Bison herded out of town

Sunday, 12th January 2014

Manchester Phoenix 5 - Basingstoke Bison 2

Phoenix scorers: Luke Boothroyd x 2, Ben Wood, Frantisek Bakrlik, James Archer.

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix returned to the Dome after a disappointing result on Saturday against Milton Keynes and convincingly beat title rivals Basingstoke Bison 5-2.

A large crowd saw the home favourites start well after a 15 minute delay to repair a broken plexi panel and pin the Bison back in their own zone. However, the visitors slowly got themselves into the contest and took the lead on 10.30. Neat work between Karpov and Long found Melachrino, whose neat shot put his team 1-0 up.

Just over two minutes later, Phoenix were 2-1 up. On 11.24 Bakrlik and Kovar worked the puck across the red line and found Ben Wood hovering on the Bison blue line. The young defender unleashed an absolute rocket that was past the Bison netminder before he could even move. 30 seconds later the crowd were up on their feet again as Frankie Bakrlik slid the puck through Dean Skinns’ five hole and put the home team in the lead.

Phoenix dominated the second period and peppered the Bison goal with shot after shot but Skinns was having a superb game, keeping the hungry Phoenix forwards at bay. Phoenix captain Luke Boothroyd made it 3-1 on 22.54 with a typical back post goal, assisted by James Archer and Tony Hand. On 31.30 the same player made it 4-1, this time assisted by Tony Hand and Robert Schnabel.

Phoenix thought they had made it 5-1 on 38.53 with a Frankie Bakrlik shot but, after awarding the goal, the officials washed it out for an injury to the netminder.

The period ended early to allow Skinns to get some treatment and the teams played out the final 1.17 after a break. A surprisingly fit again Skinns returned to the game after this break. Bison scored with 24 seconds left in the second period when Karpov scored after what appeared to be a slash on Robin Kovar at centre ice.

Bison came back into the game in the third and Stephen Fone had to be at his best, especially during a long 3 on 5 penalty kill with just under 10 minutes left.

James Archer scored the only goal of the period on 57.25. Assists went to Jack Watkins and Richard Bentham. Final score 5-2 to Phoenix.

Phoenix man of the match Luke Boothroyd commented after the match:

“It was vital we bounced back after Saturday’s result and we were determined to get a result. The whole team worked hard and played well and deserved the 2 points.”

Phoenix are in action next Sunday evening against Slough Jets with the usual face off at 1730hrs.