets wasn`t having things his own way though and saw the GB international, scrambling around a lot with his defence unable to clear the danger away as the home side looked very dangerous  when in attack.

Manchester took a deserved lead at 6.46 in the game, after Stevie Lyle had lost his stick on the play and saw the Phoenix keeping the puck in the Swindon zone, which led to Bobby Chamberlain making a short pass along the boards behind the net to Shaun Thompson and his little pass towards the front post saw Frankie Bakrlik flip it high up into the roof of the net for 1-0.  After the goal there was funny incident, when Bakrlik made sure that referee Steve Brown gave the goal correctly to him, as the previous night Bakrlik scored and Brown credited the goal to Robin Kovar.  So the forwards made sure to that Brown knew who scored as he purposely skated towards him and made sure that this goal would be given, as shown the 83 and Bakrlik on his shirt.  

Speaking of Robin Kovar, the Czech forward netted the second goal for Phoenix as they doubled their lead at 7.51 after a Swindon play was broken up and saw James Archer bat the puck superbly to Kovar up ice and the Czech man scored with a wraparound effort into a empty net for 2-0, with the hosts looking fairly comfortable with that lead.

Swindon then battled back into the game and saw them cut the deficit in half through Tomasz Malasinski strike, after a pass towards the front of the net from Aaron Nell saw the Polish forward put past Steve Fone at 14.44 with Jonas Hoog getting the second assist on goal.

Manchester then seemed to panic a bit and found themselves all square at 15.29, when the Wildcats had another attack down the right wing through Jonas Hoog and his pass went to Arron Nell and saw him completely unmarked and the Swindon forward netted a simple goal with a bit of a screen on Steve Fone, to see the score move onto 2-2.

Swindon then took the lead at 17.02 with that man Aaron Nell once again scoring for the visitors, after a 2 on 1 for the Wildcats saw Jack Watkins horribly caught out at the back and had Nell fired far side for a 3-2 lead for the Wiltshire side.

In the second and the home side levelled it up at 3-3 at 25.32 after a powerplay goal saw former Swindon player Adam Walker netting, after some crisp passing by the Phoenix powerplay unit saw Tony Hand and Frankie Bakrlik combining before a pass to the back post for Walker to put home.

The hosts then made it 4-3, with Frankie Bakrlik firing in his second of the game and to restore the lead once more for the Phoenix, with the Czech man skating into space and letting a shot go with no one challenging and beat Stevie Lyle all ends up for the go ahead goal at 26.59.

 Swindon tried to respond and had Tomasz Malasinski striking the cross bar soon after with an effort as the score remaining 4-3.  However with just 6 seconds remaining in the period, it saw the Wildcats level it all up at 4-4 with the Phoenix defence making a complete mess of things at the back as they stood around dawdling instead of clearing it.  Ben Wood got dispossessed in the lead up to it and with the home side unable to get the puck clear; it saw Sam Bullas shoot from a tight angle and gave them an equaliser to go in to the break all level.

In the final period, it saw an end to end game with both sides going close with chances, yet it was the visitors who took retook the lead at 47.19 in the game, as It came from a poor pass by the Phoenix at centre ice and had Loris Taylor quickly get on the loose puck and with Taylor making a little move to get by one man his weak shot was partly saved by Fone, but the puck trickled in behind the netminder and into the back of the net for a 5-4 score line.

The lead lasted less than four minutes, when Adam Walker and Frankie Bakrlik worked well together by the boards, to then pass towards Robin Kovar and the Czech forward held off a defenseman and backhanded his second goal in the back of the net, with another wraparound goal at 51.07.

With less than 30 seconds to go in an exciting open game, with the match seemingly heading to an overtime period there was still one late twist to come. Swindon who only needed a point for a 4th place finish in the standings, saw their hopes disappear. When Tony Hand dumped the puck up ice and when Lyle couldn`t deal with the bounce properly, Adam Walker was quick to pounce on it and roofed it over the Swindon netminder for a 6-5 score

Swindon looked slightly dejected over the goal and with the end of the game it saw the Wildcats now having to play the first leg at home instead of away.

For Manchester it equalled their best run of the season in the league with three successive wins on the spin, as they now head in the playoffs quarter-final with the Basingstoke Bison. The team that stopped Phoenix doing a double in the Playoffs final in Coventry last year and will also will be the Final ever game for Tony Hand as a Manchester Phoenix player in Manchester, before the Scottish veteran retires after the playoffs.

Saturday Night saw the Phoenix ease to a 6-1 win over the inexperienced Bracknell Bees at home. Two goals by Johan Burlin with further strikes by Robin Kovar, Frankie Bakrlik, Tony Hand and former Bee Shaun Thompson gave the Phoenix a good start to their weekend.

Ice Hockey: Roy steers Steelers closer to Title

NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS  3 -  4  SHEFFIELD STEELERS 

Two goals by Mathieu Roy with his second being the overtime winner, saw the Sheffield Steelers come from two goals down to now having one hand on the Elite League title in a 4-3 overtime win over their bitter arch rivals the Nottingham Panthers at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham on Friday Night.  

