Phoenix hit 10 to tame the Tigers

Friday, 28th December 2012

Manchester Phoenix 10 - Telford Tigers 2

Manchester scorers: Michal Psurny x 3, Tony Hand x 2, Ondrej Pozivil, Tom Duggan, Joachim Flaten, Bari McKenzie and Luke Boothroyd.

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix found top form to beat basement club Telford Tigers by ten goals to two in an EPL League match on Thursday night at the Dome.

Phoenix were without the injured Robert Schnabel and Andy McKinney, Telford were missing Patrick Greene, Dmitri Rodin, Tomas Janak and Declan Ryan.

The home side took the lead on 5.37 with a goal from Michal Psurny. Phoenix then hit penalty trouble and were sent on a 5 on 3 penalty kill after a bench minor penalty for too many men and a tripping call on Ciaran Long. The first penalty was successfully negotiated but Telford hit an equaliser 5 seconds later with a goal from Jaroslav Kruzik. It took Phoenix only 52 seconds to restore their lead and it was hot shot Psurny again with the goal. He took his and Phoenix’s tally to 3 on 14.39 with his hat trick goal, assisted by Joachim Flaten and Tom Duggan. The first period scoring was completed by Tony Hand with a goal on 16.19 to take the teams to the break at 4-1.

Phoenix started the second period on a long 5 on 3 penalty kill as McKenzie (High-Stick) and Boothroyd (Tripping) sat in the box. Shortly after the penalties expired there was a flurry of goals. Phoenix made it 5-1 on 23.14 with an Ondrej Pozivil goal and Telford pulled one back 58 seconds later when Ryan Selwood scored, assisted by Callum Bowley. The scoring continued just 15 seconds after that as Tom Duggan found the net and the 4 goals in 4 minutes were completed with a Joachim Flaten marker on 27.40, assisted by James Neil and Michal Psurny. After that 7th Phoenix goal, Jorge El-Hage replaced Stephen Fone and there was still time for goal number eight for Phoenix on 36 .21 as Bari McKenzie scored his first open play goal for the club when he roofed the puck, bouncing the netminder’s water bottle high in the air. End of 2 periods, 8-2 to Phoenix.

Phoenix lost the services of Derek Campbell in the third period as he succumbed to the flu bug and Tony Hand’s men took their foot off the gas. There was still time for two more goals, sending Phoenix into double figures with goals from Luke Boothroyd and Tony Hand. Both goals were assisted by Michal Psurny taking his total for the night to an incredible 7 points.

A deserved man of the match award went to Michal and Tom Soar picked up the visitor’s beers.

Phoenix march on with their seventh win in a row and cut league leaders Basingstoke Bison’s advantage at the top to 3 points. The team travel to Sheffield on Saturday before returning to the Dome on Sunday night against the Bracknell Bees with the usual 17.30 face off.