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Brandimore double earns Phoenix big win

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Manchester Phoenix had Chad Brandimore to thank on Sunday night for a brace of goals and an assist as they came from behind to beat bottom-of-the-table London Racers.

With the game still scoreless entering the third period, the Phoenix were rocked when Finnish forward Jani Tuominen put the visitors ahead barely 35 seconds into the session. Brandimore’s first goal came on a 44th minute powerplay and his second when he beat Racers goalie Evan Lindsay to a loose puck and poked it past him in the 51st minute. Phoenix bagged an insurance marker when David Kozier scored on a powerplay three minutes later assisted by Mika Skytta.

Bench coach for the night Mike Morin noted, “Two points was the main objective, but it wasn’t pretty. We got the result and I think we got better as the game went on, but credit London, they made it tough for us. Their goal, coming so early in the third period, was something of a wake-up call for us and the guys responded. The main thing is that they didn’t hang their heads, they stepped it up a gear and showed what they can do.”

Player/coach Rick Brebant added, “This was a big result for us and we were made to work very hard for it. I though London worked very hard and stifled our offensive efforts well and their goalie was very good for forty minutes. We needed to bear down and like Mike said, we didn’t let our heads drop when they scored. We’ve got another big game on Wednesday when Coventry come here and they’ve had a big win themselves tonight so, it should be another hard-fought encounter.”