Before the contest it was a tight three way battle up at the top of the Elite League table, with the Steelers level on points with the Cardiff Devils and close behind, the Braehead Clan.  Sheffield knew a win on the road would see them needing only a regulation win against the Devils with the next night being crowned champions.  In the case of the home side the Panthers, this was a chance to thwart their long time foes and dent their title hopes with a win in their final regular season game at home before the playoffs next week.

With a sell-out crowd in the NIC for this grudge match between two powerhouses in British Ice Hockey, plus  the added spice of the balance of the championship, it was going to be a good contest.

There were a few early mind games played by the visitors, with the Steelers not taking to the ice till the home side made their way out with a tense build up for the match. Before the game got underway however, there was a somber moment in the arena when there was a minutes applause for Amy Usher, a Sheffield Steelers fan who had brought British hockey together after she had battled bravely with a form of Throat Cancer who had tragically passed away a couple of days prior to the game.

An incredible wave of support from every fan inside the N.I.C saw both sets of fans chanting her name which was an honor to be part of. With the game now under way, the Steelers came out the brighter of the two, having the best of the early play. Panthers netminder Mattias Modig made some important stops to keep the away side scoreless.

Josh Unice was then called upon by the visitors to make some big saves of his own, as despite Sheffield having more of the puck the Panthers were more threatening when in attack.  The home side then broke the deadlock with Sam Oakford finding the back of the net at 8.18 with Guillaume Doucet assisting after the Oakford shot took a little deflection and went over the glove of the Steelers netminder for a 1-0 lead.

Sheffield tried to get back on level terms quickly and had Modig once again making a great save, this time from Ben O’Connor as the Sheffield man stick handled his way through the Panthers defence with his back handed attempt being smothered by the goalie. 

Jonathan Boxill then collected a hooking penalty as he upended Tyler Mosienko when bearing down on goal and despite the Steelers players calling for a penalty shot, the referee gave only a two minute.

Josh Unice once again came to the rescue for the Steelers as he made a fantastic double save from the Nottingham forwards to keep it at a one goal game. Mattias Modig was then penalised for tripping up a Sheffield player near the net away from play which resulted in the Panthers on the penalty kill. Both sides had breakaways towards the end of the opening period, with both goaltenders making superb saves.

The back end of the period saw penalties against both sides, with Chris Higgins of Nottingham called for high sticks and Jason Hewitt of the Steelers called for roughing.  Nottingham doubled their lead at 21.28 when Greg Jacina fired home to make it 2-0 which had the home fans celebrating while the Orange army of Sheffield sat in silence and saw their title dreams diminishing.

Sheffield responded soon after as Michael Forney got the puck. He skated past the defense, his wrist shot beating Modig to make it 2-1 to give hope to the fans from down the M.

The game saw the hitting pick up a bit more making it feel more like a usual Panthers/Steelers contest. Jonathan Boxill of the Panthers,  headed straight down the tunnel after he collected a painful blow to the ankle off Cullen Eddy’s slap shot and didn't return for a while.

Ben O’Connor then leveled the game at 2-2 as he put through behind a poor line change by the hosts and saw the GB international net a lovely shorthanded goal at 32.05 to make the game all square as we headed to the third period.

Into the third and it was like the sides had changed game plans, with the Panthers almost like they were trying to walk the puck in at times not as threatening in their attack as they had been in the opening period. Sheffield though were battling and getting to the front of the net taking the better shots, which saw Modig having to up his game. Both sides were creating chances but the Steelers had the better of the play  

Rob Dowd then headed to the penalty box for the visitors and gave the Panthers a power play opportunity with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation time. Nottingham, with the man advantage, then scored the go ahead goal with 7.26 left in the game. After a fortunate break for the home side when Cody Wild hit on Tyler Mosienko and took him out of play the home side went up the ice and the puck which was then moved out wide to Brandon Benedict who fired top corner on Josh Unice to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.

The Steelers fans and players were furious from the non-call  with a couple of players questioning the call with their protests falling on deaf ears. The game became end to end with the Panthers having a couple of one on ones with Unice in the final period, but the Sheffield netminder stood up well to the oncoming forwards to keep his side in it.   

Sheffield were pushing forward in search of a tying goal and after Michael Forney passed to Colton Fretter whose effort was saved by Modig, the puck went straight to Mathieu Roy who was on hand to slot it into the back of the net which had the Orange shirted fans leaping out of their seat with the Steelers leveling the score at 3-3 with 2.28 to go.

Sheffield fans implored for a ‘too many men’ call which had some substance to it, as the Panthers had six men on the ice at one time but one quickly skated back before being called.  Neither side could score the winning goal within regulation time so we headed into overtime with the Steelers picking up a vital one point in the game so far. 

