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Manchester Phoenix 8 - Basingstoke Bison 3

Phoenix scorers: Michal Psurny x 3, Robin Kovar, Frantisek Bakrlik, Tony Hand, Adam Walker and Ben Wood

J Davidson sponsored “Men of Iron”, Manchester Phoenix, got back to winning ways with a demolition of title contenders Basingstoke Bison. They started the period in usual Phoenix fashion, taking the game to Bison and forcing Dean Skinns into a couple of early saves. The Bison defence looked strong and kept the Phoenix at bay, always looking for a break out from the neutral zone. After 11.29, one such break out saw Tomas Karpov take a pass from Michael Wales and beat Stephen Fone for the opening goal of the night. A minute later the Phoenix Faithful thought they had gone down by 2 but the Bison effort was washed out by referee Andrew Miller after the puck hit Fone on the face mask. It didn’t take Bison long to score that second goal when Michael Wales scored, assisted by Tomas Karpov and Declan Balmer. The period ended with Basingstoke pressurising the Phoenix defence but failing to add to their 2 goal advantage.

Coach Hand’s team talk at the first interval must have been interesting as Phoenix came out with a steely determination to work themselves back into the game. Checks were being finished as they controlled the early part of the period and when Basingstoke found themselves in penalty trouble, scored two quick goals. Robin Kovar parked himself in front of the Bison netminder and forced the puck home after great work from Tony Hand and Michal Psurny. A second powerplay goal followed just over a minute later as Frankie Bakrlik hit a rocket from the left hash marks to make it 2-2. Assists went to Michal Psurny and Joe Graham. Bison re-grouped and a foray into the Phoenix zone brought the reward of Bison’s third goal, scored by Ciaran Long, assisted by Kurt Reynolds and Joe Baird. Phoenix made it 3-3 on 30.46 with a neat goal from Michal Psurny and the score remained level at the end of two periods of exhilarating hockey.

The home side lost Frankie Bakrlik to a high stick penalty and as the penalty wound down, they took the lead for the first time with a blistering shot from player coach Tony Hand. Netminder Stephen Fone padded the puck out to Joe Graham who sent it down centre ice. A Bison defender slipped as he tried to intercept, leaving Hand with a free run on goal and the veteran powered a rocket past Dean Skinns before he could set up for the shot. Adam Walker doubled the lead 3 minutes later as Bison wilted under immense pressure. Two fine solo goals for Phoenix followed on 52 and 53 minutes with Michal Psurny scoring an individual goal and Ben Wood followed that up with possibly the goal of the evening. He cut in from the right hash marks and deked Skinns before flicking the puck high into the gaping net to make the score 7-3. With just over 2 minutes left Tony Hand found a free Michal Psurny and the “Man from the Czech Republic” made no mistake for his hat trick goal and Phoenix’s eighth of the night to end the match with a resounding 8-3 victory.

Phoenix man of the match Michal Psurny said after the game: “We all worked hard as a team tonight and showed what we can do. The fans were fantastic tonight and this win was for them.”

Phoenix are next in action next weekend with a double header. They play Solway Sharks on Saturday with a 19:00 face off in the Challenge Cup and follow that with a home match against Guildford Flames the following day at 17:30.