Phoenix v Steeldogs War Of The Roses 2nd Leg 8th September

It's been a long summer but, a busy one for the Budgie! You may have noticed from my twitter that I got married over the summer. A great time was had by all and, it certainly kept my mind off the lack of hockey! Now we are into September and Hockey is back with a bang! For the Phoenix, the roster has been assembled, I do still have posts to put online about the team, they will follow in time. It was time to kick off the 2013/14 season with the traditional War of the Roses clash with the Sheffield Steeldogs. 

First leg was over in Sheffield and saw the Steeldogs take a 5-2 lead after the first leg. 
 
With three goals to make up both teams arrived in Altrincham for the second leg along with a big crowd. Sheffield had the upper hand going into the game, not only on the scoreboard but, through their extended pre-season had more match fitness. That being said, there was still 60 minutes of hockey to be played! After not icing the previous night Tony Hand would lace up the boots and make his first appearance at home. 

First Period: It was clear from the first few seconds that Phoenix/Steeldogs games would be no different to last season. A very physical opening which contained an almost constant steam of players going to/from the penalty box saw very few 5 on 5 plays. Phoenix did take first blood when, with Greg Wood in the penalty box. Bakrlik scored his first in the Ice Dome with a lovely wrister from the blue line, goal timed at 4min 33sec. Robin Kovar assisted on the goal and would shortly leave the game. After Archer/Wood had words, Haywood and Kovar got involved and, despite the officials insistence, Kovar got his moneys worth on Haywood and was ejected from the game. A few minutes later, after both goalies had been tested thoroughly the Steeldogs were awarded a penalty shot, harshly in my view. Greg Chambers stepped up and showed his class to level the game, goal timed at 12min 03sec. A bit of hockey started to appear and the Phoenix looked to take control and reduce the deficit. Just before the end of the period the home side did just that, after a shot by Chong was not held by Sedlar McKinnie stepped in to score off the rebound. That joy was short lived when Kohorn tied the game again at 19min 03sec. 

Second Period: After the franticness of the first period the second was a much calmer affair. Some good hockey was played by both sides with Sedlar impressing greatly in the Steeldogs goal. When Sheffield face a side who are much better in terms of hockey they do fall back to a very solid D pattern. The two D and one forward in front of Sedlar. This makes it hard to get clear opportunities in and around the net. The onyl goal of the period came for the Phoenix at 39min 41sec, just before the buzzer, when Psurny finished off a great breakout move with Tony Hand. 

Third Period: 20 minutes to go and at least another two goals needed by the Phoenix. Sheffield got the next goal and, effectively, sealed the tie when Chambers scored a lovely top shelf effort at 50min 55sec. This guy is quality and really should still be in the EIHL, he stands out a mile, with Kohorn, on the Steeldogs roster. With Sheffield players still taking penalties the Phoenix were able to get their second PP goal of the game at 56min 40sec when Psurny scored a top corner goal from a tight angle. 

Verdict: A good home win for the Phoenix but, not enough to regain the Roses trophy. Sheffield did the hard work in the first leg, as they did last season. Credit to Sheffield, they work hard and despite taking many penalties work hard to protect Sedlar. Sedlar himself was my mom for the game, he saved at least 4 obvious goals, as did his posts with the Phoenix ringing the post 4 times! No complaints for me, Sheffield's extra match sharpness (from their extra pre-season games) shows. The Phoenix look good, however, and very quickly, once players have become accustomed to each other, will be very dangerous! 