Josh Unice had to pull off a stunning save as Sheffield were caught napping with a turn out at centre ice. There was  a 2 on 0 advantage and Nottingham should have scored, but Unice was on the ball and saved Wild’s one time shot with play then heading up the ice with Modig making yet another save to deny the visitors.

Evan Mosely was then called for tripping with the period winding down at 64.31 and it was looking like a shoot out was on the cards.  With the Steelers on a 4 on 3 powerplay, the home side had to defend the final 28 second of the period to take it to a shootout. However that was not meant to be as Mathieu Roy scored the game winning goal with 12.7 seconds of the contest which left the Steelers on the verge of winning their first title in four year.

After the game, the Steelers fans chanted ‘That one’s for Amy’ in reference to Amy Usher. As the arena quickly emptied with Panthers fans heading for the exits, the fans from the Steel City side reveled in their victory on enemy territory, which made the win that all bit sweeter.

Ice Hockey: Bakrlik's Late show 'STINGS' Bracknell

 

MANCHESTER PHOENIX       5       -        4    BRACKNELL BEES

 A late power play strike by Frankie Bakrlik was just enough to help Phoenix in a come from behind victory to snap a five game losing streak, with a 5-4 win over a spirited bottom of the table Bracknell Bees at the Altrincham Ice Dome on Sunday night.

Manchester started their penultimate weekend of the English Premier League season with a loss down in Surrey, despite the efforts of Shaun Thompson scoring twice for the away team, he couldn`t help stop the Phoenix getting beaten 4-3 in a close game against the Guildford Flames who could possibly be a playoff opponent for the Phoenix.

Sunday’s game saw the rock bottom Bracknell Bees side come to town and with a fair few youngsters in their side, they gave the home side a tough game and in truth their performance was not one of a team that has struggled badly all season. The Bees received a massive boost during the week, as Red Media who is owned by Tigers owners Wayne Scholes, bought a 49% stake in the Berkshire club to help them secure their future at the John Nike Leisure Complex.

Manchester had the majority of the puck with Bees netminder Alex Mettam once again proving to be thorn in the Phoenix side, with some saves to stop them taking the lead. Phoenix had a couple of opportunities, but Mettam stacked his pads and made some easy glove saves.

Robin Kovar came close to giving the home side the lead, after pulling the Bracknell defence inside out before being denied first off by Alex Mettam and then dinked it over the bar. Bracknell took the lead in the game against the run of play, despite the fact they looked more threatening in attack in the opening ten minutes.

Rising star for the Bees this season is Ivan Antonov, who put his side 1-0 up at 10.53 with Lukas Smital assisting on the goal. Manchester didn’t seem to play with much confidence as their passing was poor and didn’t seem to play particularly well. The fans tried to rally around their side and get them back in it, but this time to no avail.  

With the hosts pushing for a goal, Phoenix finally made a breakthrough on Alex Mettam to tie the game. It came from a rush up ice through Frankie Bakrlik and with Robin Kovar in support, the Czech duo combined to set up Bobby Chamberlain, as the GB under 20’s star tapped in for 1-1 at 16.49.

The second period started well for the Phoenix as the same line worked well to put them up 2-1, with this time Chamberlain and Bakrlik working together with Robin Kovar firing a one-time shot past Mettam at 20.15. The Bees may be rooted at the bottom of the table, but they showed a lot of good play within their youthful side with definitely some promise for the future.

Adam Walker made it 3-1 for the hosts, after the Scottish forward managed to just push the puck into the net to open up a two goal cushion at 22.51. You would have possibly expected the Bees to just cave in after giving up two quick goals, but the youthful enthusiasm in the squad ensured that would not happen.

The Bees responded soon after, when the Phoenix defence was far too high up the ice which left massive gaps at the back, with Matt Towalski finishing a one on one against Declan Ryan, the score was then 3-2 at 23.58. That goal seem to 'sting' the Bees into action and with Mettam shutting the Phoenix forwards down with some very good stops, the Bees confidence was growing thanks to their netminder.
 

 
With Phoenix looking nervous with their play and perhaps doubting themselves, the Bees capitalised on the poor defensive play of the hosts, with two quick goals in succession. At 37.39, Matt Towalski and Pavel Strycek set Radek Hubacek off down the right wing and with no defence around, gave Hubacek the perfect opportunity to shoot past Ryan to make it 3-3. Thirteen seconds later with a carbon copy of their last goal, Matt Foord and Ivan Antonov played Lukas Smital on and he made it

4-3 to the Bees at 37.52 following a complete meltdown of the Phoenix defence. With the period coming to a close,  Phoenix started to look very frail at the back and seemingly unable to get any meaningful attacks going at all, with the passes all coming from within their defensive zone.

