Phoenix make it an eightsome reel

Sunday, 15th January 2012

Manchester Phoenix 6 - Milton Keynes Lightning 3

Phoenix scorers: Tom Duggan x 2, Juraj Faith, Ben Wood, Jaroslav Spelda and Ladislav Harabin

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix made it eight from eight at the Ice Dome on Sunday night with a convincing 6-3 win over close rivals Milton Keynes Lightning.

Phoenix were missing player/coach Tony Hand and Lightning were without Ross Bowers.

The home side made a great start with a goal on 1.36 as Tom Duggan brought the puck out from behind the net , spun round and hit a shot past Alex Mettam. Assists were awarded to James Archer and Stephen Wallace. The lead didn’t last too long. Lightning attacked the left wing and Adam Carr took advantage of a defensive lapse to score on 2.51. With 3.17 left in the period, Phoenix took the lead again with a brilliant short-handed goal. Josh Ward had 2 seconds left on a slashing penalty when James Neil found Martin Cingel on the half way line. He broke into the Lightning zone with Tom Duggan finding space on the right wing. A neat pass and a one time shot from Tom and the fans were on their feet. That ended the scoring in the first period and a tight entertaining game took a break with the score at 2-1 to Phoenix.

Lightning equalised on 25.04 with a fine power play goal. Grant McPherson and Leigh Jamieson combined to release Juraj Gracik in front of goal and the big import made no mistake for 2-2. In a see-saw game Phoenix took the lead again when the first line came good. Martin Cingel passed to Slava Koulikov who found Juraj Faith all alone at the back post and the sniper made no mistake. Once again the lead was short lived and Lightning hit back just 79 seconds later, this time courtesy of a Grant McPherson goal, assisted by Michael Wales. Phoenix had to survive a long 3 on 5 penalty kill when both Harabin and Spelda fell foul of a couple of strange penalty calls. There was no further scoring in the period and the game was delicately balanced at 3-3.

The third period was the story of the rocket shot and the five hole. Phoenix won the match with three unanswered goals in the period, all from shots that found their way through Alex Mettam’s five hole. The first came on 44.35 when a rare goal from Ben Wood put Phoenix in the lead. Ben broke free on the right and hit a shot through Mettam. Assists on this goal went to Ryan Johnson and Josh Ward. Three minutes later it was time for another Spelda rocket as the big d man took a pass from Luke Boothroyd to blast the puck into the Lightning net. Ladislav Harabin finished the scoring on 51.29 with another blue line blaster, assisted by Tom Duggan. Phoenix then played the game out for the points and another 4 point weekend.

Man of the match awards went to Luke Boothroyd for Phoenix and Juraj Gracik for Lightning.

Coach Hand said after the game: “It was a good game tonight with both teams battling hard for a win. Milton Keynes played well and the game could have gone either way. Ben Wood’s goal was crucial for us and a big, big goal in the game. I am really pleased with the guys’ efforts again this weekend and we are beginning to make teams sit up and notice us.”