News

Phoenix gearing up for Steelers clash

Tweet

Manchester Phoenix return home to the MEN Arena this coming Friday with a mouth-watering clash against the league-leading Sheffield Steelers.

Phoenix narrowly lost out to their South Yorkshire rivals in a 3-2 overtime loss in Sheffield on Sunday and the quick chance to gain revenge cannot come quick enough.

Head coach Rick Brebant remarked, “They’re riding high right now, but they know we’re a good team and are on the rise. I intend to make things uncomfortable for them on Friday when they come into our barn. Mike Blaisdell and myself go back a long way and now we’re on opposite sides again, so we’re both out to be top of the heap.”

Last weekend, the Steelers coach refused Brebant complimentary entrance to a Steelers home game and the intensity and level of rivalry between them has increased as a result. Brebant noted, “I know Mike was trying a stunt and I won’t let it cloud my judgement. I’m here to win games for the Phoenix and if them making me pay to get in gives them a laugh, so be it. Mike can come here whenever he wants to watch a game, he might need to as we are going to get better and better and he’ll need to see it to believe it.”

Former Sheffield player Jeff Sebastian added, “We played well on Sunday and whilst we were happy with a point on the road, we are not satisfied. Satisfaction comes from winning games and we won’t be happy till we get into a winning groove. We intend to start that groove on Friday. It’s a big game for us, but it’ll be an even bigger game for them. We were unlucky to lose in overtime when their game-winning goal took a kick off my stick, so we want the two points next time and not from overtime.”