Attendance: Im guessing a just over 1,000 in the Ice Dome 

Phoenix 4 Sheffield 3 - Phoenix Article
Phoenix 4 Sheffield 3 - Steeldogs Article

Shirt Launch and New Players

Way way behind on Phoenix player announcements but, I am planning a few posts over the next week or so to really catch up. First of those were the two players announced at the Phoenix shirt launch event. Held at the Cresta Court Hotel on the night Andy Murray won Wimbledon. Well done fella! Anyway....over a hundred fans packed the largest conference room at the hotel and waited. After the welcome back messages the first of the two new signings were announced: 

James Neil 
A big roar of appreciation went up when James Neil was announced as the first player returning on the night, sporting one of the new Phoenix shirts for the 13/14 season Neil joined the top table to answer a few questions. Im really really pleased James Neil has returned for his 5th season with us. Seeing as though Josh Ward returned to the Panthers I had worried that James would be the next to return to the mother club. He hasn't which is definitely our gain. Now firmly settled on the blue line James is edging into the pool of top Brits in the EPL and a guy who could easily play on any roster in this league. Last season he was slightly down on points but he was consistent none the less. He has developed his game further and is one of the best skaters and stick handlers on the blue line, which more than makes up for his smaller height and build. Welcome back James! 

Jack Watkins 
The second and last player announcement on the night was, brother of Tom Watkins, Jack. Quite an un-known player for most Phoenix fans in attendance. Jack has 'played around' quite a bit given his young age. The Phoenix will be his 7th club in his short career. Despite this he is a player with potential, spending the past three seasons in the EIHL playing full seasons with each team he has come to the Phoenix in the EPL, probably, for the guaranteed ice time this level of hockey can provide. With a good season here under his belt im sure the EIHL will come a calling very soon! I will admit to knowing nothing about Jack so, I will be looking forward to seeing him on the Ice come september! 

Shirt Launch - Phoenix Article

Youth and Experience back for the Phoenix

Next up for the roster building Phoenix. 

Robert Schnabel 
Schnabel came to the Phoenix with a big reputation. The first player with NHL experience, since Ed Courtney, to play in the EPL (though could be wrong!). Big reputation, and a big man too. Not the quickest of players but with a massive wing span Schnabel proved to be a rock on the blue line. Though prone to a bit of wandering which, usually left Boothroyd to tidy up. The past season saw Robert score a point every other game and 2 points per game in the playoffs. Yet another player who had a career year with the Phoenix......though not assisted by Tony Hand! If Schnabel can reproduce his form and, maybe, up his regular season PPG I will be happy! 

Andy McKinnie 
Really happy with Andy coming back for another season. Definitely a player who impressed during the 12-13 season. Works hard every shift and is more than willing to drop the gloves and engage if required. Andy came back to the Phoenix after two seasons with the Tigers and a stint with the Stingrays. McKinnie is the type of British player you need to keep hold of. With time he will develop into a fine fine player. What have I said a million times? A player who had a career year with the Phoenix!!

Steady Eddies Return

After the excitement of the Phoenix first re-building announcement the Phoenix followed that up by announcing two returning Brit's to the roster. Captain fantastic and goal scoring machine Luke Boothroyd and hard man winger James Archer. Both players were always likely to return to the Phoenix but, especially in Boothroyd's case, there is always the worry the club will lose them to the EIHL. 

Forward - James Archer 
Despite a bit of a slow start James ended the 12-13 season with his highest season points tally with the Phoenix and, one of the highest in his career. He is not a flashy player or overly skillful but he packs one hell of a punch. Difficult to move off the puck, James has a good hockey mind to get in the right place at the right time. His 12/13 season finished with a point per game average, pretty good for a second line winger. Ideally I would like to see him edge up that average in the coming year. 

Defence - Luke Boothroyd 
Captain fantastic, returns for a 6th season with the Phoenix and, possibly, 5th as captain. One of the solid rocks in the EPL Luke gives the Phoenix such a cool/calm head on the blue line. Partnered with Schanbel he formed an impressive pairing. Not only known for his defencive abilities, 12/13 marked Luke out as being a danger on the powerplay. Intelligent with the puck Luke had a career year last year and really proved he could be one of the few Brit EPL players who could handle the step up to the EIHL. 

So that's three forwards (four including Sir Toe Knee) and one defenceman announced so far. While there is a long way to go in terms of roster building, the Phoenix are looking good so far. 

