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Phoenix to meet Giants and Steelers

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Manchester Phoenix will go up against the newly-crowned Elite League champion Sheffield Steelers and the fourth placed Belfast Giants in the post-season playoff championship. The second playoff group sees the Nottingham Panthers face the Coventry Blaze and Cardiff Devils.

Phoenix coach Paul Heavey commented, "It doesn't really matter which teams you get grouped with, all the games will be competitive and tough. A lot of people have said we'd have been better trying to avoid these two teams, but at the end of the day, if you want to win the playoffs, you have to beat whoever is put in front of you, you can't pick and choose.”

He added, "If you check our regular season records against all the teams that have qualified, ours against Sheffield and Belfast stack up as good as the rest and certainly better than our record against Nottingham. It's a whole new season now and I know it's a cliché, but we'll just take one game at a time and do our best to qualify for the finals weekend in April.”

Heavey continued, "we have a couple of nagging injuries that we'd like cleared up and it would help if we don't have to play until next weekend. But, if the fixtures pitch us into action this midweek, then so be it. We'll be working hard on preparing our guys for the post-season which invariably sees the level of intensity and passion go up a notch or two. We'll be the underdog team of our group in most peoples eyes and that suits me because it will ease the pressure a little and the underdog often has the last laugh.”