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Phoenix draw in War of Roses thriller

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J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix fought back from 3-0 down to earn a draw in the first leg of the War of the Roses match.

Sheffield’s pre-season fitness advantage showed early on as Phoenix were finding their feet and took the lead with a shorthanded effort from the excellent Ozolins, who broke away centre ice and placed a neat shot past Fone.

Both teams had chances to trouble the scorer and Bowns in the Steeldog’s goal brought off a great save from Jaroslav Spelda and the period ended 1-0 to the home side.

Steeldogs doubled their lead with less than 2 minutes gone in the second period as player coach Andre Payette scored. The Phoenix fans were stunned into silence 90 seconds later when Berbris made it 3-0 to the home side.

Martin Cingel started the come back when he was in the right place at the right time as the puck bounced into the net off a skate to make the score 3-1. Four minutes later and we had a 1 goal game when Slava Koulikov netted assisted by Ladzi Harabin. 3-2 end of the second period and all to play for.

The third period started with an unfortunate injury to Cairan Long when ex-Phoenix defender Pavel Gomeniuk caught the young Phoenix forward with his knee. Cairan was helped off and Gomeniuk was given a match penalty. Phoenix equalised on the resulting powerplay when Stephen Wallace scored, with another assist to Harabin. Four minutes to go in the game and Sheffield took the lead once again. Andre Payette scored his second of the game and the delight on his face was there for all to see as he wheeled round and clipped the puck off the post and the bar and landed just over the line. The Phoenix never say die attitude came to the fore with just two and a half minutes left with an absolute belter from James Archer.

All in all, a thrilling, entertaining game with both sets of fans reasonably happy with the result and all to play for on Sunday at the Dome.

Coach Hand said after the game: “ I thought the lads fought hard and deserved to get something out of the game. Sheffield are definitely a stronger team than they were last season. I am happy with the result and am looking forward to the rematch tomorrow at home.”