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Revenge for Phoenix at the Hive

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Bracknell Bees   1  Manchester Phoenix 3

Phoenix scorers: Joachim Flaten, Tony Hand and James Archer.

J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix travelled to Berkshire on Sunday to play the Bracknell Bees looking for revenge after a 2-0 home defeat the previous evening.

The Bees swarmed all over Phoenix early on but found themselves in penalty trouble after 7 minutes, with Bronniman hitting the box on a hooking call. The Phoenix powerplay worked the puck well and scored the first goal of the evening just after the penalty expired. Joachim Flaten scored with a neat wraparound goal under Carl Ambler’s pad. Assists went to Michal Psurny and Tony Hand. It was Tom Duggan’s turn to sit out for two minutes shortly after and Bracknell took full advantage to equalise. Their first line of Masa, Smital and Thompson peppered Jorge El-Hage and pressure eventually told when a loose puck found Lukas Smital, who roofed a snapshot past the netminder. Phoenix were next to have some powerplay time and they really took the game to the Bees. With just 30 seconds left in the period Tony Hand scored from the back door with assists this time going to James Archer and Michal Psurny. End of the 1st,  2-1 to Phoenix in a fairly even period.

If Bracknell had a plan to take the game to Phoenix in the second period, the visitors quickly put the kybosh on it with a goal in 18 seconds. Good work by Tom Duggan and Bari McKenzie found James Archer who scored to give Phoenix a 3-1 lead. Phoenix and Bracknell both had chances for the rest of the period but the netminders stood firm and the period ended without troubling the scorer again.

The third period was played out in similar style to the first two with Bracknell getting off the most shots but Phoenix working hard in typical road game style and looking more comfortable as the period wound down. No further goals in the game and a happy Phoenix headed back up north with a 3-1 win and the points.

Coach Hand said after the game: “It was very important to bounce back after Saturday night’s loss. You cannot afford to lose both games in a weekend if you want to keep in touch with the top. We played well tonight and deserved the points.”