The time between this announcement and the writing of this blog post, the joy has been tempered somewhat by the news Tom Duggan will not be returning to the Phoenix for a fourth season. He was announced as a Guildford Flames player for the 13/14 season

I am gutted Tom has left but, as someone said on one of the hockey forums, 'he was only ever on loan at the Phoenix while at university up here' so, with his last exam completed I guess it was a matter of time before his return south. Tom has been a consistent performer for the Phoenix and definitely a player who plays for the badge on the front rather than the name on the back. Thanks for all your efforts Tom, you will always be welcome in Altrincham.

Re-Birth of the Phoenix - Czech Style

The dust has well and truly settled on the 2012/13 EPL season, a season that many Phoenix fans will remember forever. The year the Phoenix broke their finals hoodoo. Many a fan are now able to relive those moments through the finals DVD which, im sure, every Phoenix fan ordered, haha! Big shout out to Graham Bell and friend who provided excellent commentary for the full weekend too. Their Bison bias wasn't too bad for the second semi final! ;-p 

Anyway, all 10 EPL clubs have moved on and are in the process of their summer recruitment. The Phoenix, usually, are slow off the mark but this week saw the Phoenix roster begin to take shape. It was quite the announcement too! 

Forward - Frantisek Bakrlik
This is a guy @pullthegoalie1 is in love with, probably his second man crush after Declan Ryan! For the 12/13 season, in the games at the Ice Dome, I don't remember him doing anything special. Much to ridicule on the podcast. Hey, im a fan, what do I know! For someone who 'wasn't all that' his still scored 82 points off 53 games. So the talent is their, along with toughness, 161 PIMS last year. A tough forward who can score points, 82 points at Slough, imagine how many he can get on a line with Tony Hand? Bakrlik is the sort of power forward the Phoenix have not had since Kristofferson, the last time we had a power forward? We won the league! So reasons to be hopeful with Bakrlik coming in! 

.....and the big one...... 

Forward - Michal Psurny
'Who's that man from Czech republic......' credit to @cheif41 for the chant! A massive, massive player to come back for the Phoenix. He joins a select band of imports how have been re-signed for another season. Psurny seemed very cool and reserved during the season but really came alive in the playoff push. Psurny ended the season with, by far, his best point production. 89 points from 52 games, if we could get him back it would have been mad not too! Psurny is well loved by the fans and, from his interview, sounded like he loved the Phoenix too. Any time where a player wants to come back you know you have a winner. 

So an excellent start to the recruitment for the Phoenix. Some will point to possible second season syndrome for both players. If second season syndrome means they will only produce what they did last season i'll be happy. That's two 80-90 point scorers for the Phoenix! Me? I think they will do better. If they are paired with Hand on the top line they could both push to 90+ points. If Hand moves down to the second line, each will still do 80 points! 

Great start to the summer hey, Phoenix fans? 

Phoenix Linky

Phoenix rise from the Flames to win Finals weekend!

'The Phoenix had, against the best team in the land, won the final dance of the season'

 

Re-wind about 24 hours and those same fans were filing into the Coventry SkyDome to watch the second semi-final of the day between the Basingstoke Bison and the Manchester Phoenix. Earlier in the day, the league winners, the Guildford Flames, had come through their encounter with the MK Lightning. The Flames did what title winning sides can do, win while not playing their best. Standing in the way of the Phoenix meeting them in Sunday's final were the Basingstoke Bison. A team the Phoenix had only beaten once this season and a team with possibly the league’s best goalie between the pipes.

 

On the flip side, the Phoenix could go into this game with little to lose. Most people in the arena would expect the Bison to win. So there was little expectation for us Phoenix fan's. Personally I thought we had a chance, but a small one. All would depend on the mood of the Bison goalie and what Manchester Phoenix would turn up. A fully fit, for once, Phoenix squad took the ice and took the game to the Bison. Scoring the first goal, I think, surprised a lot of people. The game was a close affair, the Phoenix played some good hockey and the game remained close throughout. After a 5 minute overtime session that produced no goals we went to the lottery of a penalty shootout. At this point I must admit to giving up a little bit. There was no way we could get past Lyle in the Bison goal on penalty shots? Surely? The first round saw each team score twice so extra shooters were needed. Phoenix went first through James Archer, attacking the goal at the far end from us Phoenix fans, James went up ice, deked and as Lyle slid across, time seemed to slow. After what felt like an age the red light went on, we all jumped up and exploded with delight, we knew that the Bison had to score or we were in the final. The Bison player/coach Doug Sheppherd would take the crucial shot. He attacks the goal right in-front of us, comes in, puts a fake on Fone in our goal and lifts the puck...........clang..........the puck hits the plexi behind the goal....no goal....no goal. Phoenix are through to the final and we all went mad!

