Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Phoenix clinch League championship in title Showdown










 

Manchester Phoenix  5 – 2 Basingstoke Bison
( Phoenix are EPL Champions)
                        Archer , Schanbel, Psurny, Bakrlik, Kovar                                             Melachrino, Sheppard
                         

Manchester Phoenix clinched their Second English Premier League crown on Sunday night after a hard fought and fiercely contested win against the side that pushed them all the way to wire for the league championship in the Basingstoke Bison.
Manchester had a chance the night previous to make it easier on themselves when they made the trip down to Swindon`s Link Centre and a place that the Phoenix had won the previous two occasions. However a mixture of Manchester not playing well and Swindon Wildcats putting a very good solid team effort together and seen Swindon become the only side to inflict a shutout on the Phoenix , which made the task plain and clear for Manchester now in their quest for the title.
The permutations for the clash was easy, a win for Phoenix by two clear goals would see them become league champions, while a one goal win would see them still have their own destiny in their hands.
Manchester`s two remaining fixtures  saw very tricky games for the Champs-Elect, with a visit to Peterborough as that would see them have a case of deja vu from their last title run-in, when they last won it back in 2011.
That occasion saw Phoenix lose 6-2 and played an awfully similar way to how their weekend started off this time round too, the other equation was that IF they did lose, then that they would need Bison to drop points in their respective games against either Swindon away or Milton Keynes at home.




Fans of both teams filled the Altrincham Ice Dome with them ready for this title decider between the best two hockey clubs in the EPL this season.
Both sides tried to gain the upper hand on their opponent and saw both of them going shot to shot, check to check and butting heads like bulls in this fast paced intense game It had a feel more of a playoff game than a league match, but that inevitable as both sides knew what was up for grabs in the contest.
The game had exactly the same amount of excitement and buzz over it as the memorable Playoff Semi-final between these two sides in Coventry last season, on that occasion Manchester won edged out the their foe in a shoot-out win. Bison had Phoenix under a bit of pressure and then seen the game see-saw to Manchester as they had a large spell of possession to put the visitors on the back foot.
It saw the home side having a fair few shots on Dean Skinns in the Bison goals, with all the chances they generated it put Skinns on alert with the netminder looking a tad nervy as the Phoenix took shots from all angles and saw Skinns somehow always able to find a way to block the puck or divert it away.

During the opening period we then saw a horrible looking fall for Andrew Melachrino as the Bison forward collided with Rob Schnabel near to the boards and seen the Basingstoke player stay down, as it looked like when he fell backwards he seemed to hit the back of his head on the ice. Tony Hand and Michael Wales at mid ice came to a stop as they decided to stop play themselves despite the referee nearby not thinking it was bad enough to stop play, Melachrino got up after a few minutes after receiving treatment by both club physio`s and saw him eventually return to the bench .
The first goal it seemed would be huge in the context of things as that would give momentum to the side that lead with both sides pushing for the opener and had both netminder`s unsure of where the puck was at times at both ends of the rink.
Then at 12-01 gone in the game the opening goal came by the way of Phoenix forward James Archer, who has had a great scoring season for the Phoenix this year.  It all came after some panic in the Bison defence seen Tony Hand chase down a airbourne puck and quickly passed it out towards the slot beating the despairing dive of Joe Greener and Archer got it on his stick and fired it high into the net, to see a 1-0 lead to Manchester and seen the home fans go delirious.



Frantisek Bakrlik was then sent to the penalty box for a Holding penalty at 13-51 and he was joined fairly soon by his fellow countryman in Rob Schnabel, with the defenceman picking up an Interference call at 15-03 to see the home side on a 5 on 3 penalty kill.
Manchester then did fantastic job on the penalty kill which saw both players returned to the ice for the home side, but shortly after with the home side getting it back to five on five and then the Visitors scored a very fortuitous goal at 17-16.
Bison was searching for an equaliser and when Matt Selby shot at Steve Fone was stopped, the Phoenix netminder was trying to find where the puck had gone and as he looked down, the puck bounced on the line after it was caught up in his shirt and Andrew Melachrino was on hand to push home and made it a 1-1 game and seen another weird goal to be scored at the dome this year.
With a top of the table clash you can always expect some players to try and do anything they can in which to gain an upper hand by using some veteran moves, both sides used their own methods to try and get one up over the other side and saw Bakrlik come under some rough treatment by Michael Wales who at one point looked like they was going to drop the gloves and the Czech also came under for some treatment by Nicky Chinn, with a couple of Phoenix players stepping in too.