The final period started with Phoenix taking it to their opponents. Manchester then tied the game up at 46.36 with a power play goal by Robin Kovar, after he netted his second of the game with Frankie Bakrlik and Tony Hand assisting on the goal to see the game levelled at 4-4.  At 47.40, the game starting to swing in favour of Phoenix, with Scott Spearing checking a Phoenix player from behind and collecting a 2+10, then earned himself a further 10 minute penalty for misconduct and was then ejected from the game.
With the home side on top, a couple of the experienced players in the black and yellow jerseys seemed to lose their discipline which ended up costing their team dearly. Lukas Smital picked up a 10 minute misconduct call after he argued with the referee following an offside call and had to be restrained by the linesman, before exiting the ice and watched the rest of the game from behind the glass.  Jan Bendik was then called for hooking at 56.38 and with the Phoenix throwing everything they had at Bracknell, they finally retook the lead which resulted in the roof being taken off the dome, as Frankie Bakrlik’s blast went through traffic to give the hosts a 5-4 lead.
Following the goal, Bendik wasn`t too pleased with match official Steve Matthews who then gave him an instant 10 minute misconduct call as he skated back to the bench which resulted in three of their key players missing and despite the Bees pulling their netminder for the extra attacker, the Manchester Phoenix finally snapped their five game losing streak and are now closing in on securing sixth place in the table.

The Phoenix can make sure of that next weekend when they welcome back the Bees, before the final regular season game against the Swindon Wildcats.

SLEDGE HOCKEY: 2015 Sledge Hockey World Champs @ Ostersund, Sweden

This past week in Östersund, Sweden  the Sledge Hockey World Championships: Pool-B have been taking place and saw Great Britain making the trip to the Scandinavian country in search of a top two finish and have them looking to progress Pool- A. GB’s opponents in this tournament sees them against Austria, Slovakia, Poland and the two pre-tournament favourites in Korea and the host nation of Sweden.

The opening two games of the tournament saw big wins for both Sweden and Korea to get their respective tournament up and running. Hosts Sweden beat Poland 8-1 with Rasmus Lundgren netting twice in the victory, meanwhile Korea hammered Austria 9-0 with five goals coming in the final period through Seung-Hwan Jung scoring a hat trick and Ju-Seung Lee claiming a brace in the huge win for the Koreans as we.

Britain’s opening game in the tournament saw a highly disappointing loss with Slovakia blanking Great Britain 6-0, with two quick goals coming in the space of 49 seconds in the opening five minutes. GB conceded just the one goal in the second period, but in the third a further two goals by the Slovaks saw them complete victory over Great Britain. For GB it was a case of back to the drawing board and hoping to put this loss to the side and recover for Round 2.

However the only bright light of the game for GB, came in the shape of netminder Bryan Hackworth from the Sheffield Steelkings, as the netminder faced 26 shots in the contest compared to his counterpart who faced only 5 shots, one shot more than Austria posted in their loss to the Koreans.

Day 2 and the Koreans went ballistic in the opening game of the day at the Ostersund Arena Hall, where the Korean side won 15-0 against Poland and where Andrzej Mlynarczyk in the Polish nets faced 40 shots in the game. Seung-Hwan Jung netted another four goals in a game, as team mate Min-Su Han, scored a hat trick with two of them coming on the power play as the Korean side kept a health goal difference in the standings.

Great Britain overcame Austria to claim their first points in these World Championships in their second group game, with John Neville’s side edging their opponents 2-1 thanks to a double by Cardiff’s Tyler Christopher. Christopher’s brace put GB two goals up in the match, that was before Martin Pachoinig then replied for the Austrians to set up a tense finale to the game with less than 8 minutes to go in the contest.  In truth, GB should have beaten their opponents far more convincing than they did, but some loose passing and not finding their intended targets saw it a much tighter affair than it needed to be. The Brits came out as winners and a performance that was improved massively from their first outing.

Sweden made it two from two in their third game, as they beat Slovakia 5-1 with Per Kasperi scoring twice in the win to keep the pressure up on the Koreans for top spot. The Swedes led 2-0 and after a power play goal by Miroslav Stasak cut the lead in half, it saw the hosts netting a further three times to see them finally kill off the Slovaks.

Poland and Austria faced off in opening game of Round 3, where the Poles came out on top beating their fellow European counterparts 3-0, with goals by Radoslaw Drapala and Sylwester Flis as Flis scored a couple in the game to hand Poland the game and pick up their first win.

Korea kept up their record of scoring at least 8 goals a game so far in this tournament, as they inflicted another thrashing this time on Slovakia, as they beat them 9-1 to move to a +21 in the goal difference column. Forward Seung-Hwan Jung proved he is the Player of the tournament so far, as the Korean scored four more goals to take his total to 11 goals in 3 games so far. Marian Ligda then scored a consolation goal towards the end of the second period for the Slovaks, but the Koreans side always had the extra gears to move up in and scored a few more to complete the rout and look far in a way, the best side in this tournament.

The final game of the night was an absolute cracker between Great Britain and the hosts Sweden.  Prior to the game, Sweden on paper looked far stronger than that of GB and the results in the previous rounds seemed to suggest that. However, no one expected the performance that the Great Britain side produced, especially in the opening period as they put on a staunch defensive display to see them frustrate the Swedes 0-0 after the opening period whilst being outshot 13 to 2.

