News

Phoenix give Metros stars the chance to shine

Tweet

Last Saturday saw the Manchester Phoenix give four of their English National League Affiliate team players the chance to play-up in the Premier League against the Guildford Flames and the players jumped at the opportunity.

Phoenix player coach Tony Hand advised, "With four of our regular guys - Iain Bowie, Joe Graham, Robert Lachowicz and James Neil - all away with the Great Britain Under-20 international team in Hungary, we needed some extra bodies and so we called the ENL boys into the line-up."

"Forwards Andy McKinney, John Murray, Jake Nurse and defenceman Max Drakeley have been training with us on and off all season and as the time the GB guys were away approached, we had the ENL boys join us more regularly. We'll use them primarily in home games till the others get back as the crowd support really helped them against Guildford last Saturday."

"It was a big step up for them, but they took my instructions well and when they got on the ice, they did really well. It bodes well for the future as the more we can develop our own players here in Manchester, the better for the long term of the club and ice hockey development."