Phoenix enjoy Solihull romp

Monday, 8th January 2007

Game Five saw the Manchester Phoenix U-14’s travel to the Midlands to take on second place team Solihull Flames. With the home team having won five of their eight league games to date, including a 7-5 away victory at Sheffield, the Phoenix team knew that they would probably be in for another tough game. With no team training since the 18th December, Coaches Nurse and Crebbin knew that they would have to get the team mentally prepared quickly in the changing room prior to face off. With both teams at full strength and the Phoenix welcoming back Jared Dickinson after a minor operation, Phoenix iced a big, strong first line to counter the high scoring Flames.

With Sam Heyes getting the nod to start in goal, Paul Swindlehurst won the opening face off. A smart pass down the board set up Bobby Streetly to square a pass back to Swindlehurst who got the go-ahead goal with just forty seconds having elapsed. Coach Nurse kept the same line on the ice and Phoenix dominated the early plays. At 1.52, a face off in the offensive zone won by Swindlehurst was knocked back to Sarah Hutchinson at point who wristed one on the net with Taylor Danson neatly deflecting the puck past Green in the Flames goal for 2-0 and what proved to be the game winning goal. With Flames leading scorer Larkin sitting a 2-minute minor for holding at 2:07, Phoenix continued to work hard in the home team zone and Bobby Streetly roofed a great powerplay goal to make it 3-0. The Phoenix were now flying and before the six-minute mark, Paul Swindlehurst skated through the Flames defence and rifled a shot high in the top right corner for goal number four. Flames responded with Larose neatly stick-handling through the Phoenix rearguard only to be thwarted by a smart save by Heyes which denied the home team from getting on the scoreboard. From the face off, defenceman Jordan Bannon skated out of defence, avoiding the whole Flames line of players and scored a great goal for 5-0 at 10:36. Within two minutes, winger Harvey Treadgold picked up a loose puck by the boards and blasted in goal number six, and a resounding first interval lead having outshot their host 18-4.

Flames changed their netminder for the second period and Phoenix failed to convert any chances on the remainder of a 5-on-3 advantage. Bhogal in the Flames goal was soon called into action and kept the visitors at bay until 19:20 when Bannon found Jared Dickinson unmarked and he calmly slotted the puck home. At 22:29 on the powerplay, Josh Sweet sent a cross ice pass to Ryan Hulme who scampered down the right wing to blast a slapshot past Bhogal for 8-0. A netminder change by the Phoenix saw Bob Browne come on for Heyes - who had faced just five shots and he was quickly into the action. The final goal of the second period saw Swindlehusrt complete a personal hat-trick as the home team kept Phoenix down to 3 goals from 16 shots.

The third period was more even and it wasn’t until 36:43 that the Phoenix hit double figures, Ryan Hulme blasting his second of the game. Paul Swindlehurst added the 11th with his fourth of the game two minutes later to complete the Phoenix scoring. With the Flames determined to break the shutout, Phoenix got caught out high in the Flames defensive zone and a smart pass out to Larose saw the second liner skate in alone on Browne to deke the netminder at 39:33.

A comprehensive victory in what the Coaches anticipated to be a close game and a great way to start the New Year off in style in pursuit of moving up the table. Choosing a Phoenix Man of thre Match was a difficult choice as the whole team played well, but Jordan Bannon took the award thanks to some great work in the defensive zone and a superb coast-to-coast goal.

Phoenix scoring.

Paul Swindlehurst   4+0
Ryan Hulme             2+0
Bobby Streetly        1+2
Jordan Bannon        1+1
Jared Dickinson      1+0
Taylor Danson         1+0
Harvery Treadgold 1+0
Josh Sweet             0+2
Sarah Hutchinson    0+1

SOG: 10 - 42
PIMS: 12 – 10

Phoenix enjoy Solihull romp

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