 Sadly though for GB, the Swedes managed to get the breakthrough and had Per Kasperi scoring twice to put the home side 3-0 up. GB then scored through Kingston Kestrels forward Matt Woolias, as him and his fellow Kestrels teammate in Matt Clarkson broke up ice scored on a 2-on-0, with Woolias dispatching the puck by Ulf Nilsson at his near post for a 3-1 score.

In the final period of play, it saw the score cut in half to 4-2 for Sweden as Tyler Christopher scored his third of the tournament, after a mistake by Nilsson in the Swedish goals saw his attempted clearance turn into an air shot and Christopher was quick to react first and tapped in for a two goal game. Sweden then went up a gear and had Peter Ojala score a breakaway goal, before Niklas Ingvarsson scored the goal of the game with an effort, as his fired from the left face-off circle and it flown in over Hackworth head and into the GB nets for the sixth.

Bryan Hackworth who has been the GB player of the tournament in my view, put on a goaltending clinic to deny the Swede on many occasions and kept the scored close, when Sweden was really hammering home their advantage in the contest.  A 6-2 defeat by Sweden all but ended the hopes of a top two finish for Great Britain, but the performance of the GB players was immense throughout the whole game and was more important that the score. The Swedish players were quoted as saying that GB was the toughest game they had faced so far.  Another reason John Neville and the GB fans can be proud of the guys, is a couple of years ago with an experienced squad in 2013, the GB side was hammered 22-0 by the Swedes and this result shows what can happen if given a chance.

This result with inexperienced players in their ranks saw them running the Swedes closer than the score line suggests, plus the fact the players had to pay their way to make it to Sweden, due to lack of any funding coming from British Sport and the fact the game was close makes the result even more incredible too and hopefully something can be worked to help the GB sledge hockey side in future tournaments.

Ice Hockey: Tigers roar after a BRAVE Phoenix effort!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 1 – 3 TELFORD TIGERS

 

 

Manchester Phoenix will need close to a miracle to see them lifting the British Challenge Cup next week in Shropshire, after the Tigers took the first leg 3-1 in Altrincham with a brace from Scott McKenzie and a late goal from Nathan Salem.

On paper, the Tigers are a massive cut above the rest of the English Premier League clubs this year, while Manchester have struggled badly this season with injuries and form throughout. After the opening face-off, the visitors were very much the better side in the game, with their bigger bench the Tigers side made full use of quick line changes to keep the game tempo up in this cup final.

Manchester found themselves on the penalty kill after 29 seconds into in the game, after Robin Kovar was adjudged to have tripped a Tigers forward up at centre ice. Phoenix killed off the penalty and struggled to get in the game, their defensive side of play saw them playing well, even if their attack wasn't.

Steve Fone was the busiest netminder of the two and the Manchester goalie was having to turn the puck away on many occasions in the opening period. With the hosts unable to get their attacking play going at all in the match, it was always likely that the visitors would score first with their constant pressure on their rival’s goal.

The opening goal of the final did come for the Tigers, but came in slightly controversial circumstances. A bit of a scramble near the Phoenix crease saw a couple of Tigers starting to celebrating and despite no red light coming on from the goal judge, the referee awarded the goal and saw Scott McKenzie credited with the goal at 19.33 to give the visitors a deserved 1-0 lead. Manchester tried to force some attacking play upon their opponents and saw them having a mini spell of pressure, but they weren’t able to convert the puck on in the goal from the few chances they created..

Moving onto the second, the Tigers continued where they left off in the first, with them doubling their lead at 22.43, with Jason Silverthorn trying a wraparound play then spotted Nathan Salem free and the Telford man fired in goal number 2 for the Shropshire outfit.

The hosts midway through the game were being outplayed and out-muscled and was unable to get much of a foothold in the final. Phoenix then slowly got some joy and had a couple of good efforts on Thomas Murdy in the Tigers goal.

A mistake by Johan Burlin led to the 3rd Telford goal, when a poor pass was knocked out of the Tigers zone by Scott McKenzie. The Scottish forward skated the length of the rink to go one on one with Steve Fone and put it in the back of the net. Fone then smashed his stick on the post in anger after there was no sign of his defencemen trying to close McKenzie down.

With two periods of hockey mainly dominated by the newly crowned league champions, you would be forgiven to think the trend would continued in the final frame of the first leg. As it was, the home side finally got going and almost scored twice in the opening minutes of the third.

Firstly, Robin Kovar had a shot that seemed to roll down the back of the Tigers netminder but went agonisingly by the wrong side of the post. Soon after the Czech man was at it again, when his effort at the front of the net just clipped the top goal frame and went over the bar and away behind the net, this just saw the Phoenix more determined to not be shut out at home.

