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Phoenix tame the 'Dogs

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Sunday night saw the Manchester Phoenix on the road to take on Andre Payette's Sheffield Steeldogs, with former Phoenix enforcer Payette's pre-game comments stirring up quite a storm amongst the supporters of both teams.

Payette had hinted that there would be fireworks and 'scores settled', and the game lived up to the hype right from the opening puck drop, when the gloves came off and Payette squared up to Andrew Sharp, the two going toe-to-toe at centre ice.

Once the game had restarted, the action was end to end, with the Steeldogs getting the better of the Phoenix on the scoreboard in the first period. Lloyd Gibson capitalised on some confusion at the back for Phoenix, and the period ended with the home team ahead one nil.

The second period saw the Steeldogs extend their lead to two goals, again capitalising on defensive confusion with Janis Ozolins putting the biscuit in the basket. Less than a minute later the Phoenix got off the mark with a Tony Hand shot deflected in by man-on-the-spot Curtis Huppe.

The Steeldogs responded with Andre Payette challenging Andrew Sharp to drop the gloves again, which he did only upon receiving the nod from Tony Hand over on the Phoenix bench. The pair went toe-to-toe for their second bout of the night, much to the approval of both sets of supporters.

The Phoenix tied the game up through Tony Hand, on the receiving end of an excellent pass from Pavel Gomeniuk to go one-on-one with Ben Bowns in the Sheffield net. Then it was time for the third bout of the evening, Andrew Sharp taking exception to a hit from Andre Payette and the fight breaking out in open play. Both players received two plus two again and went for a sit-down, and the period drew to a close with a scoreline of two-two, but not before Marcus Kristoffersson picked up a knock along the boards that saw him sitting out the rest of the game.

The third period saw the Phoenix piling on the pressure, starting the period on a powerplay which allowed defenceman Ben Morgan to put the puck in the net and give Phoenix the lead for the first time in the game. The undercurrent of aggression carried on right through the third, with both teams throwing the body and trying to establish a physical dominance.

Curtis Huppe made it 2-4 to the Phoenix with a low shot that beat Ben Bowns in the Steeldogs net, and a turnover with the netminder pulled saw Stephen Wallace tap home an easy empty-netter to make it 2-5 to Manchester. The game ended with a minor incident in the handshake line, Andre Payette refusing to shake hands with his dancing partner of the evening Andrew Sharp. Sharp's response was to kiss the Phoenix logo of his shirt and to applaud the visiting supporters, much to the delight of the Phoenix faithful!

Final score Sheffield Steeldogs 2 - 5 Manchester Phoenix.