Manchester Phoenix 08/09 Season Review – The Defence

Number 4: Luke Boothroyd What a season from the Huddersfield native, after being signed from the Hull Stingrays, Boothroyd would begin the season under the vastly experienced wing of Dwight Parrish. After Parrish’s departure around Christmas time Luke had to step up. With no sign of a replacement player Luke’s ice time grew rapidly, and boy, did he rise to it! Always a consistently good performer on the ice, he knew where to put his body, when and how to use his stick on the ice. Despite his size he could level any player in the EIHL, Brad Voth anyone?

His improvement becoming so marked, that he spent a good deal of the season on the top D pairing with Kenton Smith, and never looked out of place. Luke is a player who deservedly one an award at the end of season supporters do. Sadly he never won a man-of-the-match award during the season despite many great performances.

Re-sign? In a way I would welcome Luke’s signature as much as David-Alexandre Beauregard’s! Such is the high esteem I and many other Phoenix fans hold for Luke!

Season stats: GP: 69, Goals: 0, Assists: 8, Points: 8, Pim: 56.

Number 5: Kenton Smith (Captain) ‘Kenton is our captain, Kenton is our captain, da daa da da!’ Kenton Smith came in and was our best D man all season. A great leader on and off the ice, a consummate professional. Took over development duties for Luke and Carl after Dewy’s departure and nurtured both players. Kenton had a wicked shot and a willingness to get forward and rush the net. Not the biggest of guys but a guy who could mix it up when he wanted. A fully deserving player of the captaincy!

Fast, skillful and dependable, all the qualities you want in your captain and Kenton had them in spades. He led the blue line by example all season and chipped in with his own fair share of points. The leading D man, and 6th highest point scorer on the Phoenix roster.

Re-sign? Most defiantly yes! Kenton could turn out to be another franchise player for the Phoenix. Certainly one of our best ever Captains!

Season stats: GP: 67, Goals: 9, Assists: 38, Points: 47, Pim: 74.

Number 7: Alex Dunn A player in a similar vein to Kenton Smith, with the only possible difference being Alex’ willingness to mix it up! As shown by his impressive PIM figure, beating Mr Clouthier indeed! Alex has worked hard all season and has finished up number 3 in terms of D men scoring. Able to read the play well and execute a mean slap shot. Ive been a big fan of Alex’ all season and he is a player who has improved all year.

Forming a great partnership with Josh or Kenton, Alex has adapted well to the small ice here in Altrincham. More than willing to join in the rush, Alex has scored a respectable 13 goals this season. Matching his previous seasons tally from Odessa.

Re-Sign? A cracking season from the Michigan native, I would have him back next season!

Season Stats: GP: 68, Goals: 13, Assists: 30, Points: 43, Pim: 199

Number 13: Josh Garbutt The seasons utility player, Josh played a fair few games up front for the Phoenix when the squad was hit by injuries. For this reason alone he can be called Mr Reliable! A consistent performer in the Phoenix ranks, while not the flashiest Josh got the job done each night. Some interesting hair/facial displays throughout the season have made Josh a firm fan favourite.

A 45 point season ranks as a career best for Josh, the stint on the forward lines obviously contributed to his increased point taking. Plus he must have had a good season for a chant to be made up for him! Cue the choir boys:

‘Josh Garbutt plays for Phoenix, he wrestles Buffalo, were gonna sing a song for him and this is how it goes……’

Re-Sign? Again another yes please, with a fully fit team would allow Josh to concentrate on what he does best. Defence!

Season Stats: GP: 66, Goals: 8, Assists: 37, Points: 45, Pim: 67

Number 81: Carl Graham Carl had a season much like Adam Summerfield, biding most of his time on the bench and awaiting the call from Tony to join in the fray. As such his ice time was limited, but whenever he did step out onto the ice the young Brit defence men never looked out of place. A little in-experienced he will have learnt a lot this season. No doubt aided by Dwight Parrish, until his departure, Graham will have learned so much behind Tony/Kenton and the rest of the team.

Possibly the best indicator of his progress has been his first points registered at EIHL level, with his first goal coming against the leagues best nettie Jodie Lehman. Carl never let the side down when he stepped out onto the ice, and im sure another season will see him break out and become an established Brit! Plus a loyal fan club is now forming, with frequent ‘We Love you Carl’ shouts being heard from the stands!

