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Lightning strike ends Phoenix unbeaten start

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Manchester Phoenix 2 – 3 Milton Keynes Lightning

Milton Keynes Lighting put paid to the Phoenix bright start to the new English Premier League season with hard-fought 3-2 victory in Altrincham on Sunday.

In a game that saw no quarter asked or given the Lighting, experienced campaigners in the EPL, showed the Phoenix that there will be few easy nights as they battled every loose puck fiercely.

The visitors gave the Phoenix an early scare, as before the first minute had passed, netminder Steve Fone had to make a quite breath-taking save to deny them an early lead. First blood dod however go to the Lightning as with the Phoenix on a powerplay, they broke out of defence and Adam Carr coolly netted a feed from Leigh Jamieson in the eighth minute. Phoenix tried to hit back, but found the Lightning defence in defiant mood with veteran goalie Barry Hollyhead in fine form and when Ed Courtenay was penalised in the final minute of the opening period, the visitors doubled their lead on the resulting powerplay – Ross Bowers the scorer.

Phoenix upped the tempo in the second period, determined to give a better account of themselves, and the first sign of tempers flaring surfaced as Andre Payette and Bowers clashed in the 24th minute. Lightning killed a penalty on Smulter, but as he exited the penalty box, Phoenix opened their account as Jaakko Hagelberg forced the puck home on assists from Tony Hand and Courtenay. Phoenix were now back in the game, but the Lightning weren’t phased and killed another penalty as the physical play increased. As the period expired, tempers flared again and a melee involving a number of players saw a lot of push and shove, but no fireworks.

Referee Steve Wardell chose not to penalise either team preferring a chat with both team captains before commencing the final period. The ploy worked as any lingering dislike was well contained as Phoenix went about seeking an equaliser and the Lightning looked to secure the points. Both side killed further penalties before Milton Keynes seemed to put the result beyond doubt with their third goal. Brittle and Smulter made the opening and it was Carr netting his second the game with just over two minutes to play. Phoenix made it a nail-biting finish as captain Luke Boothroyd fired home his second goal of the season, a decision that Jamieson disputed too strongly and duly received a ten-minute Misconduct penalty for Abuse of Official.

Phoenix coach Tony Hand noted, “The guys worked hard tonight in a hard-fought and well contested game, maybe this result will act as something of a wake up call for us. We’ve made a good start, but we’ve learned this weekend that there will no easy nights. We’ve a number of younger players who are still learning the game and the standard of play we’ve seen is possibly better than we were expecting. We’ll look hard at both of this weekends games and look to minimise the areas where we’ve been caught out.”