Aaron Connelly then limped heavily off to the Bench moments from the end of the period after a lovely hip check on the boards by Luke Boothroyd and saw him in a lot of discomfort before the end of period. Kurt Reynolds then picked up a late slashing call with nine seconds left in the first period to and would see them have a 1:51 remaining on the 5 on 4 powerplay, as the home side just shaded the first period.


In the Second period it saw Manchester fail to make anything on their early extra man advantage with the Bison returning back to full strength and seen Basingstoke come out with a bit more purpose in their play not, with the home side struggling to clear the puck from their zone for a early part of the period. Manchester then had their spell of possession in the period too and with Bison looking a bit rocked by the home side, Skinns produced a good save to deny the hosts a go ahead goal and see them breath a sigh of relief.
Sadly for Basingstoke it was just prolonging the wait as Rob Schnabel wrist shot beat Dean Skinns for 2-1 too see Manchester retake the lead once more with Psurny and Hand assisting at 29-51.
Nicky Chinn then managed to get behind the Phoenix backline and en route to goal before he somehow managed to trip himself up and lost control of the puck in doing so, which drew a loud ironic cheer by the Phoenix faithful as he slid towards the boards.
Tomas Karpov then had an attack which saw him skate that quickly on goal that he didn`t seem to be able to stop himself and used the goals as a safety net, with the Czech Republic native tumbling dramatically inside the Phoenix nets with Fone getting out of the way quickly, as Karpov took the net off in the process.
It seemed also like a few Bison players were trying to impersonate 'Bambi on ice' as a couple of them seemed to be on the ice more than stood up.



Manchester then increased their lead at 34-29, when a counter-attack led by Michal Psurny saw him play in James Archer down the left side and his drop pass went to Tony Hand, Hand then make a pass towards the back post and had Psurny finish off the move with the Czech man tapping it into an unguarded net, with Skinns caught out of position for a 3-1 lead and looked to have been the goal that would see Phoenix pull away. 
Alas for Phoenix it wasn`t to be the case, as exactly a minute of play from Phoenix going two goals up in the game, Bison forechecking pressured the Phoenix defence causing Schnabel to lose the puck and had Andrew Melachrino persistence pay off as his pass fell to Player-Coach of the Bison in Doug Sheppard and he stuck it high over Fone Shoulder to score with a nice back handed effort, that made it 3-2 to the home side at 35-24 and looked to be game on again or so we thought. 

A couple minutes from the Bison pulling a goal back, it seen them trying to kill off a Phoenix powerplay as Joe Rand picked up a Boarding penalty on Luke Boothroyd who wasn`t impressed by the hit what so ever and then saw Ciaran Long follow for a Tripping call to see them on a 5 on 3 powerplay with penalties at 35-12 & 36-19.
From the two man advantage it saw Manchester pulling Bison all over the place and just as Rand`s penalty had expired,  Frantisek Bakrlik then passed out to Robin Kovar and his shot came off the boards behind the Bison net and saw Tony Hand quick to put it in and restore their two goal lead again which was what they needed.
Phoenix led 4-2 with 37-55 of the game gone and saw Basingstoke upping their shooting now as they were trying to find a way back into the game now. Manchester then held on to the two goal lead as we headed into the second intermission of the play and saw Bison shade the period, but Manchester was being more clinical in their finishing



As we headed to the third and final period, Manchester had twenty minutes to keep their two goal lead intact and for them to become league champions. Basingstoke much like the second period came out the traps quicker in the third and they needed to fire in a quick goal to ruin the party and also give Phoenix something to think about as well as it could see them possibly draw level if they got to a good start.
Jacob Corson-Heron then picked up a High Stick penalty when he tussling with a opponent and in doing so caught a passing Bison player that was skating close by at 42-32, Phoenix did another great job in killing the penalty off as their penalty kill unit was excellent the whole game.
James Archer then got a stick to the face himself with Andrew Melachrino sitting for two minutes for a High Sticks call at 49-47 and saw the penalty seemed to take the wind out of Basingstoke`s sails. Phoenix tried to find a fifth goal but Skinns stood up well and saw the Manchester powerplay not make too much of it as Bison did well themselves in killing off their respective penalty.




