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Bowie treble as Phoenix sting the Bees

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Manchester Phoenix 8 - 3 Bracknell Bees

An Iain Bowie hat-trick and a brace from Robert Lachowicz on Saturday night saw the Manchester Phoenix ease past a battling Bracknell Bees and draw level with Milton Keynes at the top of the English Premier League.

The first of the season by the Bracknell Bees to the Altrincham Ice Dome saw the visitors enjoy much the better of the opening period as the Phoenix struggled to find any real cohesion. And it was no great shock when the visitors opened the scoring in the tenth minute, Jaroslav Cecky rounding Steve Fone for the opening goal. Phoenix had Fone to thank just sixteen seconds later when he saved a penalty shot from Michal Pinc after Luke Boothroyd had deliberately impeded the Bees forward. Phoenix then went two men short due to penalties and Bracknell extended their lead, Pinc the scorer with the 14th minute powerplay marker.

Tony Hand had some strong words in the first interval and the response was almost instantaneous as he fed Adam Walker for the first Phoenix goal just over a minute into the second session. Phoenix drew level two minutes later as on a powerplay, Ed Courtenay superbly picked out Iain Bowie in space at the back post and the Scot swept home the equaliser. The home fans cheers though were stifled as Bracknell regained the lead within 15 seconds, Ryan Watt pouncing to beat Fone from short range. Phoenix still weren’t firing on all cylinders and needing a break, they got it when Bees netminder was penalised for delaying the game and the resulting powerplay saw Tony Hand find Ed Courtenay and the ace sniper crashed home his 16th goal of the season to send the teams to the second break sharing six goals.

If the Phoenix had somewhat stuttered through forty minutes, they clicked into a much smoother gear for the final session that saw them add five unanswered goals with Bowie and Lachowicz taking centre stage. Phoenix finally got their noses in front three minutes into the period on the powerplay as Andre Mattsson found Bowie for his second and less than two minutes later with Phoenix on yet another man advantage, Bowie completed his personal treble assisted by Hagelberg and Courtenay. Phoenix were now in charge and Robert Lachowicz quickly fired them into a three-goal lead. Bracknell were shell-shocked and after James Neil converted a Tony Hand pass for a 7-3 score inside eight third period minutes, they called Timeout to try and stem the tide of Phoenix scoring. The respite was only temporary as the 53rd minute saw Phoenix emphasise their superior firepower, Lachowicz taking a Joe Graham pass before blasting through the legs of Bees goalie Carl Ambler for his second of the night. Both goalies gave their back-up netminders the remainder of the game and both were able to kept clean sheets.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand noted, “Bracknell gave us plenty to think about in that first period where to be frank I was disappointed with the way we played. We had to work hard to draw level with them, but once ahead we never looked like relinquishing the lead. I’ve preached consistency to the team and yet we seem to keep having one poor period before we get into our stride. Tomorrow, we have a tough game away to Milton Keynes and we’ll need to be better for sixty minutes if we’re to take the points and go top of the table.”