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Cup double for Phoenix

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Billingham Stars 1 - Manchester Phoenix 6

Phoenix scorers: Michal Psurny x 2, Shaun Thompson, Adam Walker, Bobby Chamberlain and Ben Wood.

J Davidson sponsored “Men of Iron”, Manchester Phoenix, made it a 4 point cup weekend with a competent win at NIHL Billingham Stars on Sunday night.

With the rules of the competition stating only 2 imports allowed Phoenix swapped Johan Burlin for Robin Kovar from the previous night’s game. Phoenix also iced Minotaur players Rhys Gillatt, Oliver Bayne and Joe Greaves. 

Just as on Saturday night, Phoenix camped themselves in the Stars’ zone from the first face off and it was no surprise when they took the lead on 4.15 with a Shaun Thompson shot, assisted by Bobby Chamberlain and Adam Walker. James Flavell in the Stars’ net also carried on from his stellar performance on Saturday with a series of good saves to prevent Phoenix running away with the game in the early stages. However, there was nothing he could do on 13.03 when Adam Walker went on a meandering skate round behind the Stars’ net and slid the puck past the keeper for an excellent wraparound goal. The period ended with Phoenix dominating the game, outshooting their opponents 26-11 and leading 2-0.

Phoenix continued to hog most of the possession in the second period but were rocked a little when Stars scored a neat goal on 28.38 through Jack Emerson, assisted by Paul Windridge. Stephen Fone made a good pad save from Windridge’s shot but was helpless when Emerson slotted the puck home at the post. Straight from the face off, Stars’ David Thomas went to the box on a bizarre tripping call and Phoenix took full advantage with a power play goal. Luke Boothroyd found Adam Walker who dropped the puck back to a waiting Michal Psurny on the point and his rocket shot flew past Flavell to restore the two goal advantage. Two late period goals by Michal Psurny and Bobby Chamberlain put the game beyond the Stars. The first of them came on 37.08 with another Michal Psurny rocket, this time from the right point, with Luke Boothroyd and Adam Walker getting the assists. With just six seconds of the period left, Bobby Chamberlain got on the score sheet with a delayed penalty goal, assisted by Jack Watkins. Although Phoenix went for their second cup of tea with a healthy 5-1 lead, the home side gave their fans a fair bit to cheer with some plucky play that tested Stephen Fone on a couple of occasions.

Phoenix again came out of the traps with attacking intent and scored a 6th goal on 41.32. Ben Wood took a pass from Adam Walker and skated in on goal from the left, deking the netminder and slotting the puck home. A second assist went to Bobby Chamberlain. With the game out of reach, Phoenix gave the second and third lines plenty of ice time in the third as they continued to press the beleaguered Stars’ defence for most of the period. However Phoenix netminder Stephen Fone had to keep alert when the Stars’ forwards threatened. The game ended with no further scoring and the large travelling band of Phoenix Faithful went home happy.

Man of the Match awards went to Adam Walker for Phoenix and Andy Finn for the home side. A final event worthy of note was the Phoenix team staying on the ice to applaud their opponents and the rare event of a victory wave by the team after a request from the home fans. Great friendly end to Phoenix’s first ever trip to the Forum in Billingham.

Coach Hand said after the game:

“It has been a good weekend for us. Every point in the cup group is going to be vital and I thought the boys did a professional job out there tonight. The guys that came into the team for the game all did well and played their part in the win. Stars gave us a couple of challenging games and we needed to stay focussed on the job in hand. All credit to Billingham and their organisation for their hospitality tonight.”

Manchester Phoenix’s next home game will be on Sunday against local team the Blackburn Hawks. The Hawks will want to put one over on their neighbours and this game will be one you will not want to miss. Face off is at the usual time of 17:30.