Joe Baird then took a Hooking penalty for the Bison, when his stick was wrapped around Frantisek Bakrlik with the Czech forward twisting and turning his way through the visitors defence, but Baird upended him at 51-46.
 Manchester was now looking comfortable in the game for the first time and seen them pinning the herd in their zone, with their opponents now trying to launch one last final push and resulted in Robin Kovar shooting the puck out of the 
playing surface for a Delay of Game call at 55-47.Nerves then started to slightly creep into the Manchester play now, with the possibly chance that the two goal lead could easily disappear and see them lose out on the chance to clinch the title if they switched off at the back if they conceded now.
With under two minutes remaining in the game now, Phoenix was soaking up the Bison pressure and trying to counter when they can, while they were mainly defending for all their worth.



Kovar Empty net goal makes it 5-2
Basingstoke pulled Skinns for the extra man and saw Robin Kovar have an effort that went wide and seen play come all the way back inside the Phoenix zone with 0:24 on the scoreboard for an Icing call.
Phoenix had to hold off one last attack by their rivals, before the puck was played round the boards and saw Kovar collect and flip it down the ice to have the crowd counting down to victory.


With the Phoenix faithful getting to one second the puck crossed the line to seal the victory and more importantly another League title success for Tony Hand and his men, with the traditional ritual of players throwing sticks and equipment up in the air with joy to start the party at the Ice Dome with Manchester Phoenix becoming the Newly-crowned EPL Champions of 2013/14 season and a win that goes along with their Playoff success at the back end of last season.








English Premier League
GP
W
OTW
OTL
L
GF
GA
Pts
1
Manchester Phoenix  (CHAMPIONS)
52
33
4
2
13
224
151
76
2
Basingstoke Bison
52
30
5
2
15
200
155
72
3
Guildford Flames
53
26
5
5
17
209
171
67
4
Milton Keynes Lightning
52
24
6
3
19
196
174
63
5
Telford Tigers
52
24
4
0
24
186
173
56
6
Swindon Wildcats
51
20
6
2
23
174
165
54
7
Sheffield Steeldogs
52
17
2
8
25
183
218
46
8
Bracknell Bees
52
17
3
4
28
162
204
44
9
Peterborough Phantoms
52
17
0
8
27
172
219
42
10
Slough Jets
52
15
2
3
32
155
231
37













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Wednesday, 12 March 2014

BOD signs off at home for Ireland, France steal a win and England gets revenge







IRELAND  46 - 7  ITALY

Brian O Driscoll gets a guard of honor as he leaves the field :  Pic:ESPN Scrum


Ireland remain top of the Six Nations Championship table as they thrashed Italy 46-7 at the Aviva Stadium as the home crowd bid a farewell to one of it`s sporting legends and gave a great send off to Brian O` Driscoll, in what was the famous number Thirteen`s final appearance in the famous Green jersey of Ireland at home.
The game it`s self  was another example of domination by the home side as they pulled apart the Italian side with ease, in what was really a sideshow around Brian O` Driscoll final home for his Country.


It took just Six minutes of play to see the man in action as the centre shown off his handling skills to perfection, to help set up the first try. Johnny Sexton led the attack and after a little quick one-two with O Driscoll, Sexton dashed for the line and scored the opening points of the game with the Irish getting into their stride early, leading 7-0 with the extras.
Italy then scored a try of their own after Andrew Trimble put a beast of a hit on Paul Derbyshire which then saw the ball ran loose and collected by Leonardo Sarto, who ran down the touchline before dropped the shoulder with the oncoming Rob Kearney and saw Sarto go behind the posts for a 7-7 score.

