Phoenix U-18's tame the BEAST

Friday, 8th May 2009

The Bank Holiday weekend saw the Phoenix U-18 squad in action for the first time since the end of the regular season, courtesy of Bracknell IHC and an invitation to the "BEAST" - Bracknell's Eighteens and Sixteens Tournament. And what a weekend it was, with the Phoenix emerging victorious and undefeated after a hectic seven games of hockey.

For the past two years, Bracknell has run a very successful U-16s tournament with separate sections for Division 1 and Division 2 teams. With only one Bracknell U-16 team in the league this year, the organisers decided to turn the other half of the event over to the U-18s and give their Division 1 "Drones" a run out against invited opposition from Southern neighbours Slough, together with Manchester and Division 1 North rivals, Telford. With all four clubs finishing in similar positions in their respective leagues, a close series of games - on a "home and away" basis between the teams - was eagerly anticipated. And so it proved; by the time Phoenix joined the tournament on the second day Bracknell were emerging as the favourites, but by a narrow margin of just one point over Telford. Although Phoenix started their campaign on Sunday morning with an early goal against opponents, Slough, it took a while for them to acclimatise; resulting in a certain amount of ill-discipline and a 5-on-3 penalty kill that lead to Slough's equaliser. Slowly though, the Phoenix lads got into a rhythm, regaining the lead late in the first of the two 15-minute periods and taking control of the game with a third strike five minutes into the second.

With two points in the bag, Phoenix looked more like their usual selves in their second game against Telford. Having beaten the Trojans twice in the regular season, Phoenix looked confident from the start and ran out the winners by three unanswered goals. Bracknell proved a harder nut to crack; while the early end-to-end exchanges favoured the Phoenix with the first strike, the team ran into penalty troubles in the middle of the first period. Stacking penalties was never going to help the Phoenix cause, but the lads gamely killed off over two minutes of 5-on-3 before the Drones scored their equaliser. More thrilling nip and tuck hockey ensued, but the Phoenix gradually gained the upper hand, scoring late in the first period to regain the lead, and holding onto it throughout a bruising, but goal-less second session. Day-one job done, players and supporters headed off to the Plough & Harrow in Warfield - tournament trophy sponsors - rather over-whelming their kitchen in the process, but unexpectedly acquitting themselves well in the quiz!

The last day of BEAST started with the return match against Bracknell, and perhaps the best game of the weekend. The Drones had clearly decided to come out hard and physical trying to knock the Phoenix off their game. It worked; more discipline problems for the Phoenix ensued, resulting in 34 minutes of penalties in the first period and the inevitable 5-on-3 (again) that afforded Bracknell the lead. With frustration mounting, Phoenix finished the first period a goal down with two forwards in the penalty box still serving the majority of their 10-minute sentences for misconduct. A stern talking to from coach Nick Crawley in the 30-second interval seemed to do the trick, and a more composed Phoenix side returned to the ice for the second period. Staying on the right side of the refs helped the lads apply a bit of pressure of their own, which was rewarded with two goals within five minutes of the restart. Strong team defence from a soon back to full strength Phoenix side kept Bracknell at bay for the rest of another thrilling game, sealed by an empty net goal with just eight seconds left on the clock.

After their fourth win of the weekend, Phoenix went into the next two games knowing they were through to the final (against rapidly becoming "old foes", Bracknell), but rather regretting their decision to play four games on the last day! Fortunately, both Telford and Slough seemed to be winding down before their own 3rd/4th place play-off, and the Phoenix were able to secure 3-1 and 7-2 wins largely in second gear and conserving their energy. When the much anticipated final encounter with Bracknell rolled around, it proved to be a more one-sided affair than expected; the Phoenix scoring four unanswered goals before conceding a late consolation strike - as well as two 10-minute misconducts for some silliness after the game was won.

All in all, it was a fantastic effort from the whole team, and a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable weekend for all of the Phoenix supporters. Our thanks go the whole BIHC organisation, but especially to Drone's manager, Trevor Petch, for organising our section of the tournament and for looking after us so well. The team's thanks also go to our managers, Liz Drakeley and Dave Bayne, but most of all to Coach Nick Crawley (and family!) for putting up with them all weekend. We don't have net-minding stats for standout goalie, Bob Browne (but since he only conceded when the team was two men down for the first four games, we think that speaks for itself), but every other member of the squad got onto the score-sheet.

For posterity, here is the rest of the statistics for the BEAST-conquering, Manchester Phoenix squad:-

Max Drakeley (7+5), Jordan Bannon (5+7), Oli Bayne (5+1), Jack Sweet (2+1), Josh Healey (2+1), Ashton Jenion (1+2), Joe Greaves (0+3), Tom Revesz (1+1), Marc Etherington (1+0), Rob Finnen (1+0).

Phoenix U-18's tame the BEAST

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