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Sheffield claim Roses honours in shootout

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Manchester Phoenix were edged out in a shootout on Friday night in an incredible Roses encounter with the Sheffield Steeldogs which saw the two teams combine for 100 shots on goal.

Phoenix handed netminder Phil Spanswick his first league start and the opening session was dominated by the visitors who took an early lead at 2:37 when Stanislav Gron scored from distance.  Sheffield netminder Dalibor Sedlar kept the home team in the game with a number of saves, and the missed chances were to cost Phoenix as Stanislav Lascek was allowed to skate in all alone to level at 17:54.

The end-to-end hockey continued as both sides continued to create chances but Sheffield appeared to have a strong grip on the game when Lascek scored two goals 24 seconds apart to complete a hat trick to make it 3-1.  Phoenix stormed back however and Gron found Michal Satek who picked out the top corner with an unstoppable shot at 32:16.  Moments later, Phil Hamer slammed home a loose puck to register his first Phoenix goal as the period ended 3-3.

The Phoenix comeback continued as Satek raced in from the left wing at 46:14 to score his second with a delayed penalty goal, and shortly after, appeared to complete a hat trick, although the goal was given to James Neil.

As the game seemed to be drawing to a close, Sheffield took advantage of a debatable penalty call to start a comeback of their own.  Lascek grabbed his fourth of the night at 57:03 when he tipped in a shot, before Lubomir Korhon levelled just 22 seconds later to make it 5-5 and force overtime.

Phoenix dominated the extra session but were unable to find the winning goal, and in the resulting shootout, Tom Squires scored the only goal to give Sheffield the extra point.

Phoenix are back at home on Sunday evening as we host the Basingstoke Bison for the final time in Deeside with a 6:30pm face-off.