 Sexton runs to the line  :Telegraph.co.uk
  Johnny Sexton kicked over a penalty for the hosts and then saw Trimble go over for another Ireland try, with some unhappy over the try being awarded. As in the build up to it, Ireland had run the ball right next to where Gordon D`Arcy was getting some treatment by the physio on the pitch and saw O Driscoll then make chest pass toward to Trimble, which saw him take the pass and go over for 17-7 with Sexton adding the two points.


Cian Healy then grabbed the third try for Ireland after he picked the ball up from a ruck and saw him crash over from close range unchallenged for a 22-7 scoreline. Not too long after O Driscoll was at his best once again as while being held by the defence, the Centre then had presence of mind and the unbelievable strength to flip a ball out wide to the Kearney brothers, as first off Rob had the ball before David came on the overlap and he in turn played it back for Sexton who joined on the play to score his second try of the game and put the game out of reach now for the Italians at 27-7 after 59 minutes of the game gone.
The Aviva Stadium then all stood to give a standing ovation to Brian O Driscoll in his final Home game for the Irish as he was replaced on the hour mark and seen the fans continue to applaud and show their appreciation for  the most capped player not only for Ireland but the history of the game too collecting his 140 cap of his Illustrious career.


Ireland then grabbed their 5th try of the game, with them turning over the ball from Italy and from there saw the ball played to substitute Sean Cronin and he dashed in the corner in the 68th minute, with Paddy Jackson kicking the extra points for a 34-7 score.
Andrew Trimble scores Try for Irish:  BBC Sports
Italy was physically battered and broken by the Irish, so it came as no surprise when they continued to pile the pressure on more and score another try, with Fergus McFadden taking a pass from Eoin Reddan and McFadden had a clear run to the line as Ireland was handing out a damn good beating to the visitors.
With the 80th minute gone, Italy must have thought the home side would just kick the ball out to end the game and take pity, but they were wrong. The home side went in search of one last try and they got it, when Jack McGrath picked it up from the ruck and powered through the shattered Italian defence to see Ireland record their SIXTH try of the game and make it 46-7 and another rampant performance by the leaders and favourites to win the Championship. 



SCOTLAND   17 - 19  FRANCE 



Pic: BBC Sports
  


Scotland will look back on this game and think it wasn`t France that beat them, it was Scotland that beat themselves as they were in control for the majority of the game. It was the away side that took the lead after the first minute of play with Maxime Machenaud kicking over a penalty and then extended the lead with another penalty to see them 6-0 up.
Hugent bolts the full length of pitch for try: bbc sports
Scotland then scored a try from nothing as Stuart Hogg put up a high kick into the French in-goal area and saw Yoann Hugent and Brice Dulin get involved in another mess in defence and saw Sean Lamont get in the mix too, but instead saw the two French players mess up their lines and Hogg caught the ball and grounded it for a try, to see the Scots 7-6 up with Greig Laidlaw kicking the conversion. 





Machenaud then kicked a penalty over for the visitors which saw them moved back ahead to go 9-7, that was till Tommy Seymour scored a well worked try by Scotland as a lot of quick hands by the hosts saw Duncan Weir pass to Matt Scott and he then switched it back to Seymour who galloped to the line and put the home side 14-9 up, with Laidlaw continuing his 100% kicking record. 
Scotland headed into the half time break leading as the French looked far from a side that was challenging for the title this season, based on this and previous performances. 

France was then gifted points by the home side when the Scots was pushing their opponents back in their own 22 and so when an attempted long pass was intercepted by Hugent in the middle of the defence, he then ran the full length of the field to score a sensational solo try and see Machenaud kick over the two point conversion for a 16-14 score line. 


Duncan Weir who was the hero two weeks ago for the Scots with a drop goal against Italy saw him kick over another drop goal, to see the Murrayfield crowd rise to their feet in celebrations and see the hosts take a slim one point advantage for a 17-16 lead after 61 minutes of the game.
The home side looked almost certain to hold on as the French was looking clueless and out of sorts in this contest.  
With just over five minutes in the game left to go Duncan Weir had a chance to seal the win for the Scots with a penalty kick, but unfortunately for him and the home side the kick swerved away of the right hand post and seen the ball go wide.
France was then handed a chance to steal the win from their hosts as Jean-Marc Doussain kicked what proved to be the winning points in the game as from 20 metres out, Doussain converted the kick and the French picked up a lucky 19-17 win. Scotland will look back and wonder how on earth they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, when the Scots were in charge for the game.