Re-Sign? With the possibility of British players becoming rarer at EIHL level, its important to hold onto the good ones! Yes please!

Season Stats: GP: 67, Goals: 1, Assists: 2, Points: 3, Pim: 18

Also Iced:

Number 17: Dwight Parrish The veteran defense man was brought in to give the young Phoenix organisation some experience. While being one of the best defense man to grace the British game, Parrish also brought vast experience of hockey in Manchester too! Having iced two seasons with the Manchester Storm and the Phoenix’ first season of existence, Parrish came to the Phoenix in 0809 after having played the previous 9 seasons in the UK.

Dwight, while not being the most mobile of defense men, brought a fine hockey mind to the blue line. His experience could be seen rubbing off on the likes of Luke Boothroyd and Carl Graham. His stick handling and positioning on the ice were second to none! His season was cut short when he left the Phoenix just before Christmas to start his post hockey career. Now im not going to comment further on this as I have already done that here: Dwight Takes Flight. (link to post)

Re-sign? If he were still playing, yes please!

Season Stats: GP: 33, Goals: 3, Assists: 10, Points: 13, Pim: n/a

...and so tomorrow will bring the attack!

Phoenix v Basingstoke 22nd February Game Review or Not!!

Saturday saw the Phoenix travel down to Hampshire for an away game with the Bison. Always a tricky game but the Phoenix skated away with a 5-2 win. Sunday saw the reverse fixture with the Bison at the Ice Dome, and the Phoenix fans hoping for another 4 point weekend. But it was not to be….onto the game!

This was no normal game, stood in the que at about 4.30pm Tony Hand was chatting away and had mentioned the Bison bus had broken down and they were unsure as to when the team would arrive. Then Phoenix owner Neil Morris came out and rounded up the waiting fans to explain what was happening. In a nutshell:

1. The Bison bus had exploded (more or less) around Birmingham.
2. The team were awaiting a replacement bus.
3. They could not retrieve their bags from the original bus.
4. Expected to get to Altrincham around 7.30pm (so a delay of at least 2 hours to face off)
5. Bison had offered to scratch the game if we gave them the 2 points (as they needed them most).

Neil then asked the fans waiting what we would want to do, especially given the last point everyone opted to delay face off and await the Bison arrival.

So in we go and settle down and around 1 hour after getting in, Neil came out on the ice to deliver the news. Basically at 5.20pm ish, the Bison were still waiting for their new coach. He explained that they still hoped to get to Altrincham for 7.30pm but they would need a 20min rest, followed by the usual 20min warm up. So we were really looking at an 8.30pm face off, some 3 hours after the normal start time and 4 hours after the doors opened. With that the teams had agreed to re-arrange the fixture, and a hastily arranged scrimmage and skills competition was put on by the Phoenix players.

This was great fun, and the highlight for me was the performance of Josh Garbutt and Nathan Ward in net! A great scrimmage game of two 20minute (ish) period saw the scores tied at 13 a piece. After the game a short skills competition followed comprising a team relay race and a penalty shot competition.

I have to say a big thank you and well done to the Phoenix organisation and players for coping with a difficult situation. There must have been no doubt most people wanted the game versus the Bison. But an entertaining, if not short, night was had by all! If you check out the Phoenix forum most people have picked up on how well this team seem to get on with each other! It was evident last night that the guys have fun, and enjoy being a team! This is great news for us fans!

Now I wanted to comment on something, which may also feature on the Five Minute Major and The Pyre blogs. What on earth gave the Bison the right to ask for the two points? Most people hit the roof when they heard this, it was’nt the Phoenix fault the game was going to be late! We were there, the team all in attendance, the ice was ready! We were waiting for the Bison! Now I know a coach blowing up is hardly the fault of the players, but they cant realistically think that a delay of almost 4 hours is acceptable to the home team and fans already at the rink!? Another thing too, while the Bison need the points, so do we!!!!! Were fighting Cardiff for 5th place, we want those damn points too! I do like the Bison, but im sorry I have lost a lot, if not all the respect I had for them after this little fiasco! What they demanded was simply shameful! Agree with me or disagree with me, I think it was simply a poor display by the Bison!

Anyway after all that the game has been re-scheduled for a week tuesday, the 3rd March.

MEN Article.

Link to the away game in Basingstoke.

Well its not quite full event highlights but here is a promo for the forthcoming Skills DVD of last Sunday's evening: