Bombers held by resilient Phoenix

Sunday, 20th January 2008

Phoenix U-16B 2 - 2 Billingham Bombers

On recent form this was probably going to be a tough test for the young Phoenix Under-16B team and could easily be a banana skin for the home side. Bombers came into the Ice Dome having won four of their first five games, narrowly losing to runaway league leaders Nottingham 2-0. Bombers were short benched and ran only two lines compared to almost four lines by Phoenix.

Both teams had openings in the first few minutes, but it was the visitors who upped the tempo as Hewitson and Davison dominated for the Bombers and forced Nicole Jackson in the Phoenix net into early and crucial action between the pipes. With coach Kevin Cassidy choosing to use a strict three line system, Phoenix managed to reduce the number of times they were caught out by Bombers counter attacks and with the whole bench supportive of each other, they more than matched the more experienced visitors.

The opening goal of the game went the Bombers way at 9.55 and even though the goal judge failed to light the red lamp, referee Peter Liversage signalled the score and Phoenix did not overly protest the decision.Undeterred, Phoenix got down to the task of tying the game and went close twice on the powerplay as both Shannon Lingwood and Jared Dickinson went close. Late in the period, a quick line change by Phoenix caught the Bombers napping and Tom Wilkinson raced away. His shot came back off the goalie and Scott Robson was on hand to tuck away the equaliser with just 33 seconds on the session.

Coach Cassidy made the most of the full period break, and Phoenix duly responding by taking the lead immediately. Straight from the face-off, Phoenix moved the puck around smartly and a fine move culminated with Lingwood off the left flank finding Dickinson arriving perfectly in front of goal to chip the pass into the net with just 23 seconds having elapsed. The game followed the same competitive manner of the first period with Phoenix icing three lines and both sides playing with good spirit. Both sides failed to capitalise on mid period powerplay opportunities before with Jake O'Connor off on a Tripping minor, Bombers drew level, Davison firing an accurate wrist shot into the top corner giving Jackson no chance at 24.05. With the shorter benched Billingham side relying heavily on Hewitson and Davison to provide the scoring chances, Phoenix used their less experienced but greater bench depth to good effect in stifling the visitors and protecting the home goal.

The final period saw more of the same pattern of play with Davison and Hewitson the main threat from the visitors with Nicole Jackson in fine form. The more experienced Bombers had the better of the play and outshot their hosts, but the Phoenix youngsters worked their socks off and thoroughly deserved the applause at the final hooter for the point taken from a very creditable 2-2 draw.

Period scores 1-1, 1-1, 0-0

Scorers: Jared Dickinson 1+0, Scott Robson 1+0, Shannon Lingwood 0+1, Tom Wilkinson 0+1

Penalties: 6-10

SOGs: 36 on Nicole Jackson for Phoenix, 23 on Billingham

Phoenix MVP - Nicole Jackson.

Bombers held by resilient Phoenix

Share this article