ENGLAND  29 - 18  WALES 


Danny Care takes the applause after scoring the opening try: Telegraph.co.uk


England had been waiting a year for this fixture to come as they looked to get revenge on the Welsh for last year’s title decider in Cardiff`s Millenium Stadium, where Wales had bullied, battered and demolished the England side with power and pace and seen them humbled by the Champions. 

This time round though, the shoe would be on the other foot with England dishing out their own revenge for their loss and in doing so killed off any chances of Wales retaining their title, for what would have been a historic three championships in a row. 
Wales made good start when their scrum won an early penalty inside the opening couple of minutes and that was what helped the Welsh win last time out against their bitter rival. That was as good as it got for Wales as England then started to step up after that early setback in the scrum and saw the home side drive toward the Welsh line.
Wales in the process conceded a penalty and saw Danny Care take a quick tap on the five-metre line, with the England man`s quick thinking seen him quickly crash over for a try with the away side switching off and was the easiest try Care will ever score in his career.
Owen Farrell who endured a torrid game in that encounter Twelve months ago in Cardiff, saw his kicking immaculate all day with the boot and recorded a 100% success rate to give the hosts lead 7-0.


Wales was then awarded a penalty after Courtney Lawes failed to roll away at the ruck and saw Wales kicker Leigh Halfpenny have the simplest of penalty kicks to see the score become 7-3 in favour of the English.


Burrell dives over for the try:  BBC SPORTS
Both sides then traded penalty kicks with England not keeping their discipline as they were battering the Welsh side, but they were making silly errors and helped the champions stay within touch of the home side at the half hour mark, with the score moving onto 13-9 to England. 
French Referee Roman Poite then wanted to join in on the game himself as he blocked off a Welsh tackler and then got a little hit from Courtney Lawes to see him run into a massive gap, before play being brought back for a scrum. Poite the former French detective then held his hand up over the incident and saw both teams raise a smile over it all.
However both sides were soon back at it and saw England grab a try through the quick thinking of Billy Twelvetrees, as his grubber kick behind the Wales defence in the corner, saw Luther Burrell first to it and got downward pressure on it for a try to make it 18-9 before Farrell added two more points to the total for 20-9.


England continued to shoot themselves in the foot, giving away two late penalties in the first half which handed Wales a lifeline with Halfpenny kicking both over to see his side to trail by five points at half time, losing 20-15. 
The second half saw Owen Farrell kick over a penalty for England with the hosts forcing the Welsh to concede the penalty at the scrum and with the kick seen England move further ahead.
Gethin Jenkins was then shown the yellow card and made to sit out the game for ten minutes and put his side down to 14 men in the process after all the warning he was constantly given for over not rolling away. 



Triple crown winners :Yahoo sports
   Farrell stepped up and slotted over 26-15 and if England had been disciplined enough in the match, then Wales would not have scored. Plus all the points the Welsh did score came from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny and it wasn`t just the boot that he tried to help Wales with as he made a last ditch tackle on Lawes to stop him grabbing another try. In stopping the try Halfpenny suffered a dislocated shoulder and had to be substituted as his Six Nations campaign came to a painful end along with England dismantling them too.
Farrell completed the scoring in the game as he helped kick England to revenge and a victory that gave them the Triple Crown along with hopes of landing the title next weekend, depending on if they can beat Italy in Rome and also on how the Ireland/France game finishes up too.



POS
TEAMPLWDLPFPADIFFTFTAPTS
1No change (1)IRELAND430111029811326
2No change (2)ENGLAND4301865432746
3Up (4)FRANCE430181783776
4Down (3)WALES42027176-5464
5No change (5)SCOTLAND41034487-43482
6No change (6)ITALY400452120-686140

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