Manchester Phoenix U-14s 7 - 8 Nottingham U-14s

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Manchester Phoenix U-14s 7 - 8 Nottingham U-14s

A real barn-burner of a game saw out the end of January for the Phoenix Under-14's as they fought out a 15-goal thriller against their visitors from Nottingham.

Things got off to the brightest of starts as with just over two minutes played, the home side opened the scoring, Thomas Wilson netting a solo effort. Nottingham went short handed in the fifth minute and it took just 16 seconds for Thomas Wilson to add another solo effort, this time on the powerplay. And a stunning opening saw Thomas Wilson complete a hat-trick in less than six minutes, this time with the aid of Alex Harrison and Jonathan Parker. The visitors were visibly shaken and their woes were further increased on seven minutes as Michael Sergienko was the provider for Sheldon Cassidy to make it four-nil, and the Phoenix could barely believe their own flying start. Cassidy then drew an Interference penalty and this allowed the Nottingham team to get on the scoreboard, Hall netting assisted by Glossop. The goal boosted the visitors and before the end of the first session, they'd added another, Glossop unassisted making it 4-2 at the first interval.

The second period was a much more cagy affair, the glut of goals drying up significantly as both teams tried to re-establish their superiority. With less than four minutes to the second break, Phoenix increased their lead and again, it was an unassisted goal, this time scored by Michael Sergienko. The visitors were riled and Kendall talked himself into a 10-minute Misconduct penalty. Sergienko then went to the sin-bin on a Holding call and the visitors again made the most of the powerplay to get back to within two goals, Kelsall the scorer assisted by Hall and Glossop.

Where the Phoenix had had the better of the opening 25 minutes, it was the turn of Nottingham to turn up the heat in the final period. Chasing down a two-goal deficit, they set out their stall as Evans made the opening for Hall to make it a one-goal game just over two minutes into the session. The visitors then crucially killed a Tripping penalty on Bentley before drawing level on another powerplay. Max Howard was penalised for Inteference and Nottingham needed just 13 seconds to make the man advantage count, Glossop scoring his second unassisted goal to tie the score at 5-5. Undeterred, Phoenix responded in style just ten seconds later, Sergienko again the set-up man for Sheldon Cassidy to crash home his second of the game. First period hat-trick hero Thomas Wilson was next to the penalty box for Holding and yet again, the visitors punished the short-handed Phoenix - Glossop completing his hat-trick assisted by Evans. Almost immediately, the Phoenix were back in front in this topsy-turvy nailbiter - Jonathan Parker the provider as Thomas Wilson made amends for his transgression by netting his fourth of the game to put the home side 7-6 ahead with just over three minutes to play. It had been a terrific battle, but the supporters had to tip their hats to the visitors as first Glossop, assisted by Bentley, tied the score again with his fourth marker of the game and then with just four seconds to play, Evans gave them the last-gasp victory to break the Phoenix hearts.

A Phoenix spokeslady commented, "A quite incredible game. We got off to a tremendous start, held four goal and three goal leads, but were never quite able to put the game beyond Nottingham. It was a sickener to lose, but a fabulous advert for junior ice hockey. It was something of a baptism of fire for Joe Murphy in goal, icing for the U-14s for the first time, and we paid the price for giving them too many powerplay opportunities."

Statistics

Game played: Saturday 30th January 2010

Period Scores 4-2,1-1,2-5

Total PM 8-14

Phoenix scoring: Thomas Wilson 4+0, Michael Sergienko 1+2, Sheldon Cassidy 2+0, Jonathan Parker 0+2, Alex Harrison 0+1

Goalie Stats - Joe Murphy 8/25

Phoenix MVP - Thomas Wilson