- Juniors Home
- About the Club
- Learn and Play
- Join
- Train
- Teams
- Fixtures & Results
- Location
- Fund Raising
- News Archive
- Forum
- Contacts & Links
- Elite Team
Phoenix win U-16s' Opener
The Manchester Phoenix U-16s travelled to Coventry for the opening fixture of their league campaign against Mercian Menace on Sunday December 17th. Having waited over three months to get their season underway, a full squad was iced by head coach Paul Bayliss. Four forward lines and three defensive pairings rotated throughout the match to give all the players ice time.
Phoenix started convincingly with some flowing passing and Oli Bayne opened the scoring at 4.30, tipping in from close range. Two minutes later Manchester doubled their lead with an Alex Pugh short-handed strike fed by Harry Sims, one of five Manchester newcomers making their ice hockey league debut. Despite having the upper hand, Phoenix's hockey had something of a tentative air about it, but as Conner Dakin opened his account with Manchester's third goal at 12.55 after good work in centre ice by Joe Greaves, the first period began to look comfortable. Phoenix began to play more confidently, making use of the full width of the ice with some intelligent passing play.
The second period opened with concerted pressure from the home side as Menace pushed forward. Phoenix were unable to clear their defensive zone and Ross Venus netted the first goal for Menace at 16.03, converting a Liam Langford pass beyond Phoenix netminder Adam Grisdale. Phoenix responded in style with two goals in two minutes, credited to Brown and Browne respectively. With play becoming increasingly ragged, Phoenix started to leak penalties.
Paul Swindlehurst followed Ben Brown into the box each with two-minute minors leaving Phoenix briefly on the wrong end of a five-on-three. D-men Jack Sweet and Jordan Bannon stood firm to clear the penalty only for things to get worse. No sooner had Steven McHugh skated to the box on a holding call than a solid check from Guy Borczko left his opponent sprawled on the ice. The ensuing 5 + Match penalty for Boarding left Phoenix two players short once again as the hooter sounded for the second break.
Menace took full advantage of their superior numbers as the third period got underway, and scored on the powerplay within a minute of the restart, through David Clements. Nicole Jackson had taken over in the Phoenix net for the final session, and despite this early Menace strike, she produced a succession of smart saves to help protect Manchester's lead.
At the other end of the ice sheer perseverance in front of goal saw Conner Dakin bag his second at 32.01 to restore Phoenix's four goal advantage in a display which would ultimately land him the MVP award. With every line getting a regular outing, former Blackburn forward Josh Healey injected extra pace into the Phoenix attack, and newcomer Kieran Ferris was yet another to make his league debut.
By now the balance of play had swung decisively in Phoenix's favour, but with D-men Alfie Olinski and Chris Wells becoming ever more adventurous in forays up the ice, Menace were inevitably at their most dangerous on the break. Manchester's advantage was cut back at 38.19 with Mercian's no.11, David Clements scoring his second of the game. The answering salvo was immediate and came in the form of a late brace of goals from Tom Hammond, at 40.17, and Mike Hoskins, at 44.40, completing a fine all-round team performance in claiming the 8-3 victory.