Phoenix U-18's off to winning start

Thursday, 6th September 2007

Phoenix U-18's off to winning start.

Manchester Phoenix 7 - 4 Sheffield Scorpions

A second period hat-trick from John Murray in the opening game of the season put the Phoenix U-18's well on their way to victory of their cross-Pennine opponents.

But it took a goal for the visitors inside the opening twenty seconds to really kickstart the Phoenix into life with Jake Nurse equalising before the first interval. Murray then took centre stage putting the home side ahead on a powerplay strike assisted by Ben Brown, doubling the lead with a short-handed marker assisted by Joe Mann and completing his treble haul even-handed with another assist from Mann. With the Yorkshire outfit rattled, bemused and taking too many penalties, Phoenix continued the second session romp as Elliot Bayne assisted by Brown added a fifth before Nurse notched his second assisted by Guy Boryczko. Netminder Adam Summerfield was finally called into action as Sheffield staged a minor recovery, reducing the arrears by one, just before the end of a largely one-sided period.

Sheffield narrowed the gap in the score to three early in the final period before both teams began to take too many penalties. With the flow of the game disrupted, Joe Mann capitalised on an error to score the Phoenix' seventh goals before tempers flared and both sides saw players ejected for the early bath. Both side re-arranged their lines to cope with the loss of players, but only one more goal resulted, going the way of the Scorpions.

Under-18's Manager Alan Ravey noted, "Considering the lack of real preparation, this was a great start to the season. They showed at times what they are capable of and with few weeks break now before their next match it give the coaches more time to work with the players."

Phoenix Man of the Match - Alfie Olinski

Phoenix Stats - John Murray 3+1; Jake Nurse 2+0; Joe Mann 1+2; Elliot Bayne 1+0; Ben Brown 0+2; Guy Boryczko 0+1.

Adam Summerfield - 38 shots faced/4 goals conceded.

Phoenix U-18's off to winning start

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