 

Sunday saw many a sore head come back for the final. The Phoenix second appearance at the final game in as many years. This time, our lads would take on the league winners. Guildford Flames are the big spenders of our hockey league and as a result have strength in depth like no other. We are allowed 4 'import' players, Guildford have 5 and some of the top British players in this country. On paper the Flames have the obvious advantage but, one thing in our favour, the Flames like to play hockey. In games of proper hockey the Phoenix always have a chance! It would be tough but, the Phoenix had a great chance of securing a different outcome to that final 12 months ago.

 

In the run up to the game it was obvious that, every supporter in the arena, bar Guildford fans, wanted the Phoenix to win. 'Anyone but Guildford, anyone but Guildford la laa laa laa' was the chant. Which gave us a great feeling, we had all the support, we just hoped our guys could put on a show now!

 

Against the Guildford Flames, the Phoenix always bring out their best. These games are great adverts for Ice Hockey in this country and the final was no different. From the first puck drop both sides went at the game fast and strong. From the early exchanges the Phoenix were edging the play. Even surprising the Flames are how hard they came playing. To win the trophy the Phoenix really needed to score first and they did, on the power play too! The arena erupted as the Phoenix fans at one end went mad. The teams captain Luke Boothroyd ghosted round the back of the play to be found open for a back post tap in. Great goal! The Phoenix continued to press and forecheck the Flames while not allowing a goal. By the end of the first session the Phoenix were ahead 1-0.

The Phoenix carried on their great form and struck hard in the second period with James Archer scoring a fantastic breakaway effort, then the Phoenix scored a real heart breaker for the Flames. A short handed effort from Barri McKenzie.

Flames needed a quick start to the third and they got it, scoring just 40 seconds into the period. Us Phoenix fans started looking at each other with some nerves hoping this was not the start of a comeback! We needn't have worried! A perfect reply to the Flames goal, the Phoenix scored another shorthanded effort. Tony Hand skating in was passed the puck and, just around the faceoff spot unleashed a howitzer of a slapshot high above Mark Lee (Guildford goalie) right shoulder. In a rare show of emotions from Tony he jumped up into the plexi in front of us. We all knew how big that goal was! To make things even better, Phoenix standout import forward Michal Psurny scored and exact replica of Hand's earlier effort to make it 5-1 Phoenix. This is when we really believed and, despite the Flames pulling a goal back, with the clock running down the team and fans alike began to revel in victory. When the final buzzer went we all went mad. 10 years or the Phoenix, so many times the bridesmaids or the nearly men, the Phoenix had done it and won their first playoff trophy.

 

The feeling after the game and in the pub's after was of shock, after so many years we had actually done it, actually won! We were all just relaxing and smiling. Sad that the 2012/13 EPL season had now ended but, what a way for it to end! I only hope the pictures show how much fun we had!

Thanks must go to Richard Allen, official Phoenix photographer for the pictures!

Phoenix v Bracknell Bees Playoff Quarter Final 31st March Game Review

Well, it's that time of year again! Playoff hockey time! Beards are grown, hotels booked, drinking budget calculated. There's no other time like playoff time. The Phoenix ended their EPL regular season on a bit of a damp squib with two games where big leads were lost. Despite this a playoff quarter final beckoned against the Bracknell Bees. A much more preferable match up than against the Wildcats it has to be said. The Phoenix would face a tough away leg down in Bracknell before returning to the Ice Dome for one last time this season.

