Phoenix Under-14's go down to runaway leaders

Monday, 5th March 2007

Whitley Bay 7 - Phoenix U14s 1

With the toughest challenge of the season facing the young Under 14 team last Sunday, the team travelled up to Whitley with a shorter bench than normal, leaving a few of the more inexperienced players at home.

Whitley sit top of the League with eleven straight wins from eleven games played and having rattled in a staggering 139 goals and having conceding just 9 !

During the warm up it was evident that the ice surface was far from smooth, and most players complained of ruts and bumps all over the ice. Still it's the same for both teams, but if you train on it, you have some advantage. From the first face off Phoenix set up in the Whitley zone and held the upper hand in the opening couple of minutes. However, Whitley settled and in the third minute, Cook set up Maddocks to open the scoring for the home team. Within thirty seconds of the re-start Barnes fired in a shot from the boards which eludes Heyes in the Phoenix net. Lingwood and Bannon then went close as Phoenix fought back, but Harley in the Whitley goal made a couple of smart saves to protect the lead. Another Whitley raid in the fifth minute saw them stretch the lead to three, Johnson the scorer. Heads began to drop on the Phoenix bench, despite having several early chances, but the mood was lifted at 7:35 as some sustained Phoenix pressure saw Bobby Streetly slide a pass to Harvey Treadgold who gleefully slammed in goal number one to the relief of the rest of the bench and travelling support. Phoenix finished the period strongly outshooting the home team 9 to 6, but on the wrong end of the 3-1 score.

Early in the second session and Jordan Bannon went close forcing Harley in the home goal to cover up. Shortyl after though, the league leading Whitley Bay side got back to their free-scoring role as Zajac cleared his own end to release Kate Ord to skate in an make it 4-1. Phoenix used the midway point of the game to change goalies - Bob Brown replacing Sam Heyes and Brown was quickly in action. Phoenix didn't lie down and Harley in the home goal was kept equally busy as Phoenix tried to reduce the arrears. Another Whitley breakout of defence saw Kate Ord bag here second of the game and shortly before the end of the period, Adam Perrie burst through unchallenged and fired high into the roof of the net for 6-1. A dominant score line for the home side, but once again, the Phoenix had outshot their hosts.

Phoenix began the third period on the penalty kill and took several more - much to the frustration of the coaching staff - with the result being that Phoenix were shorthanded for eleven of the fifteen minutes of play. It wasn't long before Whitley scrabled a seventh marker and with the Phoenix shorthanded so much, it was no surprise that the home side dominated the play in the final session and outshot Phoenix 13-3.

Credit goes to the Phoenix Under-14's though for sticking to their guns in trying conditions due to the notorious Hillhead Ice rink surface and a lack of training time in recent weeks. A 7-1 loss might appear a poor result, but Whitley are no mugs and clearly know how to use their rink to their advantage and more importantly are clical finishers. The Under 14's are greatly looking forward to the return fixture on decent ice in the Altrincham Ice Dome on April 28th.

1st period 3-1

2nd period 3-0

3rd period 1-0

Harvey Treadgold 1+0

Bobby Streetly 0+1

SOGs: On Whitley 22; On Phoenix 26, (Heyes 4/10, Browne 3/16)

PIMs: 14-39

MVP: Bob Browne for Phoenix

Josh Maddocks for Whitley

Phoenix Under-14's go down to runaway leaders

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