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Phoenix ready for monster weekend

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Manchester Phoenix go into a monster weekend of Elite Ice Hockey League action as they prepare to take on the Basingstoke Bison on Saturday followed by a visit to the MEN Arena of the Cardiff Devils.

With all three teams locked together on 45 points and battling for the remaining two places in the post-season playoffs, the Phoenix squad know that their destiny is within their own control. A four-point weekend might not secure the all-important playoff berth, but it will give the first-year club an enormous boost in advance of the last five games of the regular season.

Head coach Paul Heavey said, “we got a vital two points in London on Tuesday, and we needed that win after three losses. This weekend though gives us a great chance to climb past both Basingstoke and Cardiff, and do ourselves an enormous favour. We have games in hand, and they have other teams to play who could help us, but we cannot rely on other teams knocking them off for us – we have to see to our business first and foremost.”

Phoenix expect to welcome back influential captain George Awada on Saturday having missed three games through injury and the skipper is raring to go. “I hated sitting out those games and I would have played if Paul and the medical people had let me. I’m feeling better and hope to play on Saturday in Basingstoke. We’ve won there before and we know we can do it again. The boys realise that qualifying for the playoffs is vital and there will be no room for error this weekend as Cardiff will be a tough nut to crack on Sunday as well. We have a good record against them, but again, we need to be focussed and committed in order to get the points we need.”