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Hewitt strike earns Phoenix valuable playoff point

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A priceless goal from Jason Hewitt and another terrific display of goaltending by Jayme Platt saw the Manchester Phoenix go top of their playoff group with a draw against Elite League champions Sheffield on Thursday night.

Having soaked up masses of early pressure from the Steelers, Dwight Parrish found Chad Brandimore in the neutral zone and his superb cross-ice pass to the right wing found Hewitt in enough space to beat Steelers goalie Christian Bronsard in the 15th minute. The Phoenix lead was short-lived as Kirk DeWaele equalised under 90 seconds later. In a game that Sheffield dominated territorially, Phoenix never gave up despite losing Rick Brebant to a thigh injury midway through the first period. Phoenix adjusted their lines and matched the Steelers throughout an entertaining encounter. Neither side could force a winner in the overtime period and the point gained puts Phoenix top of the group on goal difference ahead of Sheffield .

Head coach Paul Heavey said, “That was a battle and it got even harder after we lost Rick to injury. The boys worked very hard and now we know that we need one point from our two remaining games to make it to the finals weekend and if Sheffield were to win in Belfast in regulation time on Friday, then we would qualify as Belfast would not be able to catch us. We worked hard and took a few more bumps and bruises, but that’s playoff hockey for you.”

Goalscorer Jason Hewitt noted, “I got a great pass from Brandy and to be honest I just hit it, I didn’t really shoot the puck, just hit it and it went in. It was a great feeling to score in such a big game, but they equalised quickly and that brought me back down to earth.”