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Manchester Phoenix 3 - Bracknell Bees 2

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Phoenix scorers: James Archer x 2 and Ladislav Harabin

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix took on the Bracknell Bees at the dome on Sunday night in the second of a double header against them. Phoenix iced without Slava Koulikov and Tony Hand.

Phoenix had the best of the early exchanges but just like on Saturday in Bracknell, it was the Bees who took the lead. Good work by Bowman, behind the net, found Jasik alone in front and he made no mistake. Goal timed at 7.43. It took the home side just two minutes to equalise with a Ladislav Harabin power shot from the blue line after Tom Duggan slid a pin-point pass to him. That ended the scoring in the first period with the scores level at 1-1 but Phoenix outshooting the Bees 16-7.

First talking point of the second period happened at 23.41 when Spearing of the Bees grabbed Ladzi Harabin round the neck and forcing him backwards to the ice. Ryan Johnson was not impressed by this and took it upon himself to mete out some “hockey justice” and earned himself a match penalty for roughing. Spearing picked up a two for holding and a two for roughing. Less than a minute later Martin Masa fell foul of the referee and Phoenix took the lead while he sat in the box on a holding penalty. James Archer scored on the resulting power play, assisted by Juraj Faith. The period ended 2-1 to Phoenix who again dominated the shot count, this time with a 21-11 advantage.

The third period was littered with penalties as the Bees again disrupted the Phoenix game plan and it looked like they were going to reap the reward of at least a point when they hit the equaliser with 1.38 left on the clock. Martin Masa took a pass from Lukas Smital to beat Stephen Fone to make it 2-2. Once again the Bracknell discipline fell apart and a remark from the Bees bench resulted in a bench minor penalty and Phoenix again took full advantage to score their third powerplay goal of the evening with 18 seconds left on the clock. James Archer netted his second of the night, assisted by Stephen Wallace and Ladislav Harabin. A dejected Bees team found themselves in further penalty trouble after the final hooter when James Galazzi and Ben Johnson were given 10 minute misconduct penalties.

Man of the match awards went to Tom Annetts for Bracknell and James Archer for Phoenix

A good weekend for Phoenix, picking up all four points. Phoenix next home game is Sunday 4th March against the Swindon Wildcats, face off 17.30hrs