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Meet The Players night, and rink progress update

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The Sports Cafe in Manchester was the venue last night for the pre-season "Meet The Players" event, which was attended by around 300 of the Phoenix faithful.  A whole host of new players were introduced to the gathered fans, with Phoenix General Manager Andy Costigan arriving fresh from the airport to compere the event, which culminated in an autograph signing session and a chance to mingle with the players.  The players introduced to the fans were netminders Jason Wolfe and Matt Compton, defencemen Radoslav Hecl, Scott Basiuk and Adam Radmall, and forwards Joe Miller, James Hutchinson, KC Timmons, Mike Kiesman and Adam Walker, as well as our player-coach Tony Hand.

Prior to the "Meet The Players" event, the fans were given an update on the progress on the new Altrincham Ice Dome by Phoenix MD Neil Morris, who introduced a senior director from the main contractor Ice Associates, Mark Nelson and his project manager from IPP John Collinson.  The news was both positive and negative, with the main update being that as a result of unexpected findings, the completion date for the rink has been put back to November 30th 2006.  The foundations of the original buildings which was located on the site previously have proven to be more extensive and less stable than the initial site surveys indicated, and complications with the proximity of the railway line have further added delays.  Neil Morris informed the fans that he had only received the revised completion date hours before last night's event, and that even given the relatively short time he'd had to digest the information, his intention for the Phoenix to play this season remains unchanged.

The delay in opening the rink does mean that the Phoenix will be starting this season playing some home fixtures from alternative venues such as Deeside Leisure Centre, Ice Sheffield, and Blackburn Arena, all of which have been very supportive of Phoenix and the drive to bring ice sports back to Manchester.  Neil Morris went on to add that, since this meant that some season ticket fixtures were being played at these rinks, arrangements for coach travel to and from these games is being organised to ensure that season ticket holders are able to watch these matches. "The season ticket holders have shown their faith in us," says Neil, "so we're going to show our faith in them.  They've invested in us, so it's our priority to make sure that our fans are looked after as best we can."

Further information on the re-venued games and the travel arrangements will be issued in the near future.