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Dogs bite the Phoenix

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Manchester Phoenix 2 - Sheffield Steeldogs 3 (in overtime.)

Phoenix scorers: Robin Kovar and Frantisek Bakrlik.

J  Davidson sponsored “Men of Iron”, Manchester Phoenix fell to the Sheffield Steeldogs for the second time in an English Premier League match at the Ice Dome on Thursday night.

Phoenix started the match without injured forwards James Archer and Jacob Corson Heron. Steeldogs were without influential import Jeff Legue and forward Craig Elliot.

The home side started well and tested Dalibor Sedlar early on with shots from Frankie Bakrlik and Robin Kovar. The puck was camped in the Steeldogs’ defensive end for the first few minutes but it was the Dogs who took the lead with a typical break out goal. Defender Steve Duncombe passed down the right to Andy Hirst and the puck worked its way to an unmarked Lubomir Korhon who sent the rubber past Stephen Fone timed at 4.41. Phoenix were peppering the Steeldogs’ goal from all angles and hit the pipes twice but could not find a way to get the puck into the net and the period ended with the visitors leading 1-0 but being outshot 30-13.

The crowd were not seeing any of the unsavoury incidents that had marred the last meeting between the teams as both went for the win in the second period. Korhon scored his and his team’s second of the night on 30.46. Assists went to Lee Haywood and Tim Smith. This seemed to deflate Phoenix a bit as they once again dominated play but could not find a way past the ever confident Sedlar. They eventually did beat the Dogs’ goalie on 36.31. A Frankie Bakrlik shot came off the post and Robin Kovar was on hand to score. End of 40 min and Sheffield still held a narrow one goal lead.

Much of a muchness in the third with Phoenix pressing the resolute Steeldogs defence and the visitors looking very dangerous on the break. Phoenix hit a deserved equaliser on 46.40 with a superb goal. Michal Psurny found Luke Boothroyd all alone just inside the blue line and his rocket shot was tipped in by Frankie Bakrlik. There was no further scoring in the match but Phoenix found themselves behind the eight ball for the remainder of the period due to a plethora of calls against them as Mr Miller seemed to find his whistle needed a work out. Bobby Collins went for a trip closely followed by Luke Boothroyd on a hooking call that was seen by only one person in the rink. Having survived a five on three, Phoenix again found themselves on another two man disadvantage as Joe Graham was called for tripping and Michal Psurny received a boarding call. Joe was also given a 10 minute misconduct for tapping the plexi glass with his stick. Phoenix managed to survive again but would go into overtime two men down.

Lloyd Gibson was sent to the penalty box on a hooking call with just 11 seconds gone in the overtime period but this was to prove crucial to  Phoenix when his penalty ended as he exited the box and latched on to a Korhon pass to send the puck past Stephen Fone for the game winning goal.  Both player coaches, Tony Hand and Andre Payette also picked up 10 minute misconducts to take the penalty count to 54 minutes in a contest that did not really warrant it.

Coach Hand said after the game:

“I am very disappointed with the result but pleased that we created many chances. However, when we have 60 plus shots on goal I expect us to score more than two goals. That is something we will work on over the next week. Credit to Steeldogs though; they battled hard and defended well.”

The next Phoenix home game is on Saturday night when they play the Billingham Stars in the EPL Challenge Cup. Face off is at 19:00.