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Manchester Phoenix 7 - Bracknell Bees 2 (Phoenix win 10-6 on aggregate.)
Phoenix scorers: Joachim Flaten x 2, Robert Schnabel x 2, Andrew McKinney x 2 and Luke Boothroyd.
J Davidson sponsored Manchester Phoenix qualified for the play-off finals in Coventry with a convincing 7-2 win over Bracknell Bees.
Trailing 4-3 after Saturday’s first leg, Phoenix took the game to the Bees from the start. The visitors struggled to contain the Phoenix offence from the first face off and found themselves in early penalty trouble as Sam Oakford, James Galazzi, Jan Bendik and Pavel Strycek found themselves in the sin bin within the first 12 minutes. The last penalty was to prove costly as Tony Hand took the puck behind the net from Luke Boothroyd and found Joachim Flaten free in the slot to hit the match tying goal timed at 12.33. The relentless Phoenix pressure continued and they took the lead in the tie with just 2 seconds left in the period. Once again it was the first line, surprisingly quiet in the first leg, which came up good. This time Hand started the move to Michal Psurny and it was Flaten who scored his and Phoenix’s second of the night to make it 2-0 at the end of the 1st period, one which was totally dominated by Phoenix, outshooting the Bees 23-6.
Phoenix started the second the way they finished the first and with, Bees sitting out another minor penalty on 26.08, scored the all important insurance goal. James Archer passed crisply out of defence to Robert Schnabel and the big defender went on a mazy run from the half way line, leaving Bee defenders trailing in his wake, to score a brilliant individual goal.
This one raised the roof as expectations of an appearance in Coventry was beginning to feel like a reality. The game then boiled over as agitator extreme, Scott Spearing, had an altercation with Ondrej Pozivil. The result was a two minute roughing call plus a ten minute misconduct for Spearing and a ten minute misconduct and a match penalty for the Phoenix defender for head-butting. Phoenix were still on the offence and made it 4-0 on the night with a four on four even handed goal. Andy McKinney was the delighted scorer, assisted by Joachim Flaten, timed at 29.58. Phoenix then killed of the three minute penalty due to the Spearing/Pozivil issue and comfortably saw off the second period with a 3 goal aggregate cushion going into the last 20 minutes.
Bracknell did pull a goal back on 42.01 with a powerplay goal from Oliver Bronniman, assisted by Jan Bendik and Lukas Smital, but lost the momentum this could have given them with another visit to the penalty box, this time by Pavel Strycek on a holding the stick call.
Phoenix were unable to take advantage this time but made it 5-1 with a second Robert Schnabel goal, assisted by Andy McKinney. With 10 minutes left on the clock, Bees hit a consolation goal, again on the powerplay, through Lukas Smital, assisted by Matt Foord. However, Bees’ inability to keep out of referee trouble was punished once again when Phoenix made it 6-2 on the night with another power-play goal, this time by captain Luke Boothroyd with assists going to Tony Hand and Michal Psurny. An unassisted fourth powerplay goal of the evening, by Andy McKinney, ended the scoring on 57.04 and Phoenix were heading to Coventry for the fourth consecutive year.
A resounding victory for Phoenix on a night when the Bees’ chippy, aggressive game was punished by an on-fire Phoenix team, determined to be at the party next weekend for the 501 Phoenix fans who will be in attendance.
Coach Hand said after the game: “The plan was to keep the game close after the first leg and do the job at home tonight. We did what was required last night and I thought we dominated the match tonight. I had very little coaching to do as the team executed the game plan to perfection. All credit to Bracknell, they did what they had to do on Saturday to bring a lead up here. They are a tough team to play and are always dangerous on the break with players like Smital and Masa. I thought we played very well and it is great to be going to Coventry next week. It is the last trophy of the season and we will give it our best shot.”