SWIDON, UK – Who can blame the Phoenix fans who have already snapped up their initial allocation of club tickets for the finals’ weekend quicker than you can say, well, Coventry play-offs, I suppose? So some juggling was needed and additional seats found and they too have gone meaning the record number of seats sold for a team reaching the finals have been smashed. This is not just good for the Phoenix, of course, but ultimately for the EPL and ice hockey in Britain, so worth shouting about. And they probably will!
In a mid-week game, the Steeldogs visited Telford fresh from their 4-3 win over the Jets, but if their tails were up you’d never have known it as once the first period was over the Sheffield side kicked the Tigers all over the park and collected the penalty minutes to prove it. Coach Andre Payette, no stranger to the odd bit of physicality as a player, obviously feels that is the route to go as a head coach, and leading by example is continuing a policy propounded some weeks ago when ex-head coach Matt Darlow upset the Phoenix by using rough stuff as an equaliser. At the time Manchester’s coach Tony Hand complained they had been prevented from playing, and inspired him to bring in Andrew Sharp in an attempt to play them at their own game, but with a 6-2 win Coach Watkins was lamenting some of his players appeared ‘frightened’, so Payette must feel he is on the right track.
And talking of Sharp, who has now been out for a month with his injured leg, the Canadian is still not fit. Apparently he has trained and even iced a couple of shifts last weekend, but according to Hand he needs to ‘work his way back into the line-up.’ Call me suspicious, but as my old grand-pappy used to say, ‘If you find one tiny rabbit dropping near your corn store, it probably means there is a herd full of, er, um, trouble headed your way.’ So, I wonder, is that another way of saying his days are numbered?
Also having his days numbered was Tigers D-man Ashley Stanton who after twenty years in the sport has hung up his skates. Sadly, Stanton said he felt he didn’t do justice to the shirt and having been plagued by injuries was simply not contributing as he felt he ought. Coach Watkins acknowledged the Brit had been a very loyal servant to the club, and hinted it might not actually be the end of his hockey career at twenty-seven.
Saturday, and although it is tempting to say a few crucial games would take place that evening, pretty much all games are crucial for one reason or another at this stage of the season. But perhaps the crucialist was at the top with the Phoenix going to Slough and coming away with a bloody nose as did the Flames in the Cup before them.
The Manchester side started off well enough going into the break a goal up, but not for long. Adam Calder came up with the equaliser at the start of the second, but then Kristoffersson regained the lead until the third when Joe Greener levelled the game again. With five minutes to go Doug Sheppard scored unassisted and for the first time the Jets took the lead then clinched the win with an empty net goal.
Meanwhile in Milton Keynes the Flames put their Cup defeat behind them and struck first, well, and second and third, actually, through Rempel, Longstaff and Savage, which must be some sort of hat-trick of hat-trick record which took them into the third 3-0 up. But the Lightning pulled a couple back and even ended with the shots on goal almost the same, but Matt Towe wrapped it up with one into the empty net.
The Phantoms continued their recovery since their black weekend a month ago when they were beaten by the Tigers and this time came away with a win in Telford. Going into the lead through Darius Lelenas the Tigers replied almost immediately through Scott McKenzie with Tom Carlon regaining the lead in a hard fought middle period. The third continued in the same vein with Maris Ziedins claiming the winner with a couple of minutes to go.
The Steeldogs kicked things off against the Bees with a goal in the third minute through Steve Duncombe, with Jaroslav Cesky gaining the equaliser twelve minutes later. Stuart Brittle added a second for the Steeldogs and then a minute into the third and Janis Ozolins and Chris Sykes clinched the killers just five seconds apart.
The Wildcats came down to earth with a bump as the Bison ended their productive run of collecting points in five games. The visitors took the lead in the third minute and added to it before the break. The Wildcats were always really chasing and although they pulled a goal back twice through Richardson and Liska, the Bison immediately replied and ran out comfortable winners.
On Sunday, the demise continued as a tired and short-benched Wildcats went to Peterborough and ran slap bang into Maris Ziedins on his way to clocking up five goals. His first came after nine minutes and his third on the half hour, but it was all over by then anyway. Minutes later Dwayne Newman and Ryan Aldridge exchange punches followed by a screamer from Ziedins from the blue line, and to top off the feisty burial Jason Stone upset the ref and claimed his two+ ten.
The Tigers really are a side of two halves. While one weekend they can get buried under an avalanche of goals from the Wildcats, then another they go two up against the Bison in Basingstoke and you wonder what the problem was. Unfortunately, this evening it was the final period which started off well enough with Josh Bruce making it three-each, but four minutes later the legs had gone and it was over apart from Luke Brittle grabbing a consolation goal a minute from time.
In Sheffield, the Bees faced the Steeldogs for the second round of a double which started off with the Bracknell side looking stronger than they had the previous evening, but then went 4-2 down by the first break. And while they were able to fight back to some extent, unfortunately for them they also ran into Steeldogs’ netminder Ben Bowns who made over fifty saves and now qualifies for a post with the Royal Ballet.
The Phoenix at home put the Lightning firmly in their place as Tony Hand started the scoring after three minutes and with James Neil claiming the fifth goal unassisted on the three-quarter mark on his way to putting the kettle on. But minutes later Blaz Emersic had found the Phoenix net, and after an interlude for handbags which saw five players boxed, Adam Carr converted a penalty shot for a foul by Ben Morgan and all of a sudden it was 5-4. But although that is how it ended, it turned out nail-bitingly close.
After the drubbing by the Jets a few days before in the first leg of the EPL Cup semi-final, the Flames must have been keen for revenge, but it was Darius Pliskauskas who put the visitors ahead to end the first period. Rick Plant got the equaliser half way through the game, but the reply was swift and hurtful with two more from the Jets. David Savage and Nathan Rempel brought things back level early in the final period with Savage putting the Flames into the lead for the first time shortly after only for it to be cancelled minutes later. Even with four minutes to go it was all equal again, but Calder changed that and the Jets claimed their second win over the Flames in four days which allowed the Phoenix to regain their six point lead at the top of the table. So, a mixed bag of a week-end which saw the Flames close the gap on the Phoenix at the top, and then let it open again, while the Steeldogs and Phantoms got four point weekends, as did the Bison and Jets who closed the gap on the Flames.
To end on a sombre note, Phoenix’s Slovakian D-man Ladislav Harabin, who lost the entire 2006-07 season through injury, was caught by a skate which inflicted a slash wound across his forearm and severed an artery in the game against the Jets which needed first aid simply to stem the blood flow then hospitalisation where he remained for surgery the following day, yesterday. So although nothing has yet been reported, we wish him well and a speedy recovery.
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Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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