Manchester huffed and puffed at Thomas Murdy goal and he seemed to be using all of the 9 lives that the bigger cats had and was unable to deal with the puck at times too. Phoenix seemed to be getting to the Telford goalie rather late in the game and saw him slightly rattled at times in the period. The Phoenix began to out shoot their opponents and finally began testing their foes in this cup final, which eventually saw all the home side efforts pay off after Frankie Bakrlik managed to deflect his effort past Murdy for a goal. The goal gave a glimmer of hope for the short benched Manchester side at 46.13, with Ben Wood and Tony Hand assisting on the goal..

Telford wasn't getting past the Phoenix defence as easy as they had done in the opening two periods and the majority of the play was being played in and around the Tigers zone more now. Time on the first leg of this final was closing down and with Manchester just not getting the rub of the green with bounces and such, it saw the horn sound to see the Shropshire side taking a two goal lead back home and based on the opening leg of this final, you`d be a brave man to bet against them making it their second trophy this season.

Manchester will have hopefully have Michal Psurny back in the lineup for next week's second leg in Telford, but do have the knowledge of knowing they can win there, after winning nearly every game there last season and beat them 6-5 in a shootout earlier in the competition in the group stage.

Ice Hockey: Devils 'LORD-ing' It Up in Cup Final Win

 

 

   

 

 

SHEFFIELD STEELERS       1    -     2     CARDIFF DEVILS 

 

 

Big crowd watch on at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield for Steelers v Devils

 
 

Two quick strikes by the Cardiff Devils in the second period was enough to see the Welsh side crowned Elite League Challenge Cup champions and add another crown to their illustrious history, after beating the Sheffield Steelers 2-1 in their opponent’s backyard at the Motor Point Arena in Sheffield.

From the drop of the puck it was played like a cup final, with both sides upping their hitting game and not giving any advantage to their opponents. The majority of the crowd inside the Motorpoint Arena wore the Orange of the Steelers, with those in the red who brought at least 1,000 fans from Cardiff did more than making up for being outnumbered.

Both teams tested the net minders early, with Ben Bowns in the Cardiff nets being called upon more than the Sheffield goaltender as the Steelers had the lion’s share of the puck.

Sheffield lost a man inside the opening ten minutes of the final, when the physical play culminated with both sides trying to take possession of the puck and when a scrum by the boards occurred, it saw Cardiff’s Josh Batch pushing a rival over and saw Tomas Petruska staying down and having to be helped off the ice with a leg injury. The first half of the game was big hit after big hit by both sides and made the contest a thoroughly enjoyable one to watch, with the officials letting the game flow and helped make it a very entertaining final.

Sheffield were the aggressors in the game, as the wave of black shirts saw the ‘home’ side having the better chances, but Bowns in the Devils net was doing a fantastic job in keeping the puck out. Cardiff started to create a couple of chances themselves, with the Devils forwards recycling the puck around and behind the Sheffield net. Which led to a scramble in front of the Steelers goal and with the nets coming off, Jonathon Phillips was called for tripping during the melee in the 13th minute. An unsuccessful power play for the visitors saw the Steelers kill off the man advantage for the Devils, in which saw the Sheffield side twice come close to scoring. One effort came from a blast at an angle that had Bowns saving the shot at his near post and with the home side seeing the net ripple; they thought they made the break through

The other chance fell to Jeff Legue who saw his shot fly over the bar and into the netting above the plexi glass, to see another wasted chance by the Steelers. Andrew Hotham then sat out for two minutes after being called for cross-checking in the 15th minute.
Cardiff was then awarded a penalty in the final embers of the first and would started the second period on the power play, after Jeff Legue got his stick caught in the skate of a Devils defenseman after he tried to hack the puck from him and despite his protests on what was a clear cut penalty against the Ontario native, it saw the visitors with the extra man advantage as the Sheffield man was called for slashing.

Cardiff looked a much faster outfit at the beginning of the second period and that was evident during their power play, to which the Devils forwards were moving the puck well and when Andrew Lord found himself in the slot and completely unmarked, he had the time to pick his spot and fire it by Josh Unice in the Sheffield nets for the 1-0 lead at 21.07, with Joey Martin and Carl Hudson assisting on the opening goal of the final. Sheffield, who had the better of the play in the first period, now found themselves trailing by one goal and that quickly became two, when a Trevor Hendrikx shot was tipped in by Chris Culligan near the front of the nets to put the Devils 2-0 up at 22.55.

Sheffield needed to try and quickly pull one back after the two quick fire goals, but Ben Bowns on more than one occasion saw him thwart the Steelers forwards as he made save after save. The Devils continued to exert pressure on the hosts, with the Cardiff forwards managing to always be the first to the loose puck every time and saw the hometown side clearly frustrated. The Welsh side were having the better shots in the second twenty, with the Steelers defense being forced into some desperate defending at times, to avoid giving up a third in the period as this surely would have meant curtains for them.