The Phoenix could well do a job down in Bracknell but, the main thing, would be to keep the scores close. As Tambo mentioned on the Phoenix podcast, the Bees have conceded on average 3.9 goals a game. Keep the scores tight and the Phoenix will be in with a great shot. So the away leg, from reports, sounded like the Phoenix struggled a little. Steve Fone putting in a man of the match performance as it ended 4-3 to the Bracknell Bees.
One last time the Phoenix faithful descended on the Altrincham Ice Dome, personally, I wasn't worried. Im not too sure why either, the Bees had the lead, Phoenix have struggled defensively but, over 6 periods of hockey we surely had too much fire-power for the Bees. Surely Tony would not allow another lacklustre performance and make sure the Phoenix made it to Coventry?

First Period: Phoenix had to come out and control the game from the first whistle, score the first goal and the aggregate scores are level. Allow the Bees to score and that hill, becomes a little more difficult to overcome. For most of the first period the Phoenix controlled puck possession and camped out in the Bees zone. They did get the first goal with a gorgeous powerplay effort from Flaten, great to see him on the scoreboard as goals have been hard to come by for the Norwegian, goal timed at 12min 33sec. The period progressed and the Phoenix domination continued, Annetts being put under more and more pressure as the Phoenix looked to take the lead. With almost perfect timing they did just that! With just two seconds to go in the period Flaten, again, scored to give the Phoenix the lead overall. A great shot through the five hole with no chance for the Bees to post a reply. 2-0 up on the night after the first period, controlling the game, the perfect start for the Phoenix.

Second Period: With the lead overall now obtained the Phoenix just had to concentrate, control the game and win each period. In some ways this session of 20minutes would decide our playoff fate. Thankfully the team were up-for-it and controlled the puck again for the majority of the period. In the first and now the second period the Phoenix had done well to stay out of the penalty box. With the Bees in penalty trouble the Phoenix got their third of the night. On the powerplay Robert Schnabel took the puck from behind the Phoenix net and started a mazy run up the ice. It seemed like no Bees player was willing or able to stop him and as he breached the zone he unleashed a lovely wrist shot to put the Phoenix up 3-0. The goal coming at 27min 27sec. The Phoenix really took hold of the game when they scored their fourth of the game. Andy McKinnie scoring late on in the period at 29min 58. This was just after a controversial moment in the game. After some pushing and shoving in front of the Phoenix net Spearing paired off with Pozivil goading him into a fight. Both players were in each others faces and Pozivil made a small head-butting motion, no contact was made it has to be said. Spearing sat a 2+10 misconduct while Pozivil was ejected with a 10+match for headbutting. Disappointing for Pozivil, an appeal is on the cards and he will, hopefully, be able to play finals weekend.

Third Period: The third period saw more goals scored, the Bees had to open up and press for goals if they had any hope of reaching Coventry. The Bees made a good start scoring early in the period at 42min 01sec on the powerplay through Bronniman. A shot from Bendik was tipped in by Ollie, a lovely tip in actually! The Phoenix answered back quickly when Schabel got his second of the game at 45min 28sec. Bees got their second goal of the game at 50min 07sec through Smital on the powerplay. The Phoenix, however, hit back and killed off the game with two more goals, both on the powerplay. The Phoenix 6th came at 51min 10 through Luke Boothroyd and the 7th at 57min 04sec through McKinnie's second of the game. The Phoenix running out 7-2 winners and progression to finals weekend.

Verdict: A potentially tricky tie negotiated with some ease in the second leg. A good game for the Phoenix to banish recent defencive troubles and a great weekend for Fone to get back up to match speed. It was disappointing to loose Pozivil, I only hope he can play this weekend. I would hate for his last game of the season to end on such a negative note. In the end it was a commanding performance from the Phoenix and a beautiful rendition of 'Que sera sera, what ever will be will be, were going to Coventry, Que sera sera' rang out round the Ice Dome!

Attendance: Back to a more average crowd for the Phoenix, around 1,100 in.
 
Phoenix 7 Bracknell 2 - Phoenix Article
Phoenix 7 Bracknell 2 - Bees Article
Phoenix 7 Bracknell 2 - The Bolton News
Phoenix 7 Bracknell 2 - Cheshire Today