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Phoenix off to a winning start

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Manchester Phoenix head coach Rick Brebant declared himself ‘reasonably happy,” after his Phoenix team won their first competitive game on Wednesday night.

Icing seven players from the Northwest, six import players and a trialist, the Phoenix defeated an English Premier League All-Star team by a 3-1 score line at the Deeside Leisure Centre.

George Awada scored the first ever Phoenix goal with Mike Morin and trialist Dustin Robin also netting. But, the star of the show was local netminder Dave Clancy who stopped 30 of the 31 shots that he faced and deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award for the home side.

Clancy remarked, “I was told last week that I would play most if not all of this game and that made me nervous. However, the club did right, I got rid of my nerves over the weekend and was actually really looking forward to tonight. I was disappointed with the shot that beat me, but I was determined not to let it play on my mind.”

Brebant commented, “For our first game, it was satisfactory. We still haven’t got a complete roster and by the time we play the second of these two games against the EPL next Wednesday, I will have two possibly three more players on the ice.”

“Clancy did very well in goal,” he continued, “and I was pleased for him as Deeside is his local rink and everyone there knows him. I thought George Awada did very well and Eric Lind played both as a forward and his customary defensive position. Tonight was our first run out and we have almost a week of training before we play them again. We need to work on our level of conditioning and the simple systems we intend to use in the Elite League. Overall though, I was reasonably happy – a win is a win and that builds confidence in player and fans alike.”