With the time running down, the Devils were close to making it three, when Andrew Lord managed to hold off an opposing player near the Sheffield goal and when he spotted his team mate skating in on goal, a fiercely struck shot on net which was well gloved by Josh Unice to keep it at a two goal game. As the horn sounded for the end of the period, the Steelers coach Gerard Adams had plenty to ponder in the period break, as his side were clearly lacking ideas having been stung by those two early goals.

In the third, the Devils were happy to just play defensively and stifle the play of the Steelers, with the home side pushing forward in their play and adding more pressure to the Cardiff defense. With every minute that went by, there was a mixture of emotions in the stands by both sets of supporters. For the Sheffield fans it was a case of seeing their side running out of time and unable to make any inroads on their foes. While for the Cardiff contingent, it was another minute nearer cup victory and was looking to be a fairly comfortable win for the Devils.
With the clock now showing less than ten minutes to play in the final, Devils Captain Tyson Marsh cleared the puck from danger, but could only shoot it out of play and received a 2 minute delay of game penalty at 50.35. This was a now or never situation for the Sheffield Steelers, yet they still continued to look for this perfect goal rather than just shooting on the net and hope for a rebound. Cardiff killed off the power play and three seconds after the penalty expired, Cullen Eddy managed to get to a loose puck and blast a shot through traffic and past Ben Bowns, to cut the lead to one goal and make it 2-1 with less than seven and half minutes left to play.

Sheffield was in the ascendancy now after that goal and it started a late rally by the Steelers on the Devils goal and saw the Welsh side with great difficulty in the closing stages of the match, trying to clear the puck away from goals. The Steelers piled forward with play being more down the Cardiff end in the remaining minutes of the game. Fans of both teams were on the edge of their seats, with the Orange army begging for a tying goal and for those in the Red and Green, it was a case of willing the clock to tick down quicker.

With less than a minute of play, Sheffield had the Devils on the ropes and was looking favorites to score again based on the run of play. The Steelers then pulled their netminder for the extra attacker and when they tried to find the empty net with five seconds remaining, the Devils fans started celebrating a bit prematurely and was forced to suffer a bit more, with three seconds being added to the clock. Cardiff managed to see the time out and with the Devils starting their celebrations, Matthieu Roy headed over towards the winning team and the Steelers joined him as the side had a mini scrum which was a minor sour note to end the game on as it was an good final.

 

Devils Captain TYSON MARSH lifts the CHALLENGE CUP TROPHY

Things quickly calmed down and with both teams shaking hands after an entertaining final between the two teams, the Steelers then headed off to their locker room whilst the victorious Cardiff Devils led by Todd Kelman saw them lift the Challenge Cup and with a couple of games in hand on their title rivals, there is still a chance they could lift the Elite League crown yet.

An interesting point is - these two meet again on Wednesday evening back at the Motorpoint Arena and with both teams closing the gap on Braehead, it makes the game even more of a must win game for both. Cardiff was worthy winners and made it even sweeter to win it on their long time rivals ice pad to.

 

Shots on Goal:

Cardiff:     22      - (  9 ,   8,   5)

Sheffield:  26   - (7,   7,   12)

PENALTIES IN MINUTES :

Cardiff:     4  PIMS

Sheffield : 4  PIMS

 

Devils:  Andrew Lord 1+0, Chris Culligan 1+0, Joey Martin 0+1, Carl Hudson 0+1, Trevor Hendrikx 0+1, Josh Batch 0+1.

Steelers: Cullen Eddy 1+0

Ice Hockey: Phantoms 'GHOST' Past a Poor Phoenix

MANCHESTER PHOENIX   2      PETERBOROUGH PHANTOMS    5

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The out-going English Premier League champions the Manchester Phoenix suffered a blank weekend this past week, as defeats on the road at Milton Keynes and then at home to a ruthless Peterborough Phantoms side sees the Phoenix almost certainly now finishing outside the top 5 for the first time since moving to the EPL back in 2009.

Saturday saw a 4-3 loss at Milton Keynes Lightning, where the hosts started on fire after racing into a 2-0 lead that was before the hosts came back and a late goal proved decisive to see MK Lightning come out victors. Sunday Night saw the Phoenix hoping to chase down their nearest rivals in the table, in the Peterborough Phantoms and it started off a fairly physical game with the hosts surprising their opponents with the hits they were putting on them to start with.

Joe Graham a former Phantom himself put a big hit at centre ice on an opposing player that was sent hard to the deck. Early exchanges being the two sides had the game played at like a playoff game tempo, with hard hits and aggressive play. Both sides seemed to cancel the other out and made for a very tight interesting contest after the opening 20 minutes of game. Peterborough came out the quicker in the second, and through it scored the game’s opening goal as Cameron McGriffin’s low drive on net beat everyone, including Manchester netminder Steve Fone to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead at 21.45 with Edgars Bebris and Dan Weldon with the assists.

