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Tight 2-2 tie sets up tense second leg

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Manchester Phoenix and Belfast Giants fought out a tight 2-2 tie on Sunday in the first leg of their Challenge Cup tie staged at Ice Sheffield.

Following Saturday’s high octane win in Newcastle, Phoenix found the Giants to be a tougher nut to crack in an archetypal first leg cup tie that saw both sides determined not to lose. Both defences killed early penalties but three consecutive minors in quick succession for the Giants saw the Phoenix take a 16th minute lead as Derek Campbell and Simon Mangos assisted on the game-opening goal from Ryan Watson. With time running out in the first period, Belfast tied the game up as former Sheffield Steelers Mark Dutiame converted a Curtis Huppe feed just eleven seconds before the hooter.

Another tight and evenly contested second period again saw a goal apiece for the teams late in the session. Good work from the Belfast forecheckers put the Phoenix defence under pressure and Jason Ruff fired the visitors in front in the 38th minute assisted by Dutiame and former Phoenix star George Awada. Phoenix responded well to this setback and with just 38 seconds remaining in the period, Czech defenceman David Vychodil scored his second goal of the weekend assisted by Tony Hand and Johan Molin.

With the second leg of the tie to come in the Belfast Odyssey at the end of October, Phoenix wanted to take a lead into the away leg and threw everything at the Giants in the final period. But, the Giants showed the defensive form that helped them to last seasons league title and Mike Minard made some big saves to keep the Phoenix forwards at bay.

Phoenix know they’ll need to be at the top of their form when the two teams meet in the second leg on Friday October 27th but, on the evidence of the two games this weekend, they know they can travel to Belfast and not be overawed.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand noted, “It was a typical cup tie, neither side wanted to lose and I think Belfast will be slightly the happier side after tonight. We weren’t as sharp as Saturday but, made enough chances to have won the game and on another night, we might have got a few more lucky bounces.”