Bracknell triumph against below par Phoenix

Sunday, 20th March 2016

Manchester Phoenix fell to a 6-2 defeat at home to the Bracknell Bees in their final league game of the season.

The visitors struck early through Ivan Antonov at 3:09 as he stole the puck from Gareth O’Flaherty to score, and quickly added a second through James Galazzi at 7:33 from a scramble in the crease. Phoenix couldn’t find any fluency to their play but did manage to get a goal back at 19:49 as Robin Kovar’s shot was deflected in.

Phoenix equalised early in the second as a Ben Wood shot crept under Alex Mettam at 20:49. However, any hopes of a Phoenix resurgence were extinguished as Carl Thompson found the net for Bracknell at 22:19.

The Bees went onto dominate the period as Matt Foord scored on the Powerplay with a rebound at 30:47, before Lukas Smital broke clear at 32:37 to score with a one-on-one. Bracknell made it 6-2 when Antonov grabbed his second of the game at 39:49 to end a very disappointing period for Phoenix.

A third period fight back from Phoenix never materialised despite a couple of Powerplay opportunities, with Kovar having the best opportunity as he struck the top of the bar. Bracknell were happy to soak up pressure for the remainder of the game in seeing out a deserved 6-2 win.

Phoenix will find out early next week who their opponents will be in the playoffs, as well as the dates for the two fixtures.