Less than a minute later and the scores were tied up again, after Adam Walker netted an equaliser for the hosts with Frankie Bakrlik and Ben Wood picking up assists. From that point onwards it was mainly all one way traffic, with the Phantoms carving the Phoenix up like a turkey at Christmas time. Manchester tried to find shooting lanes on the visitors, but the defensive display by Peterborough did a great job at stifling their play and were hitting the hosts on the break many times.

So come 27.05 into the game and it came as no real surprise to see the Phantoms taking the lead once again, but it was a goal that was beautifully crafted and came from a poor turnover from Robin Kovar on his own blue line. Peterborough who was the more switched on and alert to everything going on, it saw them capitalise on the mistake and after Jason Buckman poked it ahead for a 2-on-0 for the Phantom, it saw Dan Weldon and Edgars Bebris playing a tic-tac-toe move in front of the Manchester nets and saw Bebris finish it off nicely with a lovely goal to move 2-1 in front.

The hosts were being torn apart and it was being caused by the Phoenix D playing a far too high line up the ice and it was allowing the Phantoms to have these 2 on 0’s or 2 on 1 breaks with regularity and it was leading to the host getting in all kinds of trouble. Peterborough continued to exert their pressure on the Phoenix, with the home side wilting under the constant attacks from the Phantoms forwards. The home side was being caught out of position constantly and once more it led to goal as Luke Ferrara made it 3-1 for the visitors, with the goal coming from yet another break from their own zone and saw one the Phantoms Ferrara brothers finding the back of the net, to open up a two goal cushion on their hosts with Milan Baranyk and Slava Koulikov credited with assists.

Manchester looked lost and lacked anything in the way of a cutting edge or ideas to their play and so the way that their opponents was cutting them up with ease, was clearly frustrating the natives. Lithuanian forward Darius Pliskauskas added a fourth for the visitors and that completed a miserable second period for the home side, to which the danger man for the Phantoms saw his shot just get by Fone and see Peterborough go 4-1 up and killed the game off in a sense. With less than thirty seconds to play in the period, it saw Bobby Chamberlain upend netminder Janis Auzins behind his own goals and saw no call coming from it.

However once the period came to an end it had the referee in Andy Miller, giving Bobby Chamberlain and Dan Weldon both ten-minute calls each, with Chamberlain collecting a Roughing call and then Weldon with a Abuse of official penalty all coming at 40.00.  The final period saw the home side come out and attempt to find the Phantoms net and try as they might, they just couldn’t simply find a way past the stubborn defense of the away side.

Janis Auzins proved to be a difficult nut to crack for the Phoenix, as the Latvian shot-stopper kept the puck out of the net with some breathtaking saves from the 37 shots he faced, Including stopping a near certain goal from going in with the handle of his stick to rob the hosts of a goal. James Ferrara then collected a ten minute misconduct call, after the forward argued too much over a penalty to Darius Pliskauskas for Slashing after the forward had punched Frankie Bakrlik after the whistle during a scrum near goals.

Peterborough who had dealt brilliantly with the Manchester forwards all game, now saw them come under fire and despite the Phantoms goal being peppered relentlessly by the home team, it saw the chances coming quickly and was a case of Manchester being unable to finish off and that was the difference between the sides. Bobby Chamberlain finally managed to see the hosts find a second goal, as his tap in at the back post beat Auzins after a Shaun Thompson pass to Robin Kovar was moved quickly and saw the Czech forward find the under-20 star in space and Chamberlain made it 4-2 score to give the Phoenix a sniff of a comeback at 53.29.

The comeback was snuffed out 41 seconds later, when Tom Norton passed up ice to player-coach Slava Koulikov and with two Peterborough players colliding in back play, it seemed to distract the hosts and despite the best attempts of the returning captain in Luke Boothroyd from injury from chasing him down, it saw Koulikov make a move on Fone and beat the goalie for a 5-2 score.

Manchester was playing for pride and despite cutting down the amount of breakaways that was needlessly being given up in the game, especially in the middle stanza. It saw the hosts being shut down by Auzins as he was putting on a master class of goaltending in the final twenty.  Auzins then produced a moment that had the home fans copying, as when the goalie lost his stick and took a puck to the mask, the Latvian netminder started to wave his hands in a kind of Evangelist preacher meets ‘Jazz hands’ motion that had the fans singing and joining in.

With 1.11 left to go in the contest it saw Frankie Bakrlik making it 5-3 and the score really flattered the hosts really, as the home side were never really in the game and saw the travelling Peterborough fans celebrate their sides magnificent victory and the Phantoms third ever win at the Altrincham Ice dome, as they like many others this season have found Phoenix out.

Luke Ferrara took the Man of the Match for the visitors and Johan Burlin took the award for the Phoenix.

Manchester have looked far in away a completely different team to the one that was league champions last year, as this game along with many others before this season, has shown that some aren’t pulling their weight and have looked like individuals than a unit for a majority of the time. Phoenix will now look for redemption next weekend as the take on the Phantoms again but this time down south and will look to bounce back at home in the upcoming British League Cup final 1st leg taking place the Thursday after against the newly crowned Telford Tigers.