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Champs fightback halts Phoenix run

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Coventry Blaze 3 - 2 Manchester Phoenix

Defending league champions Coventry Blaze were made to fight all the way on Saturday night as they overturned a two-goal deficit to send Phoenix to their first loss in six games.

Phoenix journeyed to the Midlands on Saturday for their first match-up of the season with the Coventry Blaze looking to extend their run of unbeaten games to six and two goals in the ninth minute saw them set the champions a mountain to climb. Luke Fulghum fired Phoenix ahead and just 36 seconds later, Nathan Ward latched onto a feed from Bruce Mulherin to double the lead and give the champions something to think about. Phoenix killed an interference penalty on Alex Dunn, but whilst the man advantage had passed, the growing Blaze pressure saw Mathias Soderstrom reduce the arrears in the 15th minute.

The second period saw Phoenix work hard to kill two more penalties as Coventry piled on the pressure with plenty of shots for Stephen Murphy in the Phoenix goals to deal with before the home side ran into mid-session penalty issues. Phoenix failed to take advantage on their powerplay as first Russ Cowley and then Danny Stewart, twice, sat minors and they then had to recover to keep the Blaze at bay as Luke Boothroyd and Kenton Smith were both penalised late in the scoreless session.

Coventry drew level in the 45th minute as last seasons leading goalscorer Adam Calder tallied firing the puck from the corner and deflecting past Murphy off a skate to swing the momentum of the game the way of the home side. Phoenix dug in and battled back forcing Calder into a high-Sticking minor but once again, the powerplay unit couldn’t make the breakthrough. This shortfall in the Phoenix was cruelly punished in the 56th minute as with Luke Fulghum in the penalty box, Sylvain Deschatelets fired the Blaze go-ahead goal. Phoenix were given another late powerplay, but the Blaze hung on for their hard-fought victory to hand the visitors their first reversal in six outings.

A Phoenix spokesperson remarked, “Skydome is a difficult place to come to as the fans make it an intimidating atmosphere. We got off to a great start thanks to the strikes from Luke and Nate, but always knew that Coventry would respond. We’re a bit disappointed to lose two goals that went in off skates, but that’s just unfortunate for us tonight, as we’ll benefit at some point in the season from this kind of thing. We battled hard, the boys played well and we’re unlucky not to